TechBrick: November 12, 2008:
Lady Maryland Chesapeake Bay Research
Trip
On Wed, November 12, twenty-one of
our team members and 11 adults boarded
the Lady Maryland, the flagship of the
Living Classrooms Foundation in
Baltimore, MD.
We left port and 9:30 am and returned
at 1:30pm. And what an adventure it was.
It began with a stern safety talk and
warning about giant sea monsters and the
like. After donning our life preservers
we headed out in the Chesapeake Bay.
The day started with raising of the
sails followed by an extended discussion
about run off and how it effects the
bay.
We then cast a net to see what we
could find. Trolling is allowed only for
research purposes. We caught some very
small fish, jellyfish, and a boot.
Then the teams split up into four
stations and learned about water
quality, life in the bay, oysters, the
scrubbers of water masses, plankton, and
crabs along with a thorough
investigation of our catch.
The last challenge was building
sea-worthy boats out tape, tin foil, and
popsicle sticks.
We departed with the lowering of the
sails and, wind-swept and tired kids,
and a group who had just had a great
adventure. |
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 The
Lady Maryland is a replica of a Chesapeake Bay
pungy schooner, a boat which sailed the Bay in
the 1800's. Pungies, which were considered fast
sailing vessels in the 1800s, were primarily
used as workboats which carried perishable cargo
such as oysters, watermelons, tomatoes, fish,
peaches, and grain.
Lady Maryland was built by the Living Classrooms
Foundation in 1985. The Lady Maryland is made
out of wood, principally from the trees of
Maryland, such as White Oak and Pine. All the
wood used to build this ship was donated by the
Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
Today, the Lady Maryland sails as part of the
Living Classrooms Foundation's educational
fleet, providing hands-on, multidisciplinary
educational programs for students of all ages.
http://www.livingclassrooms.org
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