Touch of Life on High Seas

There were no pirates on this ship. And amazingly, none of the 7-, 8- or 9-year-olds asked for them.

Ian McIntyre, captain of the Hawaiian Chieftain, a replica of an 18th century trade vessel docked at Ventura Harbor for two weeks, said students who board the ship to learn about history and sailing often ask about pirates.

But not this trip.

The 33 students from Oak Grove School in Ojai boarded the vessel in the drizzle at 9 a.m. Thursday and quickly got down to business, learning about a sailor’s life 200 years ago.

“Who would like to eat beef jerky three times a day for months?” asked a shipmate in full costume. “What if it weren’t flavored with teriyaki, but just salt?”

“Yuk, I only like teriyaki,” piped up one student. “I don’t like beef jerky,” said another.

Victuals weren’t the only topic. After dividing into three groups, the children moved through the ship in 15-minute segments, learning geography from a map, nautical planning from a compass, and directing a ship from pulling up sails.

With a group leader, they tugged on a long rope until two square sails were raised up a mast into the dripping sky. They petted fur and smelled a large block of black tea that would have been traded for money during colonial days. And they played with a compass-in-a-box that helps navigate the ship.

The whole time, crew members shot questions at the children.

“Who knows where Spain is?” “Was a sailor’s life safe and easy?” “If you could be a sailor, farmer or soldier, which would you choose?”

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The crew members maintained enthusiasm, never touching on the darker side of life on the high seas, such as imperialism, looting and war.

Throughout the hourlong visit, the sky drooled on the wood boat, but no one seemed to mind. The crew, happy as fish in water, and the delighted children went about the tour oblivious to the weather.

The cheery crew mates, who live on the ship and sail the coast of California all year, tied a yellow tarp over the middle of the vessel to protect it from the rain.

Children in bright colored parkas stood with dripping wet hair and watched with wide eyes as the crew demonstrated. And the teachers and parents were happy just to be out, regardless of the weather.

“This is a great supplement to what we do in the classroom,” said Marleen Luckman, a teacher of 7- and 8-year-olds. “It also lets them see other professions and careers, and it’s great some of them are women,” she said of the crew mates. The men and women come from all across the country to be part of the team.

Usually the entire crew will turn over in a year, but the staff has four-month contracts, said McIntyre, who has been with the ship for the last eight years.

“They have varied backgrounds, some are just out of college or they have teaching credentials or a degree in marine biology, but we all share an interest in sails,” he said.

The 103-foot Hawaiian Chieftain, which was built in Maui in the late 1980s, has been touring for four years and arrived in Ventura on Tuesday. It will be at Ventura Harbor until Feb. 21.

In Hawaii, the ship was used as an inter-island charter and cargo vessel. In 1992, the current owner, Central Coast Charters, bought the ship and brought it to California to be used for education and touring.

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The ship spends the winters in Southern California and the summers in San Francisco, offering several programs, including the history lesson for students, guided tours and chartered sails for the public. Whale-watching cruises and battle reenactments by costumed crew members are also offered.

McIntyre said he enjoys all the programs, but especially the ones for schoolchildren.

“I love nautical history and getting kids interested in something they might not know about,” he said.

“There is so much focus on high-tech stuff, and we think of this boat as archaic, but at the time this was really the peak of technology,” he said, explaining how anything on the boat could be reconstructed while it was sailing. “It is completely self-sufficient.”

For sailing reservations or information, call (800) 401-7835.