The vessel is named after Laurence McKinley Gould, an American scientist who had explored both the Arctic and Antarctic.

Gould died in 1995 at the age of 98, and in the same year the National Science Foundation initiated the charter for the services of this ice-strengthened vessel to further its studies and knowledge of the Antarctic Peninsula and Southern Ocean.

[2] The ARSV Laurence M. Gould is operated by the Antarctic Support Contract (ASC)[1][2] on a long-term charter from Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO).

[6] The Gould, completed in 1998, is 230 feet long and is ice-classed ABS-A1, capable of breaking one foot of level ice with continuous forward motion.

The Gould acts as a resupply ship and does long term environmental research[7] in the Drake Passage and the Antarctic Peninsula, shuttling between Punta Arenas, Chile and Palmer Station, Antarctica.