Education

Learning Across Generations—and Across the Atlantic

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Education is central to the American Saudade, Inc. (ASI) mission.

We believe maritime heritage must be more than remembered. It must be studied, discussed, documented, experienced, and passed to future generations.

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ASI’s educational program connects history, culture, seamanship, engineering, exploration, current events, and human experience. It is being developed for students, educators, families, mariners, veterans, researchers, cultural organizations, and anyone interested in understanding the Atlantic world more deeply.

 

Our educational work will take place online, in classrooms and community spaces, through partnerships with other institutions, and eventually aboard the S/V American Saudade—our developing floating classroom.

 

The ASI Virtual Classroom: Zoom and related digital platforms will allow ASI to connect people in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Portugal, the Azores, Madeira, Cabo Verde, and throughout the global diaspora.

 

The ASI Virtual Classroom may host:

• Live classes and short educational courses

• Guest lectures

• Interviews with mariners, historians, educators, authors, veterans, engineers, and community leaders

• Panel discussions

• Moderated debates

• Museum and archive presentations

• Book talks and author conversations

• Oral-history interviews

• Vessel-refit updates

• Maritime-safety instruction

• Navigation and seamanship demonstrations

• Cultural programs

• Student presentations

• Current-events discussions

• Question-and-answer sessions

• Volunteer and project meetings

• Collaborative programs with partner institutions

• Live reports from ports and Atlantic communities

• Future updates from the Great Circle Heritage Voyage

 

Whenever appropriate and permitted, selected programs may be recorded and added to Videos Production, the ASI E-Library, or the Going 360 Deep video collection.

 

This lets a single lecture or interview become a continuing educational resource rather than disappearing when the live program ends.

 

Learning Through 360 Deep™

ASI’s educational philosophy is guided by 360 Deep™.

 

Students are encouraged to examine subjects through both a magnifying glass and a prism.

The magnifying glass helps us investigate a particular person, document, photograph, decision, vessel, or event. The prism helps us understand the historical, political, economic, environmental, cultural, religious, technological, geographic, maritime, and human forces surrounding it.

 

This approach encourages participants to:

• Ask better questions

• Examine evidence

• Compare sources

• Distinguish fact from interpretation

• Recognize bias and missing perspectives

• Understand historical context

• Consider competing explanations

• Connect local history with global events

• Revise conclusions when stronger evidence becomes available

 

The purpose is not to tell students what to think. It is to help them develop a more disciplined way of thinking.

Areas of Learning

 

ASI educational programs may include the following subject areas.

 

Maritime and Atlantic History

• Portuguese maritime exploration

• Cabo Verde and the Atlantic world

• The Azores, Madeira, and Canary Islands

• Navigation and cartography

• Whaling and packet vessels

• Offshore fishing

• Shipbuilding and ship repair

• The U.S. Merchant Marine

• World War II sealift and maritime service

• Immigration and diaspora history

• Colonialism, colonization, slavery, resistance, and independence

• New England’s Portuguese and Cape Verdean maritime communities

 

Culture and Identity

• Cape Verdean and Portuguese traditions

• Language and Creole development

• Music, literature, religion, food, and art

• Oral history and family memory

• Immigration and assimilation

• Race, nationality, and identity

• The relationship between homeland and diaspora

• The meaning of saudade

• Intergenerational cultural preservation

 

Seamanship and Navigation

• Basic navigation

• Charts and publications

• Weather and ocean currents

• Passage planning

• Sail handling

• Rules of the road

• Communications

• Watchstanding

• Anchoring

• Emergency preparedness

• Crew responsibilities

• Responsible decision-making at sea

 

Marine Engineering and Safety

• Diesel engines and propulsion

• Electrical systems

• Batteries, solar power, and energy management

• Steering and self-steering systems

• Rigging and sails

• Potable-water and sanitation systems

• Fire prevention

• Flooding control

• Maintenance and troubleshooting

• Risk management

• Inspection, testing, and documentation

• SubSafe to SailSafe™

 

Geography, Environment, and Ocean Science

• Atlantic winds and currents

• Island formation and geography

• Weather and climate

• Fisheries and marine resources

• Coastal communities

• Ocean conservation

• Human effects on marine environments

• The relationship between geography, trade, migration, and conflict

 

Leadership and Human Experience

• Leadership at sea

• Teamwork and watchstanding

• Communication under pressure

• Fatigue and human performance

• Ethical decision-making

• Service, responsibility, and accountability

• Veterans’ experiences

• Life aboard ships

• Families separated by maritime work

• Lessons learned from success and failure

 

The S/V American Saudade as a Floating Classroom

 

The S/V American Saudade is intended to become the physical center of ASI’s experiential education program.

 

The vessel itself provides a living classroom in which history, science, engineering, navigation, culture, leadership, and safety come together.

 

During the refit, students and visitors may learn how an offshore vessel is evaluated and prepared. Systems can be studied from the hull upward: structure, through-hulls, engine, electrical distribution, steering, rigging, sails, navigation, communications, renewable energy, water, safety equipment, and emergency procedures.

 

The refit also demonstrates that education does not occur only when everything goes according to plan.

 

Deficiencies, technical disagreements, design compromises, testing failures, and corrective actions all provide valuable lessons.

 

After the vessel has been recommissioned, tested, and approved for appropriate operations, future educational activities may include:

• Dockside vessel tours

• Small-group system demonstrations

• Navigation workshops

• Safety and emergency-preparedness instruction

• Coastal history programs

• Weather and environmental observation

• Seamanship training

• Student research projects

• Oral-history recording

• Live virtual sessions from aboard

• Port and museum collaborations

• Carefully planned sail-training experiences

 

All vessel-based programs will remain subject to the vessel’s readiness, qualified supervision, insurance, applicable regulations, weather, participant suitability, and ASI safety procedures.

 

The educational mission will never take priority over safe operation.

 

Learning Through the Heritage Voyage

The planned Great Circle Heritage Voyage will extend the classroom across the Atlantic.

 

Each destination can become a field of study:

• Newport and New England maritime history

• The Azores and transatlantic navigation

• Madeira and Portuguese Atlantic settlement

• The Canary Islands and ocean-route geography

• Cabo Verde and the African-European Atlantic

• Migration, diaspora, trade, colonialism, and cultural exchange

• Modern island communities and their relationship with the sea

 

Before each passage, students may examine the route, weather, history, geography, culture, and institutions associated with the destination. During the voyage, ASI hopes to document interviews, ports, museums, schools, cultural centers, vessels, historic sites, and community stories.

 

After each stage, ASI can organize the material into lectures, articles, videos, digital exhibits, maps, and additions to the E-Library.

 

In this way, the voyage becomes more than an expedition. It becomes a continuing educational process: study before departure, observe during the journey, and share what was learned afterward.

 

Collaboration with Schools and Institutions

 

ASI welcomes responsible collaboration with organizations whose knowledge and experience can strengthen the educational mission.

 

Potential collaborators may include:

• Elementary and secondary schools

• High schools and vocational programs

• Colleges and universities

• Maritime academies

• ROTC and veterans’ education programs

• Museums and historical societies

• Libraries and archives

• Portuguese and Cape Verdean cultural organizations

• Sailing schools and yacht clubs

• Maritime unions and professional associations

• Environmental and ocean-science organizations

• Ports, shipyards, and marine businesses

• Authors, filmmakers, artists, and independent researchers

• Institutions in Portugal, the Azores, Madeira, the Canary Islands, and Cabo Verde

 

Collaboration may take the form of guest lectures, shared research, student projects, internships, museum programming, oral histories, digital exhibits, curriculum development, vessel visits, cultural exchanges, and joint public events.

 

ASI does not need to duplicate the work of established institutions. Its role can be to connect people, programs, collections, and maritime experiences that might otherwise remain separated.

Learn more about developing Partnerships.

 

Internships, Mentorship, and Youth Participation

 

As ASI develops the necessary supervision, policies, funding, insurance, and institutional relationships, future educational opportunities may include internships and mentorship programs.

 

Students may contribute to:

• Historical research

• Archival organization

• Photograph identification

• Oral-history projects

• Video and audio production

• Social-media education

• Website and E-Library development

• Translation

• Museum and community outreach

• Vessel documentation

• Marine engineering research

• Passage-planning projects

• Environmental observation

• Nonprofit administration

 

Whenever minors participate, programs should include appropriate institutional agreements, parental permissions, supervision, safeguarding procedures, and clearly defined educational objectives.

 

The goal is not to assign students’ routine work. It is to give them meaningful experience while preserving heritage and building practical skills.

 

Accessible and Inclusive Education

ASI’s educational mission should remain accessible to people with different levels of experience.

A participant should not need to be a professional historian, sailor, or engineer to take part. Programs can begin with introductory material and build toward more advanced study.

 

As resources and partnerships grow, ASI may also develop:

• Recorded programs for those unable to attend live

• Transcripts and captioning

• Downloadable study guides

• Recommended reading

• Teacher resources

• Family-learning activities

• Youth-oriented presentations

• Bilingual or translated material

• Programs designed for veterans and retired mariners

• Opportunities for community members to share expertise

 

The diversity of the Atlantic world should be reflected in the people invited to teach, speak, participate, and contribute.

 

Share Knowledge. Build Understanding.

 

ASI welcomes educators, historians, mariners, veterans, engineers, authors, artists, students, museums, schools, and cultural organizations interested in contributing to the educational mission.

 

You may be able to help by:

• Delivering a lecture

• Participating in an interview

• Recommending a resource

• Sharing a maritime experience

• Contributing historical material

• Mentoring a student

• Helping develop a lesson

• Hosting a collaborative program

• Translating educational content

• Supporting virtual-program technology

• Sponsoring an educational initiative

 

Visit Volunteer, explore our Current Projects, or discuss an institutional Partnership.

 

Education Is the Voyage

The ultimate measure of ASI’s educational work will not be the number of lectures delivered or miles sailed.

 

It will be whether people better understand the history that shaped them, whether family knowledge is preserved, whether students learn to examine evidence, whether mariners share their experience, and whether one generation successfully passes its knowledge to the next.

 

The classroom may be a school, a museum, a computer screen, a harbor, or the deck of the S/V American Saudade.

 

Wherever serious learning takes place, the educational voyage has already begun. Learn from the past. Examine the present. Prepare for the future.

 

ACTA NON VERBA — Deeds, Not Words.

 

The principal associated links are:

• 360 Deep™

• E-Library

• S/V American Saudade

• The Great Circle Heritage Voyage

• SubSafe to SailSafe™

• Maritime Heritage

• Latest Videos and Stories

• Current Projects

• Volunteer

• Partnerships