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Hastings Middle School
8:30am-2pm

Monday, June 9, 2003

 

On June 9, the Ernestina sailed with eighth graders from Fairhaven's Hastings Middle School science club for the marine environment component of a Southeastern Environmental Education Alliance (SEEAL) sponsored program they are participating in. It is one of four legs in a "Watershed Expedition" that also puts students in Whale Boats with the Whaling City Rowing Club, Canoes with the Lloyd Center for Environmental Studies and on the trail with the Coalition for Buzzards Bay all coordinated by the program coordinator for the Westport River Watershed Alliance.

We departed the State Pier, raised all four lower sails and continued out of the inner harbor into Buzzards Bay.

The students moved in small groups around the boat learning about the marine ecosystem by studying plankton, navigation, the history of the Ernestina and water quality.  They also got the chance to steer at the helm and stand at look out.

In the afternoon, we set the otter trawl, hoping to take a look at the organisms that live at on the bottom of the bay.  After a lot of work hauling back, everyone was able to observe shrimp, small arthropods, various seaweeds, crabs, gastropods and tube worms.

We returned to the New Bedford inner harbor, struck sail and docked, ending a full day out on the water.

Program Coordinators: Kristen Sharpless
Captain: Willi Bank

 

SEEAL operates under the auspices of the Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts. This project has been funded, in part, by the Massachusetts Environmental Trust.

Here is the track of the ship at the point of returning to New Bedford Harbor with Butlers Flat Light just aft on the port side. 

Hanging out on the Bay. The Elizabeth Islands are in the background.

At the helm. Students come aboard and take charge on the ship.

An historical tour through photos. What is the right order?

The standard compass on the forward end of the deckhouse is great for getting bearings on landmarks. 

The bearings are plotted on the chart to fix a position. 

Gwen gives an overview of the trawling process. 

Water sampling. The bottle can be triggered at depth to get a sample from down below.

We would like to thank Lotus and IBM for donation of software, hardware and funding to enable regular electronic updates from the ship.

NOAA Chart is provided courtesy of Maptech using Cruising Navigator 4.3 and grabbing the image using Grabit Pro 6.02.

 
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Copyright 1997-2003
Schooner Ernestina
89 North Water Street, P.O. Box 2010, New Bedford, MA 02741-2010
phone 508.992.4900 -- fax 508.984.7719
www.ernestina.org

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