On July 7th, the TS State of Maine, the current training ship of the Maine Maritime Academy, docked at the Gotto Wharf in the Herdman Channel in the Port of Belfast.
She was formerly in the United States Navy service as the USNS Tanner and assumed her present name and role in June 1997. She had been launched in 1990 as an oceanographic research ship.
Maine Maritime Academy is a public, co-educational college located in the coastal town of Castine in the state of Maine in the northeastern United States. The student population numbers approximately 950 in engineering, management, science, and transportation courses.
Four of the volunteers from the charity, the independent Lagan Search and Rescue, along with members of the K9 Search and Rescue NI and Bangor Coastguard Rescue, were welcomed aboard by Captain Gordon MacArthur. They met some of the 300 students and 70 qualified crew. The ship had arrived in Belfast, having visited Ponta Delgada, Portugal, Vigo in Spain, and Kiel in Germany.
She is now back in her homeport in Maine.
LSAR were pleased to have the chance to visit the ship:” Thank you to the Captain and crew of TS State of Maine for the invite and to Doyle Shipping Group for facilitating the visit”.
