TS Kennedy Returns From Six Week Sea Term With Seven Whaler Alumni On Board

The TS Kennedy returned to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy's homeport Sunday afternoon with seven Nantucket alumni on board.

Camden Willett, Paige Albertson, and Austin Starr are all members of Nantucket's Class of 2019 and 1/Cs (First Class Cadets).

3/C Marsh Hickman, 3/C James Culkins, and 3/C Matthew M cFarlane are all members of Nantucket's Class of 2021 and 2/Cs (Third Class Cadets).

Justin Zadroga is a member of Nantucket's Class of 2022 and is a 4/C (Fourth Class Cadet).

During the MMA cadet's annual six week sea term, which began on January 8, they made several stops with the ports of call being Barbados, Aruba, St. Thomas and Ft. Lauderdale.

There were over 450 cadets and 90 officers and crew members aboard the ship. The students set sail and began their six-week journey to the Caribbean Sea from Buzzards Bay as the final members ever to travel aboard the 540-foot training ship, which will be replaced with an updated version this year.

The cadets are majoring in marine engineering, marine transportation, and facilities engineering. During their sea term they studied weather forecasting, celestial navigation, ocean currents, rust removal, engine maintenance, sewerage treatment, firefighting, and seawater desalination, and several other topics. The vessel also conducted anchoring drills off the coast of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.

Below are some photos taken by Christa Willett.