the departure of the tall ships participating in the Tall Ships 2000 event.

The State of Maine , a modern training ship from the Maine Maritime Academy, will depart Castine Harbour on May 7 for its annual two-month training cruise to foreign and domestic ports of call.

And from June 15 to June 18, the ship will be berthed in St. George's before departing for Port Everglades in Florida.

The ship will be under the command of Captain Laurence V. Wade of Bradley, Maine, and other ports of call for the vessel include Bridgetown, Barbados, Philadelphia and Rockland in Maine. The 500-foot, 16,000-tonne ship, which was formerly the USNS Tanner , originally served as a Navy oceanographic research vessel and was converted in 1997 to accommodate the training needs of the Castine college.

Students pursuing an officer's licence from the US Coast Guard as a third mate or third assistant engineer are required to train at sea for 60 days in each of their first three years at the college.

Freshman and juniors sail aboard the vessel while sophomores are assigned to merchant ships around the world.

The Maine Maritime Academy was founded in 1941 and enrols 700 students from 36 US states and several countries. It awards Associate, Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in 12 fields of study including engineering, technology, marine transportation, business, logistics.