Local Maritime and Shipping Professional Honored for Decades of Volunteer Commitment to BIOS

Earlier this year, the BIOS Board of Trustees unanimously voted to award Captain John Moore with the Richard Gorham Award for “his long and valued support and extraordinary service to BIOS.”

The Award was established in 1982 and named after its first recipient, Sir Richard M. Gorham, who coordinated a fundraising campaign for BIOS, then known as the Bermuda Biological Station for Research, or BBSR. Gorham was instrumental in acting as the Institute’s financial advisor and was known for his tenacity, ebullient energy, and charitable spirit. Moore is the sixth recipient of the Gorham award.

“I’m very surprised by this award as I’m just an old seafarer who enjoys working with ships and their crews,” Moore said. “I’m very honored to be associated with these mariners and the crew of the Atlantic Explorer [the current BIOS-operated research vessel that supports the Institute’s science].”

For 45 years, from 1968 until 2013, Moore was vice president of marine operations for Meyer Shipping, a branch of the Meyer Group of Companies that handles shipping, freight, travel, tours, IT services, and property development. In the mid-1970s, Moore was contacted by Tony Knap, the director of BBSR at that time, for assistance in finding a replacement for the Institute’s aging research vessel (R/V) Panulirus. The new vessel, the R/V Weatherbird I, was helmed by Captain Lee Black, who later became the Institute’s first full-time Marine Superintendent, as well as a close friend of Moore’s.

“Beginning with Lee, John has always worked with the BIOS marine superintendents as a source of local knowledge and acted as a liaison between the BIOS Marine Operations Department and a host of Bermuda Government agencies,” the BIOS Board said in its nomination statement. “He has been especially helpful with the Bermuda Pilot Service and Bermuda Customs and Immigration, and his contacts within these two Government Departments has been instrumental in allowing a U.S. research vessel to operate in Bermuda’s waters.”

“The most enjoyable part about being at BIOS are the officers, crew, and the professionals I work with while serving ocean science,” Moore said.