Captain
Samuel Barker Grenell,
NOAA (Retired)
November 14, 1900 - February 28, 1982.
Captain Grenell was born in Grenell Island Park, New York. He
attended Clarkson College of Technology where he graduated in
1924 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering.
He was appointed a Deck Officer in the U.S. Coast and Geodetic
Survey on June 19, 1924, and an Aid on March 5, 1925, with relative
rank of Ensign in the Navy.
During his 36-year career he spent the greater part of his first
25 years engaged in field surveys. His sea assignments included
serving aboard the LYDONIA, PIONEER, SURVEYOR, MARINDUQUES in
the Philippines, GILBERT, OCEANOGRAPHER; PATTON as Executive
Officer; WESTDAHL as Commanding Officer; and the EXPLORER as
Executive Officer and Commanding Officer. Other assignments
included wire drag as Chief of party; photogrammetry as party
chief; Oakland Processing Officer as officer-in-charge; Assistant
Chief of the Division of Geomagnetism and Seismology; Northwestern
District as District Supervisor; and at the time of his retirement
on May 1, 1960, he was serving as Chief of Coastal Surveys in
Washington, D.C. It was during this last assignment that he
recognized the need for Corps officers to become proficient
in diving operations, and it was largely through his foresightedness
that diving training became an integral part of survey operations.
Captain Grenell served from February 12, 1942 to September 1,
1945, on projects for the Department of the Navy in areas to
be of immediate military hazard. For this he was awarded the
Pacific War Zone Ribbon. During the course of his career he
was affiliated with the American Society of Photogrammetry,
American Geophysical Union, American Congress of Surveying and
Mapping, Seismological Society of America, and Institute of
Navigation.
He is survived by his Wife, Mary G., and a daughter, Anne M.
Anderson, of Seattle, Washington.
NOAA CORPS BULLETIN, 3/1/1982
