The wooden schooner Roseway served as an open-air schoolhouse for 25 students from Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School on Tuesday while under full sail off St. Thomas.
Part of the World Ocean School, the 137-foot Roseway returned to its winter home in the Virgin Islands last month and will be welcoming more than 250 students aboard from her berth at Yacht Haven Grande marina through Friday.
Built in Essex, Mass., in 1925 to be a Grand Banks fishing schooner, it has become a floating classroom serving more than 4,000 island students utilizing a diverse curriculum that includes math, ecology, marine biology and navigation, all conducted aboard the ship.
Captain Tom Ryan issued the first order of the day, a lesson in team work that included raising the heavy, red canvas sails. The ship has a complement of four sails which students raised in two teams.
Taking the lead in his navigation course was seventh-grader Michael Morla, who successfully helped the captain keep the bow to the wind as the ship averaged 6 to 8 knots on her two-hour voyage.
“It would be great to someday be a captain of a boat,” said Morla. “I have been on a cruise ship with my family before, but nothing like this.”
Moving about from class to class on the deck of the large vessel, the students were quick to point out the landmarks of St. Thomas while querying their instructors with a seemingly endless amount of questions that included everything from the depth of the ocean to the chances of seeing a shark or whale. 
“It is so important to see the things we study in class like math and temperature in its practical environment,” said social studies instructor Topaze Lake. “In order to ask the right questions as it pertains to future careers in the marine industry, the students need to have more experiences like this.”
The funding for the students day sail came from private donations and was organized through the offices of Senate President Shawn-Michael Malone. The senator welcomed the students afterward.
Surrounded by yachts and cruise ships of various sizes at Yacht Haven Grande, Malone challenged the students not to be afraid to pursue a career in any aspect of the boating industry from sail maker to captain.
This is the seventh year the ship has returned to the territory after spending the summer sailing and teaching in the waters off the eastern United States.
