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Internet Names Ship ‘Boaty McBoatface’
A British research ship’s name was left for the Internet to decide. The Internet’s vote: Boaty McBoatface.
Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty
The Natural Environment Research Council does serious work. It decides which research organizations in Great Britain receive public funding and how much of that funding they receive.
Recently the council announced it would be building a $375 million polar research vessel to explore Antarctica. The ship doesn’t have a name yet, so NERC opened the question to an online vote, hoping for some serious suggestions.
The winner, by far, was RRS Boaty McBoatface.
NERC says the ship’s name will ultimately be decided by a panel, so the top suggestion may not be used, but Boaty McBoatface did outpace all its rivals by several thousand votes.
Other suggestions included RRS What Iceberg and RRS It’s Bloody Cold Here.