Today the second boatload of fifth
graders from the Indian Head School boarded the
Ernestina for a few hours of sailing out of New
Bedford Harbor and out into Buzzard's Bay. The weather looked threatening during
the entire four hour sail, but we managed to
avoid the real rain. The fog, on the other
hand, found us and sayed with us for most of the
sail. Spirits not dampened in the least, the
57 students and teachers broke themselves into
smaller groups and began to learn about all sorts
of different things from the crew of the
Ernestina. Everybody got a chance to stand
bow watch and to steer the big Gloucester fishing
schooner, and when they weren't helping to sail
the boat, the students were given a
lesson on deck about Navigation.
Aside from assisting with the
ship's safe operation, the student
groups moved through several other teaching
stations above and below decks. In the
Foc's'le there was an enormous Polar Bear who
helped teach the students a little about the
History of the Ernestina, and, in the Fish Hold,
they learned about the ecology of watersheds by
building a model of one. After watersheds
came a class on Knot Tying, where everyone was
given an opportunity to make him or herself a
bracelet or a necklace. Back on deck, there
was a Touch Tank into which the students could
get a very, very close look at several
marine creatures and some aquatic vegetation, as
well.
You can see an image (below
right) of another Essex-built schooner named the
Lettie G. Howard (1893) that was sailing around
off New Bedford with us.
The following is a list of
things that the fifth graders from Indian Head
who were aboard the Ernestina today will always
remember:
"Barnacles start their
lives as plankton; plankton can be plants or
animals, as long as it floats and cannot swim
against the current."
"Some slippershells can
change from male to female."
"It's a myth that you can
hum to a snail to make it come out of its
shell."
"We know how to find the
ship's location using 'land'marks."
"Red Right
Returning!"
"We can make rope
bracelets."
"Red buoys are even
numbered, and green ones are odd numbered."
"The Ernestina is 108
years old."
"We need to know how deep
the boat is and how to read the depth on the
charts."
"Cape Cod was named after
the first fish a [European] person caught
there."
"We know how to use hand
signals from bow watch to tell the captain and
the helmsperson what's happening in front of the
boat."
"The Ernestina was named
after more than one person: When she was new she
was named after Effie M. Morrissey, the first
captain's dughter, then she was renamed the
Ernestina after another captain, Enrique Medes',
daughter."
"A nautical mile is longer
than a statute mile."
"Barnacles have openings
in their tops through which they feed on
plankton."
"Watersheds are separated
by mountains. In Hanson, we live in two
watersheds: Massachusetts Bay and
Narragansett Bay."
"Bivalves have two
shells."
"We know how to make
necklaces using daisy chain knots."
"The Hurricane Barrier is
neat."
"Perriwinkles grow their
shells as they grow bigger inside and need more
room."
"Also, sometimes we have
to stay below decks while the crew lower the fore
sail."
It was a full day on the high
seas!
Submitted by Amanda Lake
Captain: Willi Bank
Program Coordinator: MaryHelen Gunn
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