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R. V. Sir Horace Lamb.
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The End of an Era.
Supplied by Tom Graves. Posted July 2014. Coincidentally, the End of another Era - The Bermuda Sun closed on July 31st 2014 after 50 years service.
. "Sir Horace Lamb".
. What a distinguished-sounding name, and with a knighthood too!
I arrived at SOFAR at about the same time as Sir Horace, and heard the story that she was formerly the Navy minesweeper “USS Redpoll”, but (as required when a Navy ship is de-commissioned), a new name had been given. When I first heard “Sir Horace Lamb”, I assumed that this was some sort of way of recognizing the contribution that the St. David’s Islanders had already made in accommodating these weird scientific types who had invaded their quiet corner of St. David’s. ‘Lamb’, of course, is a title (surname) that goes back many generations on St. David’s, and I assumed that some research had been done to find a forename that had not been used in the Lamb clan, so as to provide anonymity within the Lamb clan – not singling out any one person, living or dead for fame. And if one is going to go this far, why not give this anonymous gentleman a knighthood for good measure! Hence, “Sir Horace Lamb”.
It did bother me just a little that ships are usually referred to as ‘she’, and ought to be named accordingly – ‘Lady Susan Lamb’ or ‘Dame Betsy Lamb’! This all happened waaaaaaaaaaay before the internet and Google, so it was many years later before I discovered the truth.
Enter the real Sir Horace Lamb.
Born in England in November 1849, he attended Cambridge University in 1868, studying Mathematics, earning a Bachelor’s degree in 1872 and a Master’s in 1875. That year, he traveled to the University of Adelaide, Australia as a professor of mathematics, but returned to England in 1885 to take up a post at Owens College, Cambridge until his retirement in 1920. He was knighted in 1931, and died in December 1934. He wrote many textbooks during his lifetime including ‘Hydrodynamics’, ‘Dynamical Theory of Sound’ and 'Propagation of Tremors over the Surface of an Elastic Solid’. While not directly related to Acoustic Oceanography, he was still probably a good candidate for the name of our primary research vessel.
B. Hallett
Dec. 8th. 2013
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Photo courtesy of Robert Mellor
This is a photo of 'Sir Horace' while she was still in service with the U. S. Navy as the coastal minesweeper USS Redpoll. The keel was laid down in June 1943, she was launched just 62 days later, and commissioned 60 days after that on November 9th 1943. (The speed of wartime building!!) She was finally removed from military service on July 1st 1959, and acquired by SOFAR (and renamed "Sir Horace Lamb") during 1960.
She was finally de-commissioned on December 1st 1976, and scrapped. A lot of water under that keel!
She was finally de-commissioned on December 1st 1976, and scrapped. A lot of water under that keel!
Sir Horace Lamb arrives in Bermuda.
Crew who brought Sir Horace to Bermuda.
Left to right:- Nelson Lamb, Henry Hayward, Sonny 'Black Wolf' Fox, Graham Lobb, Nicky Pimentel, Unknown, John McDaniel (kneeling), Gene Bothelo, Carl Hartdegen, Thurston Minors.
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