"Boaty McBoatface" topping list of suggested names for £200m polar research ship

Granada
Merseyside
Sunday 20 March 2016 at 4:04pm

A state-of-the-art polar research ship that is being built on Merseyside could be called Boaty McBoatface after more than 16,500 people voted for the name online.

Watch: What do you call a polar research ship built on Merseyside?

The £200 million vessel will set off for Antarctica in 2019 and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) invited the public to submit ideas for the name it should bear on its hull.

James Hand, who put the suggestion forward, described it as "an absolutely brilliant name".

Other ideas include:

RRS (Royal Research Ship) David Attenborough
RRS Usain Bolt
RRS Boat
RRS Pingu
RRS It's Bloody Cold Here.

Once completed, the ship, funded by the Government and under construction at Cammell Laird shipyard, Merseyside, will be deployed on research missions to the Arctic and Antarctic and be able to spend up to 60 days at sea.

Entrants can suggest as many names as they wish, with a short explanation why, at http://nameourship.nerc.ac.uk by April 16 this year and NERC will make the decision.