Rechristened - An Onboard Salute to Cramer’s 20th

By John Bontrager

January 15th, 2008 in Key West was a cold and blustery day. With the sun close to setting, an informal celebration took place on the deck of SEA’s Corwith Cramer to honor the 20th anniversary of her commissioning.

Key West is a funky little town with its own set of rules and its own set of characters. Along with the colorful cast of locals there is a large U.S. military presence, whose roots extend back to the territorial beginning of this city. Henry Flagler’s railroad to Key West (which was completed in 1912) once boasted that, in 24 hours, a passenger could step aboard one of his railcars in New York City and off of one of his ship’s in Havana Cuba. The end of the railroad’s line in Key West was a long jetty adjacent to the Key West Bight. For the past 3 decades it has been the home of NAVAIR Detachment Key West. NAVAIR is a civilian managed government agency, and their location in Key West has been the home of winter and spring dockings for SEA ships for the past 13 years.

January 15th, 2008 in Key West was a cold and blustery day. With the sun close to setting, an informal celebration took place on the deck of SEA’s Corwith Cramer to honor the 20th anniversary of her commissioning. Those in attendance included SEA staff and crew, staff members of NAVAIR Detachment Key West, and crew and staff of both Seaward Services and the research vessel known as 38. In addition, a special invitation had been extended to a local Key West resident and former Director of NAVAIR, Dan Probert.

After a casual gathering on the lee side with good food and drink provided by SEA stewards, a group of 25 moved towards the bow where Captain Jason Quilter began a small ceremony. Jason spoke of the Cramer’s history, and her original commissioning in Bilboa, Spain on January 15th, 1988. He told of her maiden voyage, the first of three Atlantic crossings, which was shared by H.D.S. Greenway in the May 1988 Boston Globe Magazine article entitled “An Atlantic Crossing.” Jason went on to remark that in 360,000 miles sailed, Cramer provided safety and security for faculty, crew, and 2,144 alumni on over 100 Sea Semesters, a testament to her design, construction and the care of many.

Special guest Dan Probert, the original Director of NAVAIR, has a long history with SEA. Many years ago Dan and his wife were invited to sail onboard SEA’s vessel Westward, where he met both founder Cory Cramer and Captain Wallace Stark. From that beginning, a relationship developed with SEA becoming an independent monitor of NAVAIR activities in waters near Key West, and the NAVAIR site becoming SEA’s homeport for winter/spring activities. So with Dan’s hand on the bottle, a splash of champagne and a toast to her longevity later, Cramer’s next 20 years were underway.