Internet Users Assert Right To Christen This $380M Ship ‘Boaty McBoatface’

The internet has responded spectacularly to an online poll looking for the name of a new £200 million ($AUD380 million) polar research vessel by mass-voting for Boaty McBoatFace, the current leader.

“The ship could be named after a local historical figure, movement, or landmark – or a famous polar explorer or scientist,” wrote the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) announcing #NameOurShip, displaying a rather endearing level of naivety for the internet’s natural inclination to troll.

Other suggestions include It’s bloody cold here, Ice Ice Baby, and Notthetitanic.

So popular is the name Boaty McBoatface that several fan Twitter accounts encouraging people to vote have sprung up, and the website has crashed.

The name was suggested by Communications Manager James Hand, who seems to be rather bewildered by Boaty McBoatFace’s success and is being terrifically English about it:



The future RSS Boaty McBoatface (decision pending) “will provide the UK with the most advanced floating research fleet in the word and will help put the UK at the forefront of ocean research for years to come.”

It could still be named Aurora, Titan, Orca, Henry Worsley, David Attenborough, or any number of other suggestions that have come through, because (un)luckily NERC had the foresight to add this condition:



Whatever. Boaty McBoatface or bust, imo.

Photo / Source: NERC.

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