The schooner HARVEY GAMAGE under full sail.
After a two-year hiatus, the schooner HARVEY GAMAGE is once again gracing the waters of the coast of Maine. There is an important difference in her mission; unlike the other large schooners sailing among our islands she is carrying students instead of being part of the tourism industry.
The roughly week-long trips she is taking the youth of Maine and beyond are designed to foster improved critical thinking skills, leadership, and teamwork among the young crew members by giving them experiential learning opportunities simply not found in the classroom or on our playing fields. While manned with professional crew, as quickly as students can engage, the experienced hands will ease away and have the middle and high school students take over the operation of the ship to the extent possible, organizing getting her underway, navigation, and handling the 131’ sparred length vessel.
The educational opportunities will not stop there. Course modules developed by Alyson Graham, a high school educator in Wiscasset, adds in layers of marine science, meteorology and other learning based on what the youth see during the voyage. The day-to-day routine will open the eyes of these fortunate students to employment opportunities in our communities in Maine be it visits to aqua-culture centers, high-tech boatbuilding, marine laboratories, Maine Maritime Academy etc.
HARVEY GAMAGE, referred to as “the GAMAGE” in shorthand, is a purpose-built vessel designed for providing educational experiences at sea. Her berthing, while adequate, is not luxurious or spacious and amenities are purposely kept minimal while adequate. There won’t be any long hot showers onboard as there is no hot water! The cook heats it on the stove purely for sanitizing dishes. Want a shower? Dawn your swimsuit; there is a hose and spray nozzle on deck!
For almost 50 years since the 95-foot length on deck ship was launched in 1973 at the Harvey Gamage yard in South Bristol, Maine she carried her precious cargo along the coast of Maine in summer and most years off to the Caribbean in the winter months working under various operating entities. The last of those dissolved in 2022 and she was laid up with owner, Phin Sprague, who had purchased her in 2014 at his Portland Yacht Services yard.
It was clear to Phin as well as to many “GAMAGE alumni” that there was an unquenched thirst for the type of education that she had provided for so many years there simply needed to be a new operating entity to get her going. Alyson Graham, a GAMAGE alumnus, was among the most ardent advocates and her colleague, Kim Andersson, Superintendent of the Wiscasset School System immediately grasped the concept having for years observed student disengagement brought on by social media and further impacted by COVID and started working with Phin to get her back in service. Other early volunteers include Mark Winter and Bill Full, Maine Maritime Academy alumni who understand the value of this type of education.
Working together, along with many other supporters, they created the Marine Learning Project (https://www.marinelearningproject.org/harvey-gamage) to provide a non-profit under which the GAMAGE could operate. The timing was not perfect as it was not clear there was enough organization, volunteers, and funding to get her into operation after two years of layup until mid-April, but with many hands helping, she was given her US Coast Guard Certificate of Inspection in mid-June just in time to attend Boothbay Windjammer Days. Now she is off doing the work she was designed and built to do, providing an unparalleled experiential learning experience to the youth of Maine and beyond.
To help spur participation funds were raised to provide generous scholarships for in state students so the cost per student of running the program would not be daunting to virtually any family. Her first week “in program” was the week of July 7th with four more weeks to follow during the summer of 2025 culminating with her visit to the Maine Boats, Homes, and Harbors Show in Rockland on the last day on August 10th where you can visit her and get more information on the programs. The goal is to build this back for the long term and have her doing at least 10 trips during the summer months and then expand further into her longer trips south during the fall/winter/early spring.
For those who believe in this type of education there is still a need for more volunteers and financial support. Simply visit the website address https://www.marinelearningproject.org/harvey-gamage or email Victoria Hubbell at info@marinelearningproject.org
