Halfmoon: Voyage of Discovery
By Taelo Sekhobo
My name is Taelo Sekhobo. I am in the eighth grade and I attend Stephen and
Harriet Myers middle school, which is located in Albany, New York. I was lucky to
get the opportunity to live and sail on the Halfmoon ship for a week. It is an
experience that I will never forget. I really did not know what to expect before I
got on the ship, but I had a really good time and I learned things that I could never
learn from a textbook.
The Halfmoon is shaped like its’ name. It looks like half of a moon. I noticed the
shape when the ship was anchored and I got to get off the ship. During my week
on the ship, I learned that everything on it had a purpose. The deck has three
main sections. In the middle of the deck there is a huge mast which is the ship’s
main mast for the sails. In the back of the ship you will find the first mate’s cabin.
It is located next to the helm where the crew steers the ship. Behind the helm
there is more cabin space for the higher crew members. On top of the higher
crew members’ cabins is the quarterdeck. There are sleeping quarters in this
area. The front of the ship is called the foredeck. Below the foredeck there is
more cabin space where the life jackets and climbing gear are kept. Below deck
is where the student crew and teachers slept. It wasn’t very comfortable being
below deck. You can’t stand up and walk around. I am 5’6 and I had to crouch to
walk around or walk on my knees. For sleeping it was fine if you had good
sleeping gear. It is not like sleeping on a bed. Below deck there is an area where
you can walk upright. The kitchen was small and tight, but you did not have to
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crouch. The kitchen area had sleeping space for the cooks, called the galley. The
bathroom is also below deck. The crew called the bathroom, the “head” of the
ship. Fun fact: the head is called the head because originally when Henry Hudson
was sailing the bathroom was in the front of the ship or at the head of the ship.
A typical day on the Halfmoon involves many different tasks. Some of the work is
very hard especially if someone is very weak. Mental toughness helps a lot. We
had to wake up around 6:30 depending on the captain’s orders. You can’t just
wake up and not make your bed like at home. Since we slept in working space,
after we woke up we had to immediately repack our belongings and clear them
out of the way so that we can pull up the anchor. The anchor had to be pulled up
first thing in the morning so that the ship could continue on its journey on the
river. We could not waste time because we had a schedule to keep to. We only
got to eat breakfast after the anchor was pulled up. Since this task was difficult
the cooks made sure that we ate a hearty breakfast afterwards.
After breakfast everyone that was assigned to morning shift would go off and get
going with the task that the captain had assigned. Some of these jobs included
helm, which is steering while listening to the quarterdeck for help. This is
important because the area that helm work takes place in does not give you the
best view. Then there is lookout. This job requires you to look out for things that
the ship have run into and report back to the quarterdeck crew. Galley work is
where you help the cooks prepare the meals. This was pretty cool because the
head cook makes very good food. There is also fire/bilge work where you check
for bilge water and check for signs of fire or things that can start fire around the
ship including the engine room. Last we have maintenance where you are in
charge of cleaning the toilet and the bathroom. This was the least fun job.
At midday we eat lunch. Then we might dock or keep sailing depending on the
ship’s location and time frame. After lunch, the afternoon work shifts start. They
are pretty much the same jobs as in the morning, except a different set of kids
rotate through them throughout the rest of the day. Then we would eat a
delicious dinner then run the anchor line. After running the anchor, we would get
our anchor watch times and partners. Anchor watch is a nightly job that all of the
students do with a partner. Every hour of the night has to be covered by a
student and crew member. For anchor watch, you get woken up in the middle of
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the night by the last hours anchor watch students to start your own shift with
your partner where you watch for anchor dragging, oncoming ships, fire/bilge or
any other problems while enjoying hot chocolate and snacks. Then after your
shift you would go to bed until the morning. If you had the last shift, you would
just stay up.
Sailing was actually easier than I thought it would be due to prior knot tying
training when I was younger from boy scouts actually paid off. First you have
untie the sail lines that hold the sails up and then let them drop at the same time
for each different sail to make it look professional. Then u would do the same
routine to the other sails although sailing might have been boring and slow
preparation and pulling up the sails was definitely fun.
One thing that we had to do other than homework was complete a science
project. The science project that I was assigned was to take celestial readings of
the sun and chart and graph them. For celestial readings, every five minuetes we
had to use a quadrant with a straw attached to have a place for the sun to shine
through so we can have a precise position of the direction the sun was facing.
Then you would take a compass and line it up with a quadrant to get the degrees
at which the sun was located. Having to take readings every five minuetes did
complicate things with getting my homework done. It was hard to stop and have
to refocus. I don’t think Henry Hudson’s crew had homework to complete. But it
was fun preparing my presentation and presenting it to the captain and crew. It
made me feel proud that I accomplished something on the boat. The best part of
being on the ship was -I am sure that others would most likely agree- was
climbing up to the top of the ship. I was surprised at how I felt being up top. The
view was breathtaking and the air felt cleaner. I felt calm and stress free. This is
one of the most amazing things that I ever did – so far in my life. I am going to
have to say the worst part was being sleep deprived those nights when I had to
anchor watch. I got used to the way of life on ship and actually missed sailing
once I got back. But lack of sleep was hard for me.
After having this once in a lifetime experience I would definitely recommend this
trip for others. It also made me realize how much work Henry Hudson’s crew had
to do when they were sailing the ship. Sailing is hard work. We had a motor and
generator and running water so it was a little better for us. Henry Hudson’s crew
was not as lucky. And I’d also like to say that I learned a couple of Dutch words
from the European crew as well.