The vessel's unglamorous job is to travel from boat to boat and pump out onboard septic systems. The craft was paid for in part by a state environmental grant and will help keep the harbor clean in the town near the New Hampshire border.
Harbormaster Ray Pike says the town's harbor commission got hundreds of suggestions for the boat's name but settled on Down Winder. Pike tells The Newburyport Daily News there were plenty of clever suggestions - including Poo Bear, Pumpty Dumpty, Poop Sloop and Dung Dingy.
He says the commission had a lot of chuckles selecting a name. The winner was suggested by boater Richard Calderwood.
