The first ocean drilling that was planned specifically to undertake conjugate-margin sampling in a nonvolcanic rift was accomplished during Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 210. The initial vision for such drilling dates back to the days of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, and it was carried forward by the Joint Oceanographic Institutions for Deep Earth Sampling (JOIDES) Passive Margin Panel and Atlantic Regional Panel before being codified in a report by the JOIDES North Atlantic Rifted Margins Detailed Planning Group in 1991. We thank the individuals on these panels who acted as advocates for conjugate-margin drilling. Throughout this period and up to the present, many others participated in workshops, discussions, and development of proposals for drilling in the Newfoundland–Iberia rift and on the Newfoundland margin. Contributions by J. Austin, G. Boillot, M.C. Comas, N.W. Driscoll, M. Enachescu, A. Grant, F. Gradstein, W.S. Holbrook, J. Hopper, L. Jansa, C. Keen, H.C. Larsen, K.E. Louden, P.R. Miles, T. Minshull, D.S. Sawyer, J.-C. Sibuet, S.P. Srivastava, B.E. Tucholke, and R.B. Whitmarsh are particularly acknowledged.

The Study of Continental Rifting and Extension on the Eastern Canadian Shelf (SCREECH) program was key to collecting data that allowed us to develop the proposal that was ultimately successful for drilling in the Newfoundland Basin. The program was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), the Danish Research Foundation (Danmarks Grundforskningsfond), and the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada. We thank J.F. Allan of NSF for his support of SCREECH and for recommending that it be a two-ship field program, which contributed significantly to both the quantity and quality of the survey data collected. Individuals who were instrumental in formulating the SCREECH program and/or acquiring the data include T. Funck, W.S. Holbrook, J. Hopper, H.C. Larsen, K.E. Louden, H. Lau, G. Nunes, D. Shillington, B.E. Tucholke, and H. van Avendonk.

The engineering and drilling challenges for drilling a projected 2-km hole during Leg 210 were enormous, and the program required careful planning and execution. We thank G. Pollard for help with the initial drilling, casing, and coring plan. We are particularly grateful to Brian Jonasson, Leg 210 Operations Manager, for his contributions to developing this plan and for his expert guidance during the shipboard operations. He, together with Drilling Superintendent Tim McCown and the dedicated Transocean drilling crew, assured that we were well informed as we pursued our deep-drilling objectives and that we followed our objectives as aggressively as possible while always maintaining safe operating conditions. We also wish to acknowledge the help of John MacIntosh, Transocean Electrical Supervisor, who was instrumental in successfully completing numerous reentries under the exceptionally difficult conditions of having to deal with both a completely buried reentry cone and strong, muddy bottom currents; John even accepted suggestions from the "upstart" Co-Chief Scientists with good cheer.

The shipboard technical staff, led by Laboratory Officer William Mills, provided outstanding support for all the scientific operations during the cruise. Steve Kittredge, Schlumberger Logging Engineer, provided astute advice as we attempted logging operations in the difficult hole conditions of Site 1276. We are grateful to George Claypool, who was available 24/7 to give advice from shore about organic geochemistry and hydrocarbon monitoring during drilling and coring operations. We also thank Barry Freifield, who kindly provided and set up on the ship a portable X-ray computed tomographic imaging system for use during Leg 210.

We thank Captain Pete Mowat and the ship’s Transocean crew, as well as the Catermar staff, for their service throughout Leg 210. Their courtesy, dedication, and professionalism were central both to successful operations and to congenial shipboard life during the leg.

A special thanks is due to Adam Klaus, Shipboard Staff Scientist, who was invaluable in organizing shipboard scientific operations, maintaining communication among the diverse group of scientists during Leg 210, and, especially, guiding the Co-Chief Scientists through myriad details of how best to accomplish our scientific objectives (in addition to providing excellent cappuccino at critical moments!).

Finally, we express our thanks to the ODP staff at Texas A&M University for their untiring efforts in all phases of cruise planning, port-call activities, support during the cruise, and postcruise publication. Although Leg 210 was the final leg of ODP, their commitment to its mission has remained unabated and is a testament to why ODP has proven to be a premiere program in the earth sciences.