An equipment malfunction has delayed the departure of Maine Maritime Academy’s training vessel from Penobscot Bay.
The school’s 500-foot long training ship, State of Maine, takes an annual overseas training cruise so students can get hands-on experience in operating a large vessel. This year, the 74-day cruise was expected to take 202 students, along with 45 staff and crew, to ports of call in Florida, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Spain, Portugal, Canada, and Portland before returning to Castine.
But, so far, the ship is still within sight of shore, though the ship did motor out of Castine’s harbor as scheduled on May 8. The reason? A small crane used to lower and raise one of the ship’s four lifeboats broke during U.S. Coast Guard testing and inspections later that same day, as the ship was anchored off the northern tip of Islesboro, according to an official blog midshipmen are keeping on the cruise.
Since then the ship has been anchoring off Searsport while waiting for a replacement part for the lifeboat to be delivered. Once the repair is made and the Coast Guard gives the okay, the ship will depart Maine for points further south and east.
“The part is currently en route to Castine (direct from Norway!) and the TSSOM will be returning to the Castine dock this afternoon for the next few days while the repair is completed,” school officials posted Monday on Facebook.
The delay in leaving Penobscot Bay has forced the school to adjust the cruise itinerary, however. The planned visit to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean has been canceled, but the ship may instead make a stop in New York City, according to the cruise blog.
The time spent in the bay, rather than cruising the open seas, has not been wasted, school officials said. Students have received at-sea training in maintenance and operations while cruising around the bay.
“From repairs, to watches, to plotting courses the students have remained busy and in good spirits,” they wrote on Facebook.
How the delay is expected to affect the cruise overall was not clear on Monday. An MMA spokesperson couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
The 2024 training cruise is expected to be the final one for the school’s current training ship, a former Navy oceanographic research vessel that has served as MMA’s training ship since 1997. School officials have said they hope their new training vessel, a $320 million ship under construction in Philadelphia, will be delivered to Castine by spring of 2025.
