Nahant Oceanological Society

The Nahant Oceanological Society is a location and pre-War association in the Commonwealth town of Nahant.

Background
Perched on the southeast banks of Nahant, this small society used to be a marine research laboratory, and is now infamous for its mirelurk nests. Robots are still active and battling aquatic mutations coming up from the bay.

Before the war, the group's primary focus was sea life. It was they who first discovered that the local crustaceans were mutated from the radioactive pollutants in the North Atlantic. Once they gathered their findings, they vigorously tried to focus media and law enforcement attention on the issue; however, no one took their complaints seriously. The Boston Port Authority ignored their phone calls, and Galaxy News Network spun the issue into a story about "how great shellfish season is going to be." Although the Society postulated that the increased size and toxicity of the mutant crustaceans would cause them to consume all their food sources resulting in colony collapses, this was a shortsighted view, and the populations only grew after the Great War.

Meanwhile, the group was also contacted to verify the findings of the Massachusetts Department of Natural Resources. The society discovered that Lake Quannapowitt was heavily polluted by radioactive particles and heavy metals. Although nearby industries (like the General Atomics factory, Saugus Ironworks, and the Corvega assembly plant) were suspected to be the source, the culprit was actually Mass Fusion. On June 25, the MDNR urged that the mayor of Boston cancel the annual July 4th bass fishing tournament. The 2077 tournament was being sponsored by General Atomics International as a promotion for their new galleria. The mayor ignored the request, and the resulting health crisis and subsequent loss of life caused the lake to be closed to the public. Legal action and conspiracy followed. The lake itself would remain a radioactive waste dump for the next two centuries.

During the last week of October 2077, the bulk of the staff went to attend the National Aquatic Protection Symposium in Monterey. However, several members stayed behind to work directly on their research, such as Casey Reed, or indirectly to coordinate with volunteers to get more people to sign up for their upcoming blockade of Boston Harbor in protest of the war. This task was entrusted to Jim Prescott, who was also in charge of powering down the oceanological instructors before he left for the weekend. He forgot to do this, and the robots continued to putter around the office, spouting increasingly outdated facts for the next two centuries.

Layout
This location consists of two buildings: a main building for the society with reception and offices to the east, and a separate research lab to the south. The society building has two entrance doors: one in the front (on the western side of the building) and one in the rear.

Society building
The front entrance opens to a reception area with a Novice-locked terminal. Through the double doors ahead are a small bathroom with a first aid box and mirrored cabinet, a kitchen, and a research office, which contains a weapons workbench and the back door to the pier. Two Mr. Handies employed as oceanological instructors wander the premises, announcing random facts about marine life.

A staircase leads up to the second floor, where an Expert-locked door can be unlocked with Casey's key (found in a toolbox in the cabin of the wrecked boat along a small spit just southeast of the society building). The office behind the door contains an Advanced-locked wall safe, a steamer trunk, and a duffle bag.

Outside the back entrance of the building on the pier decking to the east is a small Novice-locked shed, with an ammunition box and other minor loot inside.

Research lab
The research lab is divided into two tiers: the catwalks and the ground floor. The entrance door opens onto the catwalk tier, which has a chemistry station, a Master-locked steamer trunk, an ammo box, and a ramp descending to the lower level. The flooded lower level includes a power armor station, an Expert-locked safe that can be unlocked by the terminal next to it, a Novice-locked first aid box, three ammo boxes, and a toolbox.

Outside the lab, sets of metal ramps and stairs on the west side wrap around an empty circular pool and lead up to the flat roof, which offers a good sniping position for the numerous mirelurks and nests on the coastal fringe. Barnacle traps line the exterior walls.

Notable loot

 * A Vault-Tec lunchbox - In the kitchen inside the society building.
 * Wasteland Survival Guide issue #6 - In the room with a weapons workbench inside the society building, on a desk near a typewriter and a TV.
 * Casey's key - In a toolbox on a partly sunken boat off the coast. The key opens the door to Casey's office on the second floor of the society building.
 * Bottle message - X marks the spot - On a tiny sand island with picket fencing a few paces west of the partly sunken boat.

Related quests

 * Quartermastery: Scribe Haylen has identified the location of a piece of technology she wishes to retrieve and catalog. She asks the Sole Survivor for help in bringing back the technology in one piece.
 * Cleansing the Commonwealth: Knight Rhys gives the Sole Survivor an assignment to clear the location of what he calls "abominations" to further the aims of the Brotherhood of Steel.

Companion comments

 * When at this location, companions make comments, which are activated at two locations: the second floor of the office building and in the research laboratory.

Appearances
The Nahant Oceanological Society appears only in Fallout 4.

Behind the scenes
The Nahant Oceanological Society is based on the real-world Northeastern University Marine Science Center, located at East Point. During the Cold War, the installation at East Point housed missiles intended to stop a nuclear attack on Boston.

Bugs

 * The two doors leading into the society building, as well as the shed door, may not be able to be interacted with, making the Wasteland Survival Guide inaccessible. Saving, quitting, and restarting the game may resolve this issue.
 * The Nuka-Cola machine on the ground floor of the society building may glitch, causing the bottles to be lodged behind the machine. Due to the refrigerator on the right, it may make the bottles nearly impossible to access without dragging thinner items such as forks or mops to move them closer or using explosives.
 * There may be a severe frame rate drop when looking in certain directions in the research lab.
 * The Expert-locked safe downstairs in the lab building can be relocked via the adjacent computer, then unlocked an unlimited number of times for the experience points.