Morristown-Beard Students' Sailboat Lands Safely In Spain

MORRISTOWN, N.J. – Sixth-grade students at the Morristown-Beard School set out to accomplish something great, and boy did they hit it big. Just ask a group of students in Spain.

For the fourth consecutive year a group of students at the private school in Morristown created a five-foot, unmanned sailboat, named the Crimson Voyager, and launched it into the Atlantic Ocean in December of 2015.

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After spending the past four months at sea, this year's 6th grade sailboat, Crimson Voyager, has been recovered off the coast of Cádiz, an ancient port in southwestern Spain. The boat was picked up on April 16th by a team from a local university.

This is the fourth year in a row that Morristown-Beard School 6th graders have launched a 5-foot, unmanned sailboat as part of the "Educational Passages" program. This year's boat — Crimson Voyager — was launched in December, 2015 with help from MBS trustee and parent Joe Robillard. The vessel is equipped with a GPS that transmits to a satellite, so the students have been able to track its journey on the web. In its hull, students placed a variety of items, from letters and friendship bracelets to a baseball and Pez dispensers. All of the items survived the journey to Spain!

The first MBS boat — Crimson Tide – was launched in 2012 and was recovered by a fisherman in Guernsey, an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy. It was later re-launched and washed ashore in France. Other MBS boats, Crimson Cruiserand Crimson Wave, have traveled to Florida and the Orkney Islands in Northern Scotland.

MBS Middle School teacher Lisa Swanson says the project is exciting because it can also provide a backdrop to teach everything from physics to world languages. A significant aspect of the project hinges on the hope that students can connect with their peers across the globe when the boat reaches a foreign shore. When Crimson Tide was retrieved off the coast of Guernsey, for example, it set up exciting new learning opportunities as MBS students connected with students there via Skype.

Now that Crimson Voyager has been recovered in Spain, the MBS 6th graders are anxious to connect with local school children in the Cádiz area and learn more about the region. A 16th-century base for exploration and trade, Cádiz boasts more than 100 watchtowers traditionally used for spotting ships. It is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Spain, and one of the oldest in western Europe.

Photos Courtesy Morristown-Beard School