Half Moon Makes Fall Return to Goodwin College

Goodwin College is preparing to welcome an old friend back to campus as the replica ship the Half Moon preps for an autumn voyage to the River Campus.

The Half Moon – a sailing museum and replica of the 1609 vessel Henry Hudson sailed to the New World – will arrive at Goodwin College in East Hartford on Tuesday, Oct. 23. The College will host free public viewings of the ship on Saturday and Sunday, October 27-28, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. pm both days.

Until Thursday, Oct. 18, the ship will remain docked at Long Wharf in New Haven. Earlier this week, 11 Connecticut River Academy students helped crew the ship for the first leg of the Voyage of Discovery, learning navigation techniques and conducting experiments along the Hudson River and Long Island Sound. The students left from Athens, NY, sailed downriver through New York Harbor, and proceeded through the Sound en route to New Haven.

A second crew of students will board the ship on Thursday and will receive a day’s worth of orientation. The students, who are all enrolled at Goodwin College’s Connecticut River Academy magnet high school in East Hartford, will climb rigging, learn navigation and nautical techniques, and prepare themselves for five days and nights aboard the ship.

The Half Moon will dock several times as it makes its way up the Connecticut River to Goodwin College’s River Campus at 1 Riverside Drive in East Hartford. On Tuesday at noon, the College and the Academy will host an arrival ceremony where students will speak about their experiences on board.

The ship will remain at the College through the first week of November.

This visit marks the fifth consecutive year that the Half Moon travels to Goodwin College. Each year, the ship draws thousands of people to the campus to tour the ship.

The ship keeps a log that is viewable online, including bios of each student and crew member. Visitors can also track the ship’s progress by visiting http://www.halfmoonreplica.org/2012/freshvod/vodhome.htm