Our Ocean Classroom crew is in Mystic, Connecticut because the waterfront of that town is a working replica of an old seaport, and the corporation operates a virtual museum with dozens of classic ships and boats on hand for study. As our students proceed south in the weeks ahead, the topic of naval architecture will be an enduring subject. Below, a shallow draft "catboat," built by the Crosby family of Osterville, Massachusetts glides by the Danish training vessel Conrad.

Our gang is sailing the German-built, steel hull schooner Westward. Like the other ships we have sailed to the Caribbean, (Harvey Gamage and Spirit of Massachusetts,) this schooner was built specifically for passengers. After several circimnavigations for a private family, it served Woods Hole Oceanographic's Sea Semester for many years before its current employment by our friends at the Harvey Gamage Foundation.

It is a schooner because it has two masts in front of the steering column. The most prominent ship you see upon arrival at Mystic Seaport is also a schooner, the venerable L.A. Dunton, which was launched in March, 1922 at the Arthur D. Story shipyard in Essex, Mass.

Built at the height of the fishing schooner era, the L.A. Dunton was designed by the industry's revolutionary draftsman, Boston's Thomas F. McManus. McManus's 300-plus designs yielded ships that were lightening fast (for freshest fish), capable of navigating the docks of Gloucester and Boston, and--increasingly--safe. To furl a jib in an ocean gale meant stepping forward on a netting of lines under the bowsprit, nick-named "the widowmaker" by fishermen.