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The others were volunteer teacher Lois Gantner and crewmember John Janson, a former U.S. Marine. Captain David Leanza steered the vessel and crewmember Perry Basden carried out the bulk of the orders because Janson was teaching the students about sailing.

Although the harbor and area was blanketed in a low-lying fog, and the temperature was in the 50s, the water was calm. The ship is equipped with radar and fog horn to warn other boats, such as fishermen in small watercraft who out for the morning's catch.

Before the students boarded the two-masted ship via a gangplank, Janson showed the students how to put on a flotation device, or life jacket, in case of an emergency. After fastening the strap around himself, Janson said to the students, "There are two questions you have to ask yourself at this point: ÔAm I comfortable?' and ÔCan

I breathe?' If you answer ÔYes' to either question, the strap isn't tight enough - so pull on it some more and make it really tight. You want the life jacket to keep your head out of the water." He then leaned back to illustrate someone floating in the water.

The students then boarded the boat and, after a short course on ship terminology, such as port and starboard, fore and aft, Ôput out to sea.'

The students were given a workbook to guide them through the points being covered and to record data observed from the teaching and from experiments. The teaching points, explained by Rich and Gantner, centered around water and water quality and environmental concerns which affect Michigan's rivers and the Great Lakes.

The students gained hands-on science experience through experiments to measure water clarity, temperature and oxygen content. To measure clarity, a round disk, which is painted in alternating quarters of black and white which was lowered on a calibrated rope and visibly sighted. To measure temperature, a special cylinder, with hinged openings on both ends was lowered to a specified depth and then closed. A thermometer inside gave the temperature and the water was drawn out and tested for oxygen content with a kit on board the vessel.

The students also became crewmembers - for a brief period of time - by helping to hoist the sails. They also had the opportunity to learn how to tie a few knots. Although the students were involved in the learning and the experiments, they got to tour the hold of the ship. Its main features were two bench seat bunks on either side of a wooden table, which is built into the floorboards, with the top inset with a wide lip and a ladder-like structure laid to one side in the top to keep cups and bowls from siding around.

While onboard, the students needed to remain seated as much as possible to avoid being hit in the head by the booms if they were to swing from side to side during a course change.

The activity was coordinated by Scott Whipple on behalf of the Huron Intermediate School District. The Appledore V, a 65-foot, two-masted schooner, has her home port in Bay City. BaySail is a private non-profit organization, which promotes environmental stewardship through programs in science education for K-12 students and others.