Launching "Cutter !!"for a rowing drill. Niagara is one of the very few SSVs large enough to carry traditional boats in side davits. Integrating small-craft handling into the training scheme is an important part of the program. own "first-person document." They gain an appreciation of the limits and options that our predecessors were confronted with. I once had a professor of history and nautical archaeology tell me that, after seeing the rockbound shores of the lower St. Lawrence from onboard Niagara, he had gained a completely new understanding of the difficulties confronting the British invasion force in 1758-9. The sail training course is not a substitute for academic study, but provides the filte r of firsthand knowledge to enhance comprehension and analysis of the historical record. Our world is the consequence of decisions made by our forebears. Our understanding of the problems they confronted, the choices open to them, the good or bad decisions reached, and the veraciry of the records, is greatly enhanced by having lived for a time with som e of the sam e conditions. The highest value of learning history is to foster good citizenship. Learning both the bright triumphs and the dark errors of our pas t contributes to an informed electorate, which is inseparable from the maintenance of a viable democracy. The United States is a nation of vast cultural and ethnic diversiry. The only
fastenings that hold this country together are a set of shared ideals, val ues, and laws, the understanding of which is dependent upon some knowledge of history. H ow does learning the ancient skills of seamanship, enhanced by histori cal perspective, contribute to the goal of fostering good citizenship? One of the outstanding lessons of seafaring is not only how selfrelianr we must be, but also how interdependent the members of a ship's co mpany are. The highest value of sail train ing is fo r participants to learn through experience that the greatest resource they have onboard is each other. Ir is through mutual
trust, carefully nurtured competence, and unceasing vigilance that a ship's company survives in a small fragile structure, suspended over an abyss of water, isolated in the immensiry of a hazardous environm ent. Each ship contains its own sociery which in large m easure is based on trust. Actually, trust is at the heart of any sociery, bur at sea the need for it is starkly apparent. Trust by the officers that the crew will do their dury. Trust by the crew that the officers know what they are about. Trust by all in an ancient tradition of skills and responsibilities. The learning is not so much abo ut the ship as from the ship. The usual result is greater respect for self, for shipmates, for the craft of seamanship, and the marine environment. Another powerful theme of the sail training experience is empowerment. Historically there is a great dichotomy between the shoreside and shipboard view of sailors. Released after a long voyage from the hardships of the sea, the seamen ashore were seen by landsmen as drunken, licentious, indolent, morally reprehensible specimens ofhumaniry, and there is ample supporting evidence for the truth of this view. At sea, however, the stark demands of survival put the emphasis on attention to du ry and fortitude in adversiry. Seeing the ship through heavy weather, especially if called upon to jury-rig repairs afterwards, instilled pride, an attitude of" ... of course we can do this (insert hard dangero us task)-we're seamen! " Getting a ship
(right) Every year approximately 3 0-40 % of Niagara's crew, both professional and trainee, are women. These four are hauling bunts and clews at port main pinrail. 24
SEA HISTORY 126, SPRING 2009