MS Boaty McBoatface of the Seas. Photo credit: Royal Caribbean
The guy behind the hilarious idea to name the UK’s new $300 million Antarctic research RRS Boaty McBoatface may have just landed himself a job with one of the world’s largest cruise companies.
Cruise giant Royal Caribbean said Friday that they have located the wordsmith and invited him to help develop the future name for one of the company’s upcoming ships.
The man is British communications manager James Hand, who believe it or not had no prior experience naming ships before submitting RRS Boaty McBoatface to an online contest to name the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council’s state-of-the-art research vessel to be delivered in 2019. But experience didn’t matter, RRS Boaty McBoatface shot straight to the top of the polls, easily beating out the thousands of other entries with more than 100,000 up votes to date.
“Since the first time humans took to the seas, choosing a ship’s name has been the most integral part of launching a new vessel. From Christopher Columbus’ Santa Maria, to Captain Cook’s Endeavor, to the legendary Norse longship Skíðblaðnir, a ship’s name establishes its lofty purpose,” Royal Caribbean said in statement announcing their invite.
“The people of the United Kingdom know the name of a great ship when they see it,” said Michael Bayley, President and CEO, Royal Caribbean International. “Like the rest of the world, we fell in love with the name Boaty McBoatface when we heard it, and we knew immediately that Royal Caribbean could use James Hand’s talent to name our next ship.”
With five ships debuting in the next three years for Royal Caribbean, Hand may have just found himself a new career.
“If James accepts our offer, who knows, perhaps he could name all our future ships,” added Bayley. “James Hand, Chief Naming Officer, Royal Caribbean International. It has a nice ring to it.”
Bizarrely, this actually isn’t an April Fool. https://t.co/XSTgGkBxnV
— James Hand (@JamesHand) April 1, 2016
As the first step in the naming process, Royal Caribbean is inviting James Hand to sail on its newest and biggest ship, Harmony of the Seas, when it launches in Southampton, UK this May, where Hand will meet with the cruise line’s real ship naming experts to discuss potential names.
The contest to name the research vessel closes April 16. So fingers crossed for #boatymcboatface.
Sign up for gCaptain’s newsletter and never miss an update
Essential maritime and offshore news, insights, and updates delivered daily straight to your inbox
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday took steps to de-escalate their trade war, swapping some U.S. tariff reductions and tighter export controls for a pause in Beijing's new restrictions on rare earth minerals and magnets and a resumption of its purchases of American soybeans.
Marilyn Hubalde still remembers the first time she heard the thunderous chop of military helicopters swooping over this northernmost outpost of the Philippines, less than 90 miles from Taiwan. It was April 2023, when Filipino and American troops descended on the cluster of 10 emerald green islands of Batanes province for amphibious warfare drills.
By Weilun Soon (Bloomberg) — An India-bound tanker filled with Russian crude reversed course and is now idling in the Baltic Sea, a sign of potential disruption in oil trade between...
Subscribe to gCaptain Daily and stay informed with the latest global maritime and offshore news
Essential news coupled with the finest maritime content sourced from across the globe.
Sign Up
Join The Club
