Nahant Oceanological Society

The Nahant Oceanological Society is a location in the town of Nahant in the Commonwealth in 2287.

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.

Layout
This location consists of two buildings, a main building for the society with reception and offices, and a separate laboratory to the south. The society building has two entrance doors, one to the front (west) and one to the rear.

Nahant Oceanological Society
The offices open up to a reception area; through the double doors are a kitchen and a research office, which contains a weapons workbench and a backdoor to the pier. There is also a staircase ascending to several more research stations. There is an Expert-locked door to the chief researcher's office, which contains a steamer trunk and Advanced-locked wall safe.

Inside the house there are two floors, with two Mr. Handies employed as oceanological instructors that may list off random facts about marine life. A door on the second floor of the house can be unlocked with Casey's key (which is found in a toolbox in the cabin of the wrecked boat just southeast of the house, along a small spit), behind which is a steamer trunk and an Advanced locked wall safe. To the rear exterior is a small shed on the decking with a Novice locked door, with some minor loot inside.

Research lab
The research lab is divided into two tiers: the catwalks and the ground floor. The catwalk tier has a chemistry station and a Master-locked steamer trunk. Stairs descend to the flooded ground where, most notably, there is a power armor station here, next to a research terminal.

The entrance door to the concrete constructed laboratory opens onto a catwalk level, which has a chemistry station, a Master locked steamer trunk, and a ramp leading to the lower level. Downstairs is a power armor station, an Expert locked safe that can be unlocked by the terminal next to it and a Novice locked first aid box. Several ammo boxes can also be found around the laboratory. A steel stairway on the west side wraps around an empty circular pool and leads up to the flat roof which offers a good sniping position of the numerous mirelurks and nests on the coastal fringe.

Beware of the larger barnacles on the external walls to the ocean side which spray a radioactive cloud if passing by too close.

Notable loot

 * A Vault-Tec lunchbox - In the kitchen inside the house.
 * Wasteland Survival Guide issue #6 - In the room with a weapons workbench inside the house, on a desk near a typewriter and a TV.
 * Casey's key - Inside a toolbox, on a semi-sunken boat off the coast near Nahant Oceanological Society. The key opens the door to Casey's office in the building.
 * Bottle message - X marks the spot - On a tiny sand island with picket fencing, just a few paces west of the half-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 house, 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.
 * There may be a severe frame rate drop when looking in certain directions in the laboratory.
 * The Expert locked safe downstairs in the lab building can be re-locked via the adjacent computer, then unlocked an unlimited number of times for the experience points.
 * The Nuka-Cola machine on the ground floor of the house 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 else use explosives.