SST: May 18, 2009
May 18, 2009
A cool, overcast day. Calm waters. Hundreds of cheering parents, many with signs identifying their daughters and friends. Frantic last minute activities. The gangplank going up. Cadets in dress whites phoning friends ashore and snapping pictures. Tug boats spouting streams of water. One student’s family and friends circling by in a yacht. The Throggs Neck Bridge looming overhead with echoes of traffic faintly drifting downward….That was the scene at the Maritime College wharf on Monday morning, May 18, 2009.
At 10:00 a.m., precisely on schedule and with horns blasting, the T.S. Empire State VI slipped away from the dock. Summer Sea Term 2009 had begun! We were embarked on a sixty day voyage for the benefit of our regimental students studying to become licensed deck officers and ship’s engineers in the United State Merchant Marine. We were also following a glorious college tradition begun with our first training ship, the St. Mary’s, in 1874.
The ship is filled to capacity with students, officers, faculty, medical personnel, crew, yeomen, stewards, food service workers, and one chaplain (who will be writing this daily blog, ably assisted by Cadet James English and the Information Technology staff back at Maritime.).
The ship is headed across the Atlantic Ocean to the Azores, its first port of call. Other destinations include the British Crown Colony of Gibraltar; Rykeivik, Iceland; and Kiel, Germany. During the cruise students will accrue sea time, attend classes, and gain valuable hands-on experience as to the running and maintenance of a complex, modern vessel.
Last night, I walked around the upper decks chatting with students. We had dropped anchor off Montauk Point to cast off a small boat so several personnel could return to shore, including Admiral John Craine, the President of SUNY Maritime College. Admiral Craine will be rejoining the cruise at Gibraltar. There was also a delivery of some necessary paperwork and inevitable forgotten supplies.
Many of the cadets were taking advantage of the proximity to land to use cell phones to say more good-byes to girl-friends, boy-friends, and parents. Most were milling around talking, excited and thrilled to be on board.
But even on this first day out, when discipline was light and morale was high, cadets were working. Two cadets in uniform were aft standing watch. And I had a fascinating conversation with two senior cadets, Cook Parker and Kirk Schroeder, who were on deck working with a sextant to get a leg up on their celestial navigation class. By the time Ian finished giving me a basic explanation of his work I felt I knew more about the subject than Prince Henry the Navigator.
Life on board will be educational for all of us.
Fr. John Farrell
Regimental Chaplain
