Many years ago, on the stormiest days of summer, with winds whipping up a froth of whitecaps on Lake Champlain, a young Marcelle Pomerleau and her brothers could often be found as close to the front of the Burlington-to-Port Kent ferry as its crew would allow, thrilling to the wild, wet ride. On Thursday, August 10, she enjoyed another ride on the lake, now as Marcelle Leahy, along with her husband, recently retired Senator Patrick Leahy. This time, the lake waters were calmer, but the occasion just as thrilling, as it directly followed her formal christening of the research vessel that bears her name, the University of Vermont’s new state-of-the-art research vessel, the R/V Marcelle Melosira.
The Leahys were joined earlier that day by UVM President Suresh Garimella, U.S. Senator Peter Welch, and Great Lakes Fisheries Commission Executive Secretary Bob Lambe to mark the vessel’s inaugural voyage.
Speaking to a group of about 50 members of the university community, its friends and supporters, and local media, along with a large contingent of Senator Leahy’s former staff gathered from far and wide, Garimella noted Marcelle Leahy’s long record of support for UVM, as a member of the UVM College of Nursing and Health Sciences Advisory Board (Mrs. Leahy is a licensed registered nurse) and an advocate of the arts. She was awarded an honorary degree from UVM in 2019. Garimella also recognized Sen. Leahy’s decades-long record of legislative support for lake and watershed research.
“Now that we have this magnificent vessel in our dock, it’s easy for us to see the reality of [the Leahys’] impact,” he said. “Our lake researchers will have state-of-the-art equipment and unparalleled capacity for understanding the complexities of this particular lake, and for contributing to the research of the other great lakes, and other bodies of water around the globe.”
“Our students will have access to one of the finest floating classrooms in the world,” said Garimella. “The opportunities for them to learn, to prepare for careers with deep impact on the health of the lake ecosystem, and to be an active part of the research improving that ecosystem are also without match.”
The Leahys aboard the research vessel Marcelle Melosira during its first sailing after christening. (Photo by Glenn Russell)
Sen. Welch noted that the new vessel is a “commitment to the future, and to continuing the work that Patrick began decades ago to restore and revive the health of our lake…. The work goes on.”
“The lake has always been a big part of our lives,” said Marcelle Leahy. “And we want nothing more than for it to always continue to mean as much for future generations.”
Senator Leahy followed by saying “I haven’t been this proud since we got back home.” (The Leahy’s returned permanently to Vermont in January, after Sen. Leahy’s retirement following 48 years of service in the U.S. Senate.)
After the remarks, attendees crowded around the new vessel in its dock at the UVM Rubenstein Ecosystem Science Laboratory as Mrs. Leahy formally christened the vessel using, in the spirit of lake health, a sugar-glass bottle filled with ecologically neutral fluid. It took a few whacks, but the vessel was finally formally named and ready for its first official voyage – a short cruise around Burlington Bay, carrying the Leahys, their family members, UVM research partners, and key supporters of lake research.
Interim Captain Taylor Resnick at the wheel of the R/V Marcelle Melosira. (Photo by Glenn Russell)
Those passengers were able to examine first-hand the technical details of the vessel, including its onboard modular laboratory classroom, designed to be easily reconfigured for new scientific and research needs as they evolve. A key figure of the vessel’s top deck is a unique electric winch, designed by research engineers of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, that can not only deploy scientific instrumentation under water, but also return extensive real-time data through its cables for onboard examination.
The vessel itself is the first of its kind: a hybrid diesel-electric aluminum catamaran design, 64 feet in total length, that can function for up to three hours on its electric motors alone. It can carry up to 32 persons and is designed in accordance with ADA standards for full accessibility. In addition to propelling itself with a much smaller carbon footprint, the R.V. Marcelle Melosira’s design reduces vibration and underwater noise that can be intrusive to fish and other aquatic life. The vessel was designed by Chartwell Marine of Southhampton, UK, and built by Derecktor Shipyards of Mamaroneck, N.Y. In the latter half of July, it journeyed from Long Island Sound, around Manhattan Island, up the Hudson River and through the Champlain Canal to Lake Champlain, arriving at its home berth on the Burlington waterfront on July 23. The vessel is under the command of Interim Captain Taylor Resnick.
The R/V Marcelle Melosira arriving in Lake Champlain on July 23, 2023. (Photo by Caleb Kenna)
Just prior to the formal christening, Marcelle Leahy paid a heartfelt benediction to the research vessel that will bear her name through decades of service on Lake Champlain: “She will be in my heart always, as she sails…. I wish her, and all those who will sail with her, fair winds and following seas.”
See more details about the R/V Marcelle Melosira here.
The R/V Marcelle Melosira, other UVM research vessels, and projects in the Lake Champlain watershed are high priorities for federal, regional, and philanthropic partners. Significant funding for specific projects and for the upkeep and operation of the fleet comes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, the estate of alumnus F. Peter Rose ’54, and former Senator Patrick Leahy.