Ocean Classroom Foundation will cease operations after nearly 20 years of successful education at sea. OCF is working diligently to meet program and other obligations through August 31, 2014.

"It is with deep regret that we conclude this voyage," said Peter Neill, OCF Chairman. "Ocean Classroom has served thousands of students through sea experience and academic excellence. We have navigated surely and safely for two decades from the Canadian Maritimes to the Caribbean, providing accredited semester programs, sail-training, service, community-building, and personal transformation to students from Maine, New England, and the United States.

“We have been recognized for seamanship and educational innovation and we have bettered the lives of young people through a unique encounter with the sea. We are grateful to our alumni, parents, clients, and donors for their long history of support and to our staff, educators, crew, and captains for their dedication and skills. We are aware of other organizations and ships that are similarly at work and we wish them well. We, however, have sailed our course."

The Ocean Classroom Foundation (OCF), founded in 1996, is a nonprofit educational organization building the next generation of ocean stewards through education under sail. Accredited and non-traditional programs are offered aboard three USCG certified schooners: Harvey Gamage, Westward, and Spirit of Massachusetts; along the Atlantic seaboard, from the Caribbean to the Canadian Maritimes.

Its offices and ships were once based in Boothbay Harbor, beginning in 2007, before its offices were moved to Damariscotta in 2012.