Curlew , donated by a US businessman.

The 44-foot cabin cruiser joined the station's two research vessels on Thursday night when she arrived from North Carolina.

Director of the station, Dr. Tony Knap, said the donation was wonderful. "We now have an offshore research platform besides the Weatherbird '', he said.

The Station plans to use the vessel to work with the Weatherbird in checking how representative Weatherbird 's samples were.

The RV Curlew will do 20-30-mile circuits around the larger ship collecting data, Dr. Knap explained.

Since the new boat has a stabiliser and is faster, it would be good for that sort of work, he said.

The man who donated the ship, Coca Cola executive Mr. Allan Johnson from Alabama, was on the mailing list of the Biological Station's newsletter. The station had contacted Mr. Johnson about one or two projects, Dr. Knap said, but the connection was not particularly strong.

He added: "It was fortuitous that our name came up.'' The Station also wants to use the boat for group diving work. Dr. Knap said the ship has quarters that would be comfortable for a few days' work. Aboard the Weatherbird , he said, "you wouldn't want to do that.'' Dr. Knap described the Curlew as being "totally equipped with just about everything you could want''. The only things the station is going to add are a winch -- though there is a davit -- and a small pump system for collecting samples.

Dr. Knap said changing the Curlew 's name was not a high priority.

"Besides,'' he added, " Curlew is kind of a nice name.'' FINDING HER PLACE -- The RV Curlew, a luxury yacht donated to the Bermuda Biological Station, docks next to Weatherbird II, one of the Station's research vessels. Pictured on the ship is Miss Malika Heatwole, one of the crew for the trip from North Carolina.