Return­ing from an early-morning tug­boat mis­sion in Boston Har­bor, we motored slowly out of the locks, through the Museum of Sci­ence canal, and into the Charles River basin. Just before leav­ing the no-wake zone, we spot­ted, across the river, a small motor­boat labelled “Marine Tech­nol­ogy Laboratory.”

Since our skiff bore the name of MIT, some­thing had to be done. I searched for my best Mag­nus Pyke voice, cupped my hands and shouted, “SCIENCE!” It echoed pleas­antly across the water.

The three occu­pants of the research ves­sel spun around, grinned broadly, and saluted us.