Sc isqe uancre-einriggae r
A visiting American square-rigger travelling in our waters over the next few months could be described as a university at sea. Among her crew are 25 researchers exploring the Pacific in a most unusual way.
The SSV Robert C. Seamans is a 350-tonne, 41m steel brigantine owned and operated by the Sea Education Association (SEA), based at the legendary Woods Hole research facility in Massachusetts.
Launched in 2001, she’s designed for oceanographic research and sail training. Her annual programme involves a series of voyages around the Pacific, each carrying a crew and around 25 students from universities across the US. A sister ship, the Corwith Cramer, runs an identical programme in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
The SSV Robert C. Seamans is crewed by a skipper, three mates, a chief scientist and three assistants, an engineer and a steward. In addition to their research projects, students are rostered shipboard tasks and, just as with our own Spirit of New Zealand, they ultimately learn to sail the ship themselves, independently of the watching crew.
Students apply to join the ship and take a semester “break” from their conventional studies for a six-week voyage involving a wide range of research. This work is cross-credited to their universities.
The square-rigger’s recent arrival in Auckland marked the end of a voyage that began in September in American Samoa and included stops in Samoa, Wallis, and Fiji. Soon after arriving the students left and returned to their universities, making way for a fresh batch and a new crew.
Each of the Pacific voyages is geared to different areas of research. This recently-completed one was known as SPICE – Sustainability in Polynesian Island Cultures and Ecosystems. Skipper Sean Bercaw describes it as an environmental studies semester.
“It takes an interdisciplinary look at the people and islands of Polynesia in an effort to learn what they can tell us about the global issues of environmental sustainability and cultural continuity.”
Developed by SEA faculty in conjunction with Tahitian partners, SPICE began with a shore component at Woods Hole itself, where students were introduced to the history, culture and geography of Polynesian Islands.
On the voyage they explored issues of sustainability with local officials and visited historical, cultural and agricultural sites. Using onboard lab and research facilities, they investigated the complex factors that threaten fragile island ecosystems and the surrounding marine environment.
Bercaw says the research explored cultural as well as environmental issues on land, with a particular emphasis on drainage, stormwater runoff, sewage treatment and electricity.
While the programme implies the research is geared to science students, says Bercaw, this is not the case. “In fact they represent all disciplines of the academic spectrum – arts, science, engineering, and education.
“The voyage concept is to expose students to a wider kind of thinking. We don’t follow a precise curriculum. We prefer to think of the voyage and the research as a life-changing experience. And it can be life-changing. Most students have never sailed – let alone on a square-rigger – and for a student from Nepal on our last voyage, joining the ship was the first time he’d ever seen the sea.”
Still, the programme is structured around four core disciplines of oceanography: chemical (what’s in the water); practical (study of the currents/water temperature); biological (sea creatures); and geological – the study of the sea bed.
All students participate in all the research even if it isn’t their field of study. The ship is equipped with advanced laboratories and the students process the research data on board. Samples and findings are shared with universities and institutions across the world.
NAVIGATING BY STARS
While students are taught celestial navigation on the voyage, this latest SPICE programme included an unusual tweak.
“We wanted to expose them to navigating the way the early Polynesians navigated,” says Bercaw, “using currents, wave action, birds and clouds as cues, and steering by the stars.
“Before the voyage started, by way of preparation, the students attended lectures by a professor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has written a book about Polynesian navigation.”
This is the second time the ship has been in New Zealand waters. She was here last year and will be returning more often in future. This voyage includes a month-long haul-out in Whangarei for maintenance – antifouling and removal of the prop shaft for inspection.
The SSV Robert C. Seamans has a sail area of 795m2 and is powered by a 455hp Caterpillar diesel engine. B
9 April – Wanganui (under lights)
Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) sailors are preparing themselves for a challenge from overseas naval forces in the annual Bay of Islands Sailing Week regatta. Two units of 12 navy personnel – one from the UK and one from Australia – will be sailing two of the RNZN’S Chico 40 training yachts from Auckland to the Bay of Islands, to compete against the RNZN in the popular regatta.
Despite the threat of an “overseas attack”, RNZN Adventure Training Centre Manager Phil Bishop is upbeat about his sailors’ chances.
“We’ve raced against the Royal Navy before in 2004 when we won, and again in 2008 when they got the better of us. With our 75th Anniversary taking place in 2016, it seemed a fitting year for a rematch.”
Bishop says there are strong traditional links between the three navies and everyone is looking forward to marking the 75th Anniversary with a bit of friendly rivalry and competition.