Dear Editor:

Thank you for that outstanding article about the Corwith Cramer and the Sea Education Association (SEA) in last week’s paper. As an alum of that program (1979!), past crew and instructor (1988-1992), and current trustee of the organization, it was my pleasure to help organize the ships’ visit to Boothbay Harbor. It was especially gratifying that so many local people had a chance to see the ship and learn about the work that SEA does in the worlds of education and marine science. Two reasons for this note: firstly, to thank you for that great article; and secondly, to provide a very small correction: the article identifies the vessel as “SVV Corwith Cramer” The correct prefix is “SSV.” This stands for Sailing School Vessel.

It may be interesting for readers to note that in 1988 when this ship was designed and built, building it required the organization to work with the US Congress to create the Sailing School Vessel act so that this ship could be built and put in service in the US. The Corwith Cramer is the first vessel built to this (then) new Federal Regulation! And one more interesting tidbit: the firm that designed this vessel was Wooden and Marean which was located in Boothbay Harbor and Wiscasset. The primary designers for this project were Parker Marean (who passed away in 1997) and Roger Long who continues involvement with SEA’s governance as a “member of the corporation.”

Doug Goldhirsch

Boothbay Harbor