F. From a health standpoint, the berthing area was inadequate. Dr. Pratt's bunk was under the air conditioner unit and throughout the first night he was drenched by ice cold water, two to four ounces about every hour (as the condensation pan would overflow). In addition, Dr. Nicoloff complained repeatedly about the "stagnant air in the berthing compartment". The medical team was either freezing or too hot.” Dr. Pratt's letter dated June 25, 1979, to Director, PASO "In your letter of June llth, your second paragraph, you note that DOE does have "... an excellent vessel for our current mission." I'm afraid, from the standpoint of the BNL medical team that we are unable to support that opinion. I understand the very grey area that the ship falls into from the standpoint of official Coast Guard regulations con- cerning certification of crew. I find it amazing in Commander Utara's letter to you of 1 June 1979 regarding the crew of the Liktanur II that Otterman, Coberly, Whitney, Koschen and Wrightman are listed as Able Seaman and Conway and Ducket as ordinary seaman wipers. As I understand it, and I would greatly appreciate it if you would correct me on this, I believe that Keith Coberly has his Masters papers. Is that not correct? I believe that it was the consensus of the group that met in Germantown on March 29th that the contract vessel comply with the Occupational Health and Safety Guide as published by Brookhaven National Laboratory under Marine Safety. I'm enclosing a copy of the first 5 pages of that document to refresh your memory. I thought that all members of that discussion group had a copy. On page 5 of that document under Responsibilities it states that the Department Chairman, in this case Dr. Cronkite, is res- ponsible for insuring implementation of this guide. "Specifically they shall designate qualified and licensed Masters and a Marine Supervisor. I have discussed this matter with Dr. Cronkite and he has agreed completely that whoever is in control of the BNL medical survey ship shall be qualified and licensed as a Master. I then invite your attention to page 4 under Definitions, Section D Master (qualified and licensed) a person responsible for the operation of the vessel who has had experience with similar vessels on a body of water like that on which the individual expects to operate and who holds a validated operators or superior license. Those in essence are the requirements for BNL participation in a survey. There is another item in the letter of the llth, namely, a letter dated 17 April 1979 to Mr. Otterman from Commander Utara. I quote at length from that letter because these are very important quotations and differentiations." With reference to your letter of 13 April 1979, I find the Liktanur II, ON572028 an oceanographic research vessel as defined in Section 441 of Title 46 U.S. Code. An oceanographic research vessel is not considered a "passenger vessel," a "vessel carrying passengers" or a "passenger carrying vessel" under the provisions of the U.S. Merchant Vessel Inspection and Manning Laws. Additionally, an oceanographic research vessel shall not be deemed to be engaged in trade or commerce. However, all other regulations remain applicable. Now the most important paragraph of all in this entire letter is included in the next few lines "you are reminded that my determination is predicated upon the assurance Page 8 of 13 ENCLOSURE I