The University’s newest research vessel, originally acquired in June 27 as the R/V Nauvoo, was renamed the R/V Heidi Lynn Sculthorpe during a naming ceremony at Bahr’s Landing on Oct 8.
The 49-foot vessel is Monmouth’s largest and was recently acquired by the University from the National Oceanic and the Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The vessel is an important ambassador for the University to the broader marine research community, our academic colleagues at other universities, and to the public at large,” said Thomas Herrington, Ph.D., Associate Director of the Urban Coast Institute (UCI).
According to the University’s official website, the vessel was named in honor of Heidi Lynn, a Monmouth Country shore area resident who loved to surf and spend time at the beach with her family and friends.
Lynn’s father, Robert Sculthorpe, is a graduate of the University and former chair of the University Board of Trustees, and a Trustee Emeritus.
According to University President Grey Dimenna, Esq., it was Sculthorpe’s generous donation that helped create an endowment to support the vessel.
“We remember the Sculthorpe’s who have been very helpful to the University,” said Jim Nickels, the Marine Scientist for the Urban Coast Institute. “He (Robert) has been very generous over the years to the school and the work we do. He even sponsored a scholarship in Heidi’s name for the summer research program.”
Nickels was responsible for organizing the ceremony and noted the hefty preparation. “It was a lot of work getting the boat to the dock,” he said. “Months of work and a lot of people were required to get the vessel into shape. It sat in a shipyard for four years in Delaware Bay, NJ so the vessel had to be sandblasted and repainted.”
The ship was orignially built as the R/V Nauvoo in 1993. According to Nickels, prior to receiving the Nauvoo, Monmouth only had two small boats that fulfilled the marine field operations and field research: the Little Hawk and the Sea Hawk.
Nickels says that the Little Hawk is an 18-footer that was acquired with a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Sea Hawk is the UCI’s 27-foot May-Craft survey boat.
The R/V Heidi Lynn Sculthorpe presents unique opportunities to Marine Biology classes that the Little Hawk and Sea Hawk could not, according to the UCI. The advantage of this boat is that it allows professors to bring a full class out for student training. According to Jim Nickels, students can now check on water quality, navigation work, spotting marine mammals and birds, as well as doing trawling work to catch fish.
“Monmouth University is a family and it is very special and appropriate to be able to honor one of its own by having the vessel named after her,” said Dimenna, who spoke at the ceremony. “Although I did not personally know her, from talking to family members it is easy to see that she was a very special person.”
Lauren Kelly, a junior marine and environmental biology policy (MEBP) student who was one of three students to be the first on the vessel, said, “It is a great opportunity to see all of the work that can be done on the research vessel from long-lining to towing plankton nets. I feel that having this vessel allows students to further their knowledge of the Marine Biology field.”
“In both my marine biology and ichthyology classes, I was out on the boat,” said Charles Vasas, a junior MEBP student. “While on the boat for marine biology, we took water quality samples which include salinity and dissolved oxygen levels. We also towed plankton nets in order to collect phytoplankton samples which could be later analyzed in the lab.
“For ichthyology, our class used the boat to trawl the ocean floor in order to collect different species of fish. We caught several different species during the trawls,” continued Vasas.
“Naming the vessel after a person that loved the Jersey Shore, the beach, sun and surf,” said Herrington, “aligns the UCI’s mission to serve the public interest as a forum for research, education, and collaboration that fosters the application of the best available science and policy to support healthy and productive coastal ecosystems… The Heidi Lynn Sculthorpe will deliver this message on each research and education cruise she makes.”
PHOTOS COURTESY of Monmouth University
