Daily News Photo by CRISTIAN SIMESCU The Sea Education Association's SSV Corwith Cramer, a 134-foot steel-hulled brigantine, right, is docked at Gallows Bay joining the Schooner Roseway.

ST. CROIX - The Sea Education Association's SSV (sailing school vessel) Corwith Cramer, a 134-foot steel-hulled brigantine, arrived in Christiansted Harbor last Saturday as part of a 12-week undergraduate ocean education program.

Eighteen students and the crew of 10 sailed from Woods Hole, Mass., to Dominica before arriving at St. Croix to spend Thanksgiving week on the island, as they have for about the past eight years.

Students aboard the ship spend the first six weeks of the program participating in academic coursework on shore at Woods Hole before sailing to the Caribbean.

Chief mate Tom Sullivan said the students engage in oceanographic research that ends up being used by the National Weather Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and even the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Students participating in the program earn 17 college credits while becoming members of the sailing crew and scientific team. They conduct sampling surveys of Caribbean's biology, geology, chemistry and physics using state-of-the art laboratory facilities. They also explore historical, natural and cultural aspects of the places they visit.

Once the ship leaves Christiansted on Saturday, it will sail to Key West and St. Petersburg in Florida and the western Caribbean before returning to Massachusetts.

For more information about the program and to see where the ship is located throughout the year visit www.sea.edu.