Be Natural
Preserving the earth for future generations
One important area of ecology is conservation biology, which focuses on protecting endangered species and ecosystems
Modoc
In 2019 Earthrace purchased the former US Navy / US Coastguard vessel the Modoc, and this remarkable 45m (150ft) vessel is now our base of operations. She is a fully equipped blue-water patrol vessel that can spend up to 30 days at sea un-assisted. She has an extensive workshop, training room, 10-ton crane, FLIR thermal imaging, and a while range of tactical hardware. It supports a military UAV and a K9 tracking unit. We can deploy nearly anywhere in the world to offer a wide range of services to National Park Authorities. These can include training, fishery patrols, delivery of personnel and equipment to remote Atolls, oceanic scientific research, and support base for Island Pest Eradication programs. We can run SAR Operations, and surveillance missions over both land and water.
M/Y Modoc
• Former US Navy and US Coastguard Cutter
• 45m in Length, 10m Beam
• Crew Complement: 25
• Training Capacity: 12 persons
• Range: 8,000nm
• 10m x 10m helipad
• Training / Briefing Room
• Raymarine / FLIR Marine electronics
• Fixed mount and hand held FLIR Thermal Imaging systems
• 10 ton crane
History - USS ATA-194 (US Navy Operations 1944 - 1958)
The Motor Vessel MODOC was built for the United States Navy in 1944 at Levingston Shipyard in Orange, Texas. Her history from there has been quite remarkable, and she has served all manner of missions throughout the Pacific. Modoc was initially classed as a "Auxiliary Ocean Tug, and given the official ensign USS ATA-194. She arrived at Buckner Bay, Okinawa, on 14 October 1945, just before Typhoon Louise struck the anchorage on the 15 October 1945 and caused severe damage among the assembled ships. As a consequence, she spent the next several months aiding stricken warships and support craft damaged in that storm. These salvage operations included retracting two Landing Craft Infantry (LCI) from the beach and an Auxiliary Mine Sweeper (YMS) from a reef. Assigned to the Philippine Sea Frontier, the tug remained in the Far East into the following year of 1946. In the spring of 1946, she supported preparations for Operation Crossroads, a two-detonation atmospheric nuclear test held in summer, 1946 at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. She returned to the US west coast in late May 1946 and moored at Seattle, Washington, on 15 June 1946.

WATA/WMEC-194 (US Coastguard Operations 1959 - 1979)
The tug was transferred to the US Coast Guard and was commissioned under the command of LT Clarence J. Pare, Jr., as the Auxiliary Tug USCGC Modoc (WATA-194) on 20 April 1959, named in honor of the Modoc Indians. She then reported to her home port of Coos Bay, Oregon, where she replaced the aging 125-foot cutter USCGC Bonham (WSC-129). Bonham's crew had cross-decked to Modoc and a rumor from the time was that her commissioning had been ordered so quickly that there had not been sufficient time to paint over her entire Navy gray hull and only the shore-side of Modoc was painted white. From 1959 to 1969 she was stationed at Coos Bay, Oregon where she was used for coastal and off-shore search and rescue, oceanography, and law enforcement duties, primarily fisheries enforcement. Her normal area of operations extended from the California–Oregon border to Canada and she was also occasionally called upon to patrol the Gulf of Alaska. When not underway, Modoc was on continual alert and was capable of getting underway within two hours to proceed to a vessel in distress.

MV Modoc (Alaska Tourism, 1990 - 2017)
In 1990, Washington Boatbuilder Peter Benneson purchased the Modoc, renaming her "MV Modoc Pearl". Through a substantial refit lasting the better part of a decade, the vessel is completely transformed into what at the time, was the latest in luxury accommodation - A Master Stateroom complete with hot tub, 4 other luxury staterooms with en-suites, a Hot Tub on the back deck, and an array of jetskis, skiffs, kayaks, and other toys. In 2004 through until 2016, Benneson ran tourist voyages in Alaska over the summer, and a luxury Bed and Breakfast in Gig Harbor, WA in the winter. Rumors surfaced of the vessel being chartered yearly by a group of pilots that would fly prostitutes, cocaine and alcohol up to Alaska and party on the vessel, although these rumors were denied by Benneson. In 2016 the vessel was purchased by a couple of Washington boat Captains who used her for parties and accommodation in Bremerton Marina.

