Boaty McBoat Face–off to Sea

Matthew Clegg, Staff writer

After the rather controversial internet contest to name a new research vessel for the British government resulted in the most voted “Boaty Mc Boat Face” name, the government has decided to scrap that name and instead name it the R.S.S David Attenborough for a more professional feel.

However, it has honored Boaty Mc Boat Face by naming not one but three submarine vessels. They will go thousands of feet under the ice to record information on how ice formations affect the world’s oceans and how salinity will affect the cold waters of that area.

But what does this mean to the people?

“If they allow an online naming contest like this, they should put it on the actual vessel otherwise that could affect future or later internet contests for subjects like this.”

The naming contest took place around February and pulled in approximately 124,000 votes while the name is has now only pulled around 11,000, so it seems the people’s voices will not reign king on this poll.

Currently, the RSS Attenborough is being built in Merseyside and won’t be completed until 2019.

Of course, this isn’t the first time a naming contest has gone awry. In 2009, NASA had a naming contest for a government vehicle, the Mars Rover. A sixth grader from Lenexa, Kansas, named it Curiousity. Her reasoning? In her article, she says that curiosity is the passion that drives us through our lives.

Boaty Mc Boat Face is already under the ice and recording data that can teach scientists a lot about global warming and how it a our ice, seas and atmosphere, which we all need to live.