31 April 19, 1998

Marine Science Institute: Helping Create A Science Literate Society

"If we were in the mountains, we would be the Mountain Science Institute, but we are on San Francisco Bay so we teach children about the marine sciences," says Marine Science Institute president Jeff Rutherford to explain a part of the role of the organization founded by his father in 1970. Over the past 28 years the institute has taken nearly 300,000 people, mostly children, on their 85-foot World War II vintage wooden hulled boat. A typical trip will see up to 35 kids set and haul a small trawl net and study some the 44 species that are routinely brought aboard. They will bring a section of mud up from the bottom, daub some on their faces and study the benthic creatures found there. Most of the trips are in the shallow waters of the South Bay and operate out of a shore side facility at Redwood City.

Like all good ideas, this one wanted to grow. And now it has done so with the building at Marco Shipyards in Seattle of the "Robert G. Brownlee" a modern steel hulled 90X30-foot classroom vessel. "I started putting Cummins engines in boat's back in the 1960s," says the Institute's Senior Captain John M. Cristich, "I've been involved in defining the Best Available Current Technology (BACT) program for air quality on San Francisco Bay and these engines meet all of the BACT standards. Cummins worked with us to select engines for slow and efficient running. The Marine Science Institute is small, but we want to be on the leading edge."

Detailed research by Capt. Cristich matching engines with the vessel's function of taking school groups out on short runs into the relatively protected waters of the Bay, resulted in the boat being powered by a pair of six-cylinder Cummins C-Series engines. To optimize efficiency in this relatively low RPM and light work capacity, the C-series engines, which have a maximum 430 hp rating, have been set up for a continuous rating of 250 hp at 2100 and they will handle a cruising speed of 1600 RPM without over fuelling. In addition to the two main engines the boat has a Cummins B-series four-cylinder 35 kw gen set.

The design of the vessel gives great attention to accessibility and safety for the 70 children that it is capable of taking on each trip. It was in this area that the long history of the Marine Science Institute really paid off when Marco Shipyard's naval architect Garth Wilcox took on the job. Garth had been a student on the Institute's original boat back in 1972 so understood fully the nature and spirit of the work the "Robert G. Brownlee" would be doing in educating future generations of children to the joys and challenges of our marine environment.

For aerial photos of the new boat on sea trials contact:

Spencer O'Grady
Shipyard Sales & Customer Service
Marco Shipyard
2300 W.Commodore Way
Seattle, Washington 98199,U.S.A.
Phone: (206)270-0301 (206)285-3200 Fax: (206)2858486

For additional information on the Marine Science Institute:

Jeffrey R. Rutherford
President, Marine Science Institute
500 Discovery Parkway
Redwood City, CA 94063-4715
Phone: (650) 364-2760 Fax: (650) 364-0416

For additional information on Cummins engines contact:

Scott Graf or Dean Chinnery
Marine Sales
Cummins Northwest, Inc.
Seattle, WASH.
Phone: 425 235-3400 Fax: 206 545-7374

500-476, 475-451, 450-426, 425-401, 400-376
375-351, 375-351, 350-326, 325-301, 300-276, 275-251, 250-226, 225-201
200-176, 175-151, 150-126, 125-101, 100-76, 75-51, 50-26, 25-0