Hurricane Carol battered the East Coast, causing more than $4 billion in damages.

At the height of the storm, the Albatross III was straining at her stern line and in danger of running aground in the flooded parking lot, the area in the foreground.

Shortly after taking the picture, the photographers (who were fisheries biologists) helped chief engineer Franklin Macaulay get aboard the ship.

Macaulay fired up the engines and brought the Albatross III to the center of the harbor to wait out the storm.

The Woods Hole fisheries laboratories and aquarium had survived major hurricanes in 1938 and 1944, but Carol damaged them beyond repair. The 1880s-era buildings were demolished in 1958 to make way for the brick buildings that house the Woods Hole fisheries laboratory and aquarium today.