"Welcome to Sea Term 2023’s Follow The Voyage – Share The Experience Program (FTV-STX). I am 3/C McArthur Dannelly from Annapolis, Maryland. I am a Marine Engineering student. This is my second Sea Term aboard the TS Kennedy. The Marine Engineering program is preparing me for a carrier working on ships as an officer in the Engine Room.
During the next two months, you will see two to three blogs from me per week. In these blogs, I look forward to showing you the daily routine of a sophomore engineering student on cruise and the exciting adventures we will take along the way. My hope is that by the end of cruise you will feel like you have been cruising with us the whole time.
Everyone arrived on Monday morning. Then we all moved our stuff onto the ship. Move-on day is a day filled with excitement and energy as we find our hold (room) and the rack (bed) we will be sleeping in. The beds on the ship are stacked three high, with some rooms containing around 80 beds. If anyone reading this shares a room with someone else, imagine sharing a room with 80 other people. That is why it is so important that we are all a team and get along with each other. If you had to sleep in a three-high bunk bed, which level would you want? My favorite is the top rack because you can sit up in it, but everyone has their own preferences on what they like.
After everyone was moved in, we went to the Mess Deck (cafeteria) and ate a great meal from our Chartwells kitchen staffThen we had some downtime till our ship Evacuation Drill in the afternoon. We practice this drill so if we need to evacuate the ship while at the pier, we know how to safely do so. During the downtime today, I found cadets all over relaxing, playing lacrosse on the land, playing games, and even playing basketball on the court that’s on the ship. Yes, the TS Kennedy has a basketball hoop onboard!
What’s Coming Up
On Tuesday, the massive effort to load all the food onto the ship begins. This job takes the hands of all to help complete, with everyone having shifts over the week. I however will not be loading the ship with food on Tuesday. I have been tasked with the job of Master At Arms from 0800 - noon and 2000 - midnight. During those times on, I will be monitoring one of the hallways that leads to multiple holds. I will be responsible for the safety of that area of the ship and reporting any problems that come up. I will be filling out the logbook which is like a record of anything that happens. Also, on Wednesday I have been assigned the position of Master At Arms at the same times but for a different hallway.
Here are three photos:
A. The first photo below was taken during the Evacuation Drill we completed. Cadets can be seen going down both of the ship's gangways onto the field to line up. A muster (attendance) will be taken to make sure everyone was off the ship.
B. The other photo shows the view from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy library on campus. The library is called the American Bureau Of Shipping Information Commons, ABS. When I was sitting in the ABS writing this blog, this was my view of the TS Kennedy.
C. Here is a photo that I found online of the ABS. This is where I took the photo of the TS Kennedy from.
Thank you for your time. Please send me any questions you have about Sea Term or any topics you would like to be covered in a blog post. I am very excited to see what questions everyone has about Sea Term, the Engine Room, or just living aboard the training ship."
McArthur, thank you so much for this FANTASTIC, informative blog!
On a very busy day, you rallied and blended an amazing amount of effort with creativity.
I know that our 20,915 student followers will look forward to hearing from you throughout Sea Term.
Teachers, please send questions, blogging ideas, or positive comments to McArthur via ftvsubmissions@maritime.edu