Annual Ship Jump at
Maine Maritime Academy

by Fishermen’s Voice Staff

The annual Ship Jump at the Maine Maritime Academy (MMA) in Castine was held on September 1st. The Jump is a long-standing tradition that goes back to the 1960’s.

All freshmen are required to make the 32’ jump from the deck of the training vessel State of Maine before they go on an annual training cruise. During the Ship Jump students learn how to properly don a life jacket, how to jump into the water safely and to swim 100 yards out of the danger zone. As many as 300 students, MMA alumni, staff, coaches and upper classmen have participated in the ship jump.

Non-licensed, independent students and faculty are welcome to make the jump and often do. The event takes place at the Academy where the State of Maine is tied up.

The ship jump is an abandon ship technique and an integral part of the training for working at sea. In 1967 the MMA commandant was surprised to learn how many students could not swim and in some cases were afraid of the ocean. He established a requirement that all incoming students, as part of ship familiarization and prior to the first cruise, had to jump from the main deck of the training vessel.  A few years later students were required to pass a swimming test as well.

Today the Maine Maritime Academy has various safety training programs that are United States Coast Guard approved which cover various safety procedures and emergency response techniques. John McMillan, of McMillan Offshore Survival Training, teaches Ocean Survival training at MMA. He also works in conjunction with the Coast Guard in conducting the USCG approved fishing vessel drill conductor program. Prior coming to the MMA McMillan conducted safety training for the offshore oil and gas industry in the US and internationally.

MMA Lt. David Hassett said, “ McMillan has a genius for encouraging confidence in those making the jump.” Jumping from the deck of a ship into 55 degree water from 32’ is something most people have not done and gives many hesitation. “He puts a hand on their shoulder, says a few calm words of assurance and they can make the jump,” said Hassett.

Safety is a top priority in the maritime industry at this time. Unfortunately it is often casualties that create regulations and training requirements. Between December, 1999 and January, 2001 fourteen Maine fishermen were lost at sea. Governor Angus King therefore was responsible for creating the state of Maine’s Fishing Vessel Safety Task Force. Kevin Rousseau at the Maine Department of Marine Resources said the DMR is currently planning to begin numerous at sea awareness programs in many Maine fishing communities.

John McMillan will be a part of the Fishing Vessel Safety Task Force conducting the training around the state.

How did a guy from Louisiana get involved with the safety training at the MMA and the fishing industry?

While McMillan was in college he read about a house building school, The Shelter Institute, in Bath, Maine. He came to Maine after graduation to learn how to build his own house. While working for a local contractor he contacted the MMA in 1981 to see what safety training they were offering to the general population- fishermen, law enforcement, search and rescue, EMS personnel and the state police. It was then that the MMA put together three programs taught by McMillan, which were all well attended. This initiated the relationship between McMillan and the MMA.

Lt. Hassett’s comment about McMillan conveying confidence has roots in McMillan’s background. His grandfather was a swimming coach in their home town of Gramercy, Louisiana, outside New Orleans. His father and his aunt were on the swimming team. Later his aunt who taught Physical Education at the local university in Lafayette, La. also taught swimming in the summers to supplement her income. McMillan and his younger brothers’ interest in aquatics began while assisting with their aunt’s teaching while they were growing up.

Years later an owner of an offshore oil company in Louisiana asked the University about sea survival training for his employees. He wanted them to know what to do once they were in the water. The university referred him to McMillan’s aunt, Margaret McMillan. At that time she found there was no structured sea survival programs outside the military. His aunt went to Scotland to study sea survival training at the Robert Gordon Institute of Technology. McMillan Offshore Safety Training was soon formed and began training. In 1978 McMillan Offshore Survival Training implemented this training in the Gulf of Mexico.

Once in Scotland other at sea training schools were located in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Holland, where McMillan participated in sea survival training and fire fighting classes. McMillan has taught throughout the coastal United States, Mexico, Chile and in Nigeria, Africa for 10 years between 1989 and 1999.

In 2007 the MMA aquatic director retired and McMillan was asked to take over as the “Ocean Survival Instructor.”

The Maine maritime Academy roots are in the proposals for an institution devoted to nautical training that were made in Maine in the 1930s. Educational and civic leaders throughout the state prompted the creation of Maine Maritime Academy by an act of the 90th Maine Legislature on March 21, 1941. Since being established in 1941 the Maine Maritime Academy has seen several periods of growth. At this time, with expansion in the oil and gas industries many MMA students are graduating with employment opportunities around the world.
Lt. Dassett noted that although technology aboard ships has greatly improved in recent decades the sea remains a dangerous environment where the unexpected should be expected.