When the CORWITH CRAMER rescued 49 desperate Haitians last month from a dismasted open boat in the Caribbean, the rescuers got a lot of press.
The 134-foot brigantine, operated by Sea Education Association of Woods Hole, sighted the overloaded wooden vessel March 9, 45 miles north of Jamaica, the island where the fleeing Haitians hoped to make a fresh start in life. Fourteen of them were children.
No stranger to the Maine coast, the CRAMER underwent routine maintenance at the Rockland Marine shipyard last fall. A number of Maine college students have sailed aboard her in the past, and she was featured in Island Journal several years ago.
The refugees had been at sea five days when the 22-member student crew, and 11-member paid crew of the CRAMER rescued them. The Haitians were cared for on board and delivered to authorities in Port Antonio, Jamaica.
The CRAMER was on a six-week trip from Key West, doing some oceanographic sampling work.
John Bullard of Sea Education Association praised his captain and crew and said he was pleased the students could be part of a humanitarian act. There was no indication what might happen to the Haitians in Jamaica, or what happened to their boat.