BUZZARDS BAY – Massachusetts Maritime Academy’s T.S. Kennedy pushed off yesterday morning for its annual Sea Term with a new captain at the helm.
Michael Campbell takes over for Tom Bushy, who had captained the vessel during Sea Term for the last two decades.
Campbell said he felt prepared to be captain for Sea Term because of his previous experience.
“The last two years I’ve been chief mate on here so I’ve kind of been in the same position with preparing for the Sea Term,” Campbell said. “I know what to expect. I’m not walking into something new.”
This marks the eighth Sea Term for the new captain.
Campbell said he has some large shoes to fill replacing Bushy.
“That’s the only captain they have known for a long time so it’s definitely going to be a different experience,” he said.
Nearly 600 cadets will handle the operations of the vessel which will include deck and engine checks, maintenance and emergency drills.
“[There’s] no better way to learn it than to actually do,” Campbell said. “And with the training ship we have the ability to let the cadets actually have hands on experience.”
The cadets will participate in anchor drills off of Puerto Rico and make ports of call in Aruba, Barbados, St. Thomas and Fort Lauderdale.
Campbell said Sea Term is a great experience for the cadets.
“You can read about it and you can [work] in simulators but there is nothing like doing it for real,” he said.
The MMA cadets will be joined on the voyage by 20 students from the United State Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York and seven Aggies from Texas A&M.
The cadets arrived for dockside preparations around the new year and are scheduled to return to Buzzards Bay on February 19 at 4 p.m.
Campbell said the academy is looking to make the trip a little longer.
“In the future, I think they are trying to expand a little bit by another week just to get more sea time for their licenses,” he said.
A video of the Kennedy pushing off can be found below.
By BRIAN MERCHANT, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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