Fall 1999, Dick's nephew, Ben McKenney of Richmond, Maine, will enter his senior year at Maine Maritime Academy, where he's majoring in marine engineering. That includes real sea training aboard various ships, including MMA's own (training vessel) T.V. State Of Maine. On July 1st, Ben and the ship arrived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on the penultimate leg of a cruise which took him to the Azores and the Mediterranean Sea. We were there, and took these pictures of the T.V. State Of Maine. She arrives home in Castine, Maine for the Fourth of July.


From the port wing of the ship's bridge, the bow looks far away.

And from the same vantage point, the view aft...

  and downward.

From inside the ship's bridge, the view (of old Portsmouth) over the bow.

Inside, a section of the very wide bridge, with two of its marine-style windshield wipers -- which spin to fling off water and ice.

Ship's wheels just aren't what they used to be!

Ben's bunk may not look big to you, but for a working ship it's mighty fine.

Ben only shares it with one other upperclassman. Freshmen stay in tighter quarters. In one larger room, 43 of them are triple-bunked! That's gotta make you want to study harder!

From the main deck, we enter the engine compartment. Stairs wind down five stories to the engine level...


And it's another five stories up to the hatch above!

Ben spends more time down there

in the engine room than in his cabin.

And they have their ways of reminding students to be careful on this giant ship.

As we leave the TV State Of Maine,

a few aft views of this impressive merchant ship.

It's not all work asea. On nice days, the crew suntans on this roomy fantail, and barbeque grills take over.

The T.V. State Of Maine is 499 feet long, 72 feet wide, and draws 30 feet of water. Its complement for this cruise was 238 men and women.

We enjoyed our tour, and hope you did too. You can click here to learn more about the T.V. State Of Maine and the Maine Maritime Academy.