In a preview of things to come, two tall ships, the Westward and the Corwith Cramer sailed from the Bahamas to Bermuda for a short visit recently.

The ships are two teaching vessels used by the Sea Education Association (SEA) which for 25 years has been challenging students with exciting multidisciplinary academic programmes ashore and at sea.

Students studying at SEA come from ten affiliated colleges and universities including Boston University as well as more than 150 other institutions across the United States.

The ships each put to sea with a ship's company of ten professional crew and scientists and 24 students and conduct research in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.

The programme, which earns participants a full semester of college credit, is run throughout the year, with six weeks spent at the SEA campus in Woods Hole Massachusetts, and the remaining six weeks spent at sea aboard one of the two ships.

The SEA education programme was founded in 1971 by a group led by Corwith (Cory) Cramer Jr. and Edward (Sandy) MacArthur, who located the Westward through the late captain Irving Johnson and purchased her in 1971.

The Westward is a 125-foot steel-hulled staysail schooner built in 1961 for around-the-world service, while the Corwith Cramer , is a 134-foot steel hulled brigantine designed specifically for SEA and constructed in 1987.

A third ship is currently being built in Tacoma, Washington and is expected to be finished in 2002.

During the last 25 years SEA has refitted the Westward several times to make her suitable as a seagoing classroom and research platform.

The ship now has sophisticated research equipment, including a side scan sonar, a deep water winch and cable apparatus which pulls a collecting net down to a depth of over 500 metres to collect deep water specimens, and an on-deck scientific laboratory that was significantly upgraded in 1988.

Jeff Doorman, a scientist aboard the Westward , explained some of the projects the students were involved with, including researching the physical characteristics of the ocean such as sediment sizes, the change in currents, salinity, nutrient levels and temperature of the water, and a new project investigating a phenomenon known as eighteen degree water, which are pockets of warm water moving around the ocean. Most of the scientific analysis is done in port when things are a little more stable than on the rough seas of the Atlantic Ocean where the collection of data and specimens occurs. The unwritten agenda on the SEA ships is to provide a growth experience, and during the cruise, students are given more responsibility such as going on watch, participating in the navigation of the ship, as well as learning celestial seamanship, and how to sail such a vessel on the open ocean.

The ships also try to carry out as much charity work as they can, such as two years ago, after hurricane Mitch devastated El Salvador the Westward was loaded with supplies and sailed to Roatan, one of their regular ports of call to distribute the supplies and help to rebuild a school which had been destroyed.

After leaving Bermuda the Westward , captained by Terry Hayward, sailed to Dominica, whereas the Corwith Cramer , captained by David Banks, returned to the Bahamas.

The two ships will be returning to Bermuda in about six weeks' time for Tall Ships 2000.