[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 37 (Tuesday, April 5, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E546-E547]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




COMMENDING SEA EDUCATION ASSOCIATION STUDENTS WHO AIDED IN RESCUING 49 
                            HAITIAN REFUGEES

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, April 5, 2005

  Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, very few of life's important lessons come 
from a book. That is the educational philosophy of the Sea Education 
Association, a unique program based on Cape Cod to teach hands-on 
seafaring skills to young men and women. SEA offers college students a 
rigorous semester ``overseas'' that challenges them intellectually and 
physically by combining study of the deep ocean with the sailing 
adventure of a lifetime.
  After extensive classroom training, 22 SEA students and a crew of 11 
launched from Key West aboard the Corwith Cramer, a 134-foot sailing 
research vessel under the command of Captain Steve Tarrant. Five weeks 
later, the students were deploying oceanographic sampling equipment 
near Jamaica when they spotted a small disabled vessel brimming with 
Haitian nationals, including many children. With search-and-rescue 
assets nowhere nearby, and with life and limb literally at stake, the 
students showed more than academic and navigational prowess. They acted 
from deep in their hearts.
  What followed was a dramatic story of courage and compassion--a life-
changing, hands-across-the-sea experience for rescuer and refugee 
alike. John Bullard, SEA president, summed it up in five eloquent 
words: ``We're all in the same boat.''
  The enormity of the ocean has inspired for thousands of years. These 
students learned first-hand that men and women are also part of the 
natural rhythm of the sea, and resolved immediately to remain a part of 
the lives of the Haitians they encountered so far from home. All who 
follow in future SEA voyages can sail with deep pride in a mission that 
anticipates serious challenge--but that also embraces deep 
responsibility.
  I commend to my House colleagues the following news account, one of 
dozens in the wake of this remarkable sequence of events:

                      [From MSNBC, Mar. 10, 2005]

           U.S. Students Aid Rescue of Haitians Adrift at Sea

                             (By Kari Huus)

       For 22 U.S. college students on a voyage in the Caribbean, 
     the six-week trip would have been an adventure to remember in 
     any case, but their encounter with a boat full of Haitians 
     adrift at sea made it a life-changing event.
       The students, studying oceanography in a program called Sea 
     Semester at Woods Hole, Mass., were about 45 miles north of 
     Jamaica on Wednesday deploying some research equipment from 
     their vessel, the SSV Corwith Cramer, when one student 
     spotted what turned out to be a 25-foot open boat packed with 
     49 Haitians, including 14 children and infants. The Haitians 
     had been heading for Jamaica, but were adrift after their 
     boat lost its mast and rudder. Passengers on the distressed 
     boat said they had been at sea for five days.
       What to do was decided over the course of the next five 
     hours. Through calls to the U.S. Coast Guard and Jamaican 
     authorities, the students learned that the Corwith, a 135-
     foot sail-powered research vessel, was the only boat within 
     reasonable range to rescue the Haitians. Jamaican authorities 
     said they could not rescue the group of Haitians but would 
     receive them.
       But there were risks to be considered, said John Bullard, 
     president of Sea Semester: ``Piracy is one of them. Exposure 
     to disease is another.''
       On the other hand, he said, if the research vessel ``had 
     just sailed away from 49 people . . . our students would have 
     been scarred in other ways.''


                          assessing the risks

       Under the direction of the vessel's captain, Steve Tarrent, 
     who leads an ll-person professional crew, calls went out to 
     search-and-rescue experts and medical experts.
       The decision was made to bring the Haitians aboard before 
     the sun set. ``We thought if we towed the vessel it might not 
     survive that. We would end up fishing people out of the 
     water,'' said Bullard. ``We felt the safest action was to 
     bring them aboard during the daylight when we could control 
     some things.''
       As the Haitians gathered in a sheltered spot above deck on 
     the research vessel, the crew cut the smaller boat loose 
     after marking it with fluorescent paint to avoid sparking 
     unnecessary search-and-rescue efforts if

[[Page E547]]

     it were spotted later. A meal of rice and beans was prepared 
     for the unexpected passengers.


                      `We're all in the same boat'

       An escort boat met the Corwith off the coast of Jamaica, 
     and delivered the Haitians safely to Port Antonio early 
     Thursday morning. The ship's crew and students were resting 
     in port before finishing off their sailing semester in Key 
     West, Fla., on March 19.
       The captain and students were not immediately available for 
     comment, but Bullard said parents who were contacted 
     expressed great pride in their children's role in the rescue.
       ``What we have in our planned curriculum is the study of 
     oceanography, and the history and literature of the sea and 
     skills like navigation and weather forecasting,'' said 
     Bullard. ``One thing you learn that is not in the curriculum 
     is that we're all in the same boat.
       ``This group of students got a chance to learn this 
     literally.''
       Waves of unrest and poverty have driven thousands of 
     Haitians to seek refuge outside their country over the past 
     decade. One common destination is Jamaica. Many Haitians are 
     denied refugee status and forced to return home.

                          ____________________