When I was young, I read a lot of nautical adventure stories, the kind where some hapless or spoiled boy ends up on a ship and becomes a man by dint of hard work and sacrifice.
So I felt a twinge of jealousy as I interviewed Shawn Merrill. He is neither hapless nor spoiled, and at age 14 is well on his way to manhood. He did, however, spend time on a ship this summer: a 137-foot schooner called the Roseway.
He swabbed the decks and tended the engines and trimmed the sails and did all the other things the young adventurers do in the books, and he said he is absolutely a better person for it.
This all happened because of a Massachusetts nonprofit called the World Ocean School, which uses the 87-year-old Roseway, a restored racing craft, for educational programs.
Merrill learned about the school last summer during a trip to the annual schooner races in Gloucester, Mass., and when he came home he applied for, and won, a spot in this year's Summer Ambassador program: a 20-day voyage from Boston to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
"It was more than I hoped it would be," the Upper Milford Township teen told me, recounting his July journey with 13 other youngsters and a crew of 12.
What makes the program different is that the kids do more than sail. They put in at three different ports in Nova Scotia — Halifax, Lunenburg and Shelburne — and do a day or two of community service at each one.
Shawn and his shipmates cleaned litter, worked at a food bank and even set up a computer lab for a program serving the underprivileged.
In Lunenburg, Shawn's favorite port of call, they helped restore an old dory for a nautical museum.
On board, meanwhile, they carried out tasks that would take the romance out of the sea for many people but seem only to have reinforced Shawn's ambition to attend the U.S. Naval Academyin Annapolis, Md.
On the morning watch, for example: "We would do breakfast, set out the food, wash off the decks, scrub the floor in the kitchen and the dining area and the area where we slept. Then we would do boat check…"
Boat check involved examining bilges and sewers and engine oil pressure and other tasks. Then there was the matter of raising and lowering the sails three times a day.
I guess none of this was unexpected for a kid who, according to his mother, Jodi, watched "The Deadliest Catch" non-stop for its first five seasons. But my arms ached just listening to it. And my stomach did a turn when Shawn recounted the three big storms they sailed through, and how a piece of sail snapped off right above his head in a high wind.
Think how his parents must have felt. Jodi and Shawn Merrill Sr. had no direct contact with their son through all of this. Everything they learned about the voyage came through the participants' daily online log posts.
"I think it was life-changing for him," said Jodi, clearly relieved to have her son back home but quite proud of his high-seas performance, especially the lessons he drew from his onshore labors on behalf of the poor. Unloading deliveries at a food bank, Shawn had to toss one box because it was infested with maggots.
"He said first he was totally grossed out, but after throwing the entire box away, he was humbled," Jodi said. "He said 'Mom, we shop at Wegmans and get new, fresh food. These people had to shop at the food bank, and take what others donate.' He was upset that an entire box of food had to be wasted and thrown out.
"I do believe this was a very important lesson he learned that day. and one reason why these kids return full of appreciation and a passion for helping out wherever they can."
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