Programs Blog

Thursday, 17 June 2025

Noon Position: (Lat and Long):  41deg 31.4’ N x 070deg 40.3’W

Ship Heading (degrees):  NA – Alongside Dyers Dock

Ship Speed (knots):  NA – Alongside Dyers Dock

Log (nm): 0.0

Weather / Wind / Sail Plan (from 1300 Watch Change):  Partly sunny, warm and humid.  

Description of Location: Alongside Dyers Dock in Woods Hole, MA

Welcome to the SSV Corwith Cramer!  The students and crew have now merged as one shipboard community. We are 22 students and 15 professional staff – a full ship’s compliment – our crew for the upcoming voyage. 

Stepping aboard a tall ship is like crossing into a foreign land. There are unique customs: walk backwards down the ladders, latch doors open or closed, think of the ship and your shipmates before yourself.  There are also so many new terms: heads = bathrooms, on deck versus down below, bow and stern, port and starboard, etc. etc. Our student crew is doing a great job getting accustomed to their new home! 

As a Sailing School Vessel we are not allowed to carry passengers, only working members of the ship’s crew. That means there is a fair bit of training required before we can legally set sail. Today, students learned about the all-important Boat Check. Once an hour, for the entirety of our voyage, one person is responsible for walking through all areas of the ship, top to bottom, to check for fire, flooding, and anything else that may be out of place. The Boat Check is our shield against any misfortune that may come our way. Knowing that one of our shipmates is taking their turn to look out for our safety allows us all to sleep well each night! 

Students also learned about safety measures in the galley, the various engineering systems on the ship, as well as how to safely handled the lines that help us set and strike the many sails.  After all that training everybody had worked up quite the appetite. Thankfully the galley made an amazing dinner of spaghetti bolognese (with veggie options) and salad with all the fixins!  

After dinner, we had our first discussion about oceanography and why we should care about the oceans.  As you can imagine, the list was long! It has been a successful first day and I am excited to see what comes next. 

Our journey together has just begun, so please stay tuned and follow along in our adventures in the days to come.  

Cheers

Chief Scientist -Jeffrey M. Schell

PS Sweet dreams to my darling rose and love to family and friends back home.