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Within hours of departing Bermuda, smiles had been replaced with grimaces as the first of the crew succumbed to sea sickness.

The illness has been known to knock the most manly of men to their knees, begging for a reprieve from the endless swells and nausea.

Unfortunately for the sloop's young crew this was not only the first international voyage for many of them, but also happened to be a rather rough one.

Aboard the 112 foot-long Bermuda sloop, waves banged against the ship's hull and the sound reverberated below deck.

In winds of 30 to 40 knots the sounds caused by crashing waves can cause faint-hearted individuals to question the ship's sea worthiness.

But the crew had little to fear, the three-masted schooner is sturdy and safety is paramount among its professional crew.

The swells didn't ease up anytime soon and, one by one, many of the crew were felled by illness.

Despite the rough weather and poor stomachs the mood on the ship remained buoyant with people looking after one another and jokes revolving around nausea reigning supreme.

And with the majority of the crew being teenage boys, there was no shortage of jokes on this subject. By day three, the swells had subsided and the sun emerged. Now it was time for the hard work to begin.

As one can imagine, after enduring three days of an ill crew, the ship was less than fresh.

Brooms, mops, buckets, scrubbing brushes and cloths emerged and the sailors set about ensuring the sloop was ship shape.

This clean up would happen every morning at 8 a.m., right after breakfast, from now on.

Once that was complete students settled in for a rotating schedule of history classes, meals and watches — where they were responsible for steering the ship, watching out for other vessels and performing sail manoeuvres.

The familiar call of "two-six" was heard whenever sails had to be raised, the call helps sailors to pull the rope at the same time.

The long established and perennially required task of shining brass became second nature.

For no matter how much you shined the item, it was a guarantee that by the next day salt would have reduced the once gleaming object to a grubby item.

It was around this point in the voyage, day four, that the young men also forgot who they were on land. Those that had stepped on board acting tough turned out to be the jokers who would sing songs to keep everyone amused.

Others chose to fish or read to pass the time. Some spent time with the ship's engineer learning the tools of the trade.

And some young men discovered their passion for cooking and helped out in the galley.

This period of calm aboard the Spirit soon passed for as the ship continued to glide towards her port the crew grew more restless.

It was as though they could smell land before they could see it.

No matter how many times they were reminded that land was 40 or 50 miles away they insisted they would be there within the hour.

Some decided to forgo sleep in order to be the first to spot the tiny speck in the ocean rather oddly known as Grand Turk, an eight-square-mile Island of Turks and Caicos.

Sailing into the island was interesting, particularly as the crew had learned Bermudians used to come to the Turks and Caicos to rake salt for a few weeks to make their fortune. Some say much of the original Hamilton was built off the proceeds of Turk's salt.

The boys decided it was a form of piracy and the only fitting tribute for the return of the Bermudians was to fire the ship's cannon upon arrival.

One might have assumed the small cannon would have alerted the customs officials we had arrived and were itching to feel firm ground.

But alas, they chose to leave us languishing for an hour or two, perhaps this was their way of reminding Bermudians that they were no longer colonialists on Grand Turk.

Nevertheless once the crew was granted permission to set foot on the island the real fun and learning began.

Tomorrow The Royal Gazette explores the historical ties between Bermuda and Turks and Caicos and reveals exclusive footage of Bermudian students raking salt where their ancestors would have hundreds of years ago.