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Francis G. Bartlett was born on May 17, 1920 in Northeast Harbor, Maine. He received both his B.S.E. and M.S.E degrees in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1952 and 1957. During World War Two, he served as a cadet in the U.S. Merchant Marines (1941-1943) and as an ensign and LtJG with the U.S. Navy (1944-1946). Bartlett worked as a naval architect for Philip E. Spaulding and Puget Sound Bridge & Drydock in Seattle, Washington between 1952 and 1955. He later returned to the Puget Sound area to gain additional industrial experience working at the Todd Shipyard in Seattle and the Ranger Boat Company in Kent between 1958 and 1960.

Bartlett began teaching courses in the College of Engineering at the University of Washington in 1956 and was appointed as a tenured professor in 1961. The next year he spent his sabbatical serving as the Fulbright Lecturer in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at the University of Alexandria in Egypt. Bartlett returned to the University of Washington, where he taught until 1969. He later developed and taught courses in the Marine Engineering Technology Program at Mississippi State University from 1970 to 1977. He also lectured at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia (1977-1978) and served as the Visiting Professor at the U.S. Maritime Administration in 1976.

Bartlett was a member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, where he served as the Vice Chairman (1965-1966) and Chairman (1966-1967) for the Pacific Northwest Section. Over the course of his professional career, he was also a member of the U.S. Naval Institute, American Society for Engineering Education, International Oceanographic Foundation, American Society of Naval Engineers, and Marine Technology Society. Barlett authored several unpublished manuscripts concerning maritime history and architecture in the 1980's and 1990's, including "The Evolution of Shipping", "Ship Parts, Interim Products and Databases", and "The Realm of Ships: Unravelling the Shipping Industry". Francis Bartlett died on January 14, 2004.