CASTINE, Maine — Maine Maritime Academy's State of Maine training ship, which left Castine on Wednesday for its final voyage, will remain in Penobscot Bay until further notice due to an issue with a lifeboat crane.
Officials found the problem with the davit during routine U.S. Coast Guard testing of the ship's lifeboats, Maine Maritime Academy said in a social media post Thursday afternoon. The school said the testing is part of its safety management system.
The issue requires technical assistance and, once it's corrected, students will continue their onboard training and voyage, the post stated. Until then, the school said the ship would remain in Penobscot Bay.
Maine Maritime Academy said it would update the community as more information becomes available.
There are 202 students, 25 faculty, and 20 crew members on board for the final voyage. The two-month trip will take them around the northern Atlantic Ocean, to places like Port Everglades, Spain, and St. Thomas.
"The sea really does get into your blood, and you feel a certain brotherhood and sisterhood with your shipmates on board," Maxwell Dingle, former cadet master and recent 2024 graduate, told NEWS CENTER Maine. "That's something you can't really get anywhere else other than some place like this."
For 27 years, the vessel has called Castine's pier home. When this voyage ends, however, it will dock at a pier in Portland, returning to the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Division’s Ready Reserve Force.
The State of Maine, which was originally named USNS Tanner, was designed and built in 1990 as an oceanographic research vessel.
After its renaming, the ship arrived in Castine in 1997 to serve as the academy’s at-sea training platform. The State of Maine has completed 30 training voyages during its tenure, turning thousands of Maine Maritime Academy students into mariners.