Maine Maritime grad stays in touch with School Kids

Maine Maritime Academy training ship "The State of Maine" moored in Castine Maine - Photo by K.C. .
Good article about Castine Maine, home of Maine Maritime Academy, from the Christian Science Monitor: Modern mariner phones home to Maine schoolhouse - The focus of the article is on Gordon “Mac” MacArthur, second mate on an oil rig who emails to grade school students back in Castine:

From an oil rig in the Indian Ocean, a seafaring dad offers practical math and tales of pirates as lessons over a Web connection with his kids’ classroom back home.

But it also has some interesting background on the area.

Maine still has lobster – selling now at 1970s prices. And it still has sea captains and marine engineers who can live in tiny coastal towns and earn a living on drilling rigs sailing from Singapore to Brazil, blogging to the kids at the local school.

The article also mentions Maine's Capt. Andy Chase, professor of Marine Transportation at MMA. Capt Chase was second mate when he talked John McPhee into accompany him on a voyage on the Stella Lykes. McPhee wrote about the trip in his book Looking for A ship.

Speaking of writers, the link to this article was kindly send to me by writer Peter J. Brown. Brown is a fellow Mainer and is a writer with expertise in satellites. - Here is a sample: ENGAGING CHINA IN SPACE from Asia Times Online.

K.C.