Saturday, March 14, 2009

Maritime Summer Sea term 2009 cruise


I have been hired to be the Ship's Librarian for the State University of New York's Maritime College's Summer Sea term. This will be the second time that I have done this. I was the librarian in 2002.

The 7 week session essentially brings the Maritime College to sea to train the students for careers in the maritime industry. The cruise is aboard the the Empire State VI , a 565 ft., 17,000 ton transport ship that will be the home and school for about 500 cadets, faculty, officers and staff for 2 months. On board, the students will learn to operate an ocean-going vessel. Every student has to complete 3 cruises before graduation to satisfy U.S. Coast Guard regulations for licensing.

This year's cruise will begin in mid-May and return in mid-July. The cruise will cover about 10,000 miles and take us to 4 ports in the Atlantic and Europe. It is always an exciting and challenging experience for both the cadets and crew. I will be reporting as regularly as possible on the cruise.

Ship's starting location map