Glacier Society News

Clay Maitland, managing partner of International Registries LLC (which administers the Marshall Islands ship registry), Founding Chairman of  the North American Marine Environment Protection Association (NAMEPA), member of the United States Coast Guard Foundation board and former Chairman of the National Maritime Historical Society has been named to the board of The Glacier Society, the non-profit foundation fighting to save the historic icebreaker U.S.S./USCGC Glacier from demolition.

The captain and officers who served on U.S. Navy Icebreaker U.S.S. Glacier, recently gathered for a reunion and to strategize for Glacier's restoration. Reunion participants included members from a crew of 300 servicemen and scientists, who, in 1961, successfully explored the most dangerous Antarctic region for a ship to enter: the Bellinghausen Sea and Thurston Island. Glacier's discoveries resutled in revisions to the world atlas. Glacier was transferred to the USCG in 1967 and operateed as USCGC Glacier until her decommissioning in 1986. USCG crewmembers are in the forefront of the restoriation of Glacier, currently moored near San Francisco. To conduct seagoing voyages for the U.S. Navy, USCG, Veterans groups and the general public.

Columbus Day was the perfect day and Brewer’s Pilot’s Point Marina in Westbrook, CT, was the perfect site for Arctic Scout Day in celebration of the training vessel, Arctic Scout. Sponsors and supporters were given a ride aboard this 39’ survey vessel equipped with a brand new diesel engine donated by Caterpillar Marine Power Systems. Arctic Scout supports environmental and maritime training of youth ages 14 and older.

The USS/USCG Glacier made Antarctic history in February 1960 by becoming the first ship to penetrate the Bellinghausen Sea and make landfall on Thurston Island. Four decades later, the Glacier is moored in Suisun Bay, Calif. at the Maritime Administration’s Defense Reserve Fleet Facility. However, the Glacier Society, a Stratford, Conn. based group, hopes to change its fate. The society hopes to restore the Glacier to a museum and operational oceanographic ship to serve the needs of educators, historians and the oceanographic research community in port and at sea. Glacier was built in the early 1950s by Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss. When commissioned in 1955, it was the world’s largest and most powerful icebreaker, capable of breaking ice up to 20 ft. thick. It is 310 ft.

The captain and officers who served on U.S. Navy Icebreaker U.S.S. Glacier, recently gathered for a reunion and to strategize for Glacier's restoration. Reunion participants included members from a crew of 300 servicemen and scientists, who, in 1961, successfully explored the most dangerous Antarctic region for a ship to enter: the Bellinghausen Sea and Thurston Island. Glacier's discoveries resutled in revisions to the world atlas. Glacier was transferred to the USCG in 1967 and operateed as USCGC Glacier until her decommissioning in 1986. USCG crewmembers are in the forefront of the restoriation of Glacier, currently moored near San Francisco. To conduct seagoing voyages for the U.S. Navy, USCG, Veterans groups and the general public.

Bernard Koether III of Westport, Chairman of the Stratford-based Glacier Society, presented Congressman Robert Simmons of Connecticut’s Second District, a Glacier Society plaque in recognition of the lawmaker’s legislative efforts. The presentation took place June 6 at a reception in New Canaan. Simmons is a strong supporter of the movement to re-commission the USS/USCGC Glacier and return her to active service for the benefit of humanity. The Glacier is destined to return to sea with a three-fold Mission: to contribute medical care and research for the benefit of native people living above the Arctic Circle, to perform earth sciences and environmental research, and to provide education for the public via real time Internet and satellite TV broadcast.