NMHS:
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A CAUSE IN MOTION
Making History-at-Sea by David B. Allen Director of Education "It's a brig! " shouted 16-year-old Jessica Spadafino. "Two masts, and square sails on both of them, " she pronounced , pointing at Niagara as the brig sailed beyond the starboard quarter of USCG Barque Eagle. Jessica and her team of 50 students and ten teachers from aro und the country had just finished the task of helping Coast Guard cadets set sails aboard Eagle as she came through the Narrows into New York's Upper Bay. The excited students, up at 2AM to board the ship, were just beginning to take in rhe reality of the incredible event evolving aro und them. "Most of the larger ships out here are three-masted barks or full riggers, just like the Rose," noted 17-year-old Josh Holbus from Maryland as he gestured toward rhe ships following Eagle as she crossed under rhe Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. "Bur 200 years ago they didn 't have rhar radio that the chief mare keeps talking into . They used signal flags and I think they ran into each other sometimes." Jessica, Josh, and their fellow maritime history students, participating in the National Maritime Historical Society's History at Sea education program, had been studying America's maritime history for the past ten days and were now on board Eagle, leading rhe Parade of Sail in New York's Operation Sail 2000.
and presenting the Karl Kortum /American Ship Trust Award ro rhe frigate Rose
at the New York Yacht Club 37 W es t 44rh Srreer New York, New York Reception ar 5:30; dinn er ar 7: 00 $25 0 per person
For reservations and information contact:
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N MHS, PO Box 68, Peekskill NY 10566 914 737-7878; www.seahisrory.org
SEA HISTORY 94, AUTUMN 2000
A patch ofblue at Eagle '.r foremast shows the History-atSea students getting their orders for the day (top). Their duties ran the gamut ftom hauling on lines, to polishing brass, to relaying commands ftom the quarterdeck. A week earlier, in Newport harbor, they learned to pull together in Rose '.r longboat and sailed aboard the schooner Aurora.
This maritime education program, conducted by NMHS as part of our educational partnership with Operation Sail 2000, was designed to stir interest in our nation's maritime heritage in all Americans, bringing together students and teachers from around the co untry. History at Sea 2000, in cooperation with the US Coast Guard, rhe New York State Maritime C ollege at Fort Schuyler, the "HMS " Rose Foundation, and the International Yacht Restoration School in Newport, Rhode Island, combined ten days of classes in maritime history with sailing as crew aboard historic ships. Students and teachers lived, worked and studied together aboard ship and at Fort Schuyler. The grand finale of rhe program was an invitation from the Coast Guard to come aboard Eagle to put what they had learned into practice during OpSail in New York on rhe Fourth of July. Each day during rhe college-level classes, Timothy Walker, a history professor from
Boston University, used hands-on activities in addition to academic discussion to communicate the significance ofAmerica's maritime heritage to students from inland and coastal states. Professor Walker addressed the evolution of sail, the fundamentals of ship design, commercial shipping, and the economic and political motivation for developing a navy. Mary Betts, a 14-year-old from Rhode Island, declared: "In the past 10 days I've learned more than the greatest reacher could have taught in rhe classroom! " H er opinion was seconded by co unselor Lr. Robert Skibar, USN (Rer), a naval science reacher, who also noted rhar rhe lecture series introduced students to rhe college experience and might "prove to be a deciding factor in their future educational choices." He added: "Speaking from 22 years of active naval service, I offer you the highest co mpliment one sai lor can give another: I'd go to sea with this gro up anytime!" .:t
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