Harvard has a navy.

In order to study the phenomena of plant and animal life in fresh water the Department of Sanitary Engineering has equipped a pair of 20-foot Cape Cod oyster boats which have been launched on Fresh Pond.

Admiral of the fleet is Charles E. Renn, instructor in Sanitary Biology; who is conducting a course in the Sanitary Biology of Water Supply. The course is in the Department of Sanitary Engineering.

Every day part of the 28 students in the course embark in their sturdy oyster boats and coast out over the surface of Fresh Pond, which is the reserve water supply of Cambridge. Once out they use their special equipment to plumb the depths and bring up the vegetable and animal life which is the object of their study. In addition they use special equipment to take temperature readings at various depths in he pond.

The seas department is under the aegis of the Graduate School of Engineering, and most of the students are practicing health engineers on leave to take special study.