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Regarding the Mystery Ship section, we received feedback from a gentleman in Pennsylvania that served on Vema. He said he sent pictures, and if I can locate them, I will add them to this page.
I stumbled upon your research into the vessel that was, at one time, the R/V Vema, and I think is currently the Mandalay…your site stated that the origin of the name “Vema” was not known. I sailed aboard the Vema as an electronics tech., working for Lamont Doherty, and while there I was told that the name was a combination of the names of the wives of the two original owners…I’m afraid I don’t have the details, but I’m sure there must still be people working at the Lamont-Doherty observatory that could fill you in. I also recall that the ship, while still a 3 masted sailing vessel, once held the speed record for crossing the Atlantic. I notice you had no luck in finding a picture of the ship from the rear, which would have the name visible…I have some old pics, and if I can find one that shows this, I will send it along (not sure where any of that stuff is now…been a while!).