sophisticated drug runners armed with the latest technology.

But for Ivan Luke, the captain of the US Coast Guard Training Ship Eagle , which arrived in Bermuda on Thursday, there is a lot to be learned from the old fashioned way of doing things.

At least three times a day during the past two weeks it's been a case of all hands on deck as the 44 trainee officers get things ship shape -- often spending up to six hours a day manning the sails.

Captain Luke explains: "It takes a lot of backbreaking labour to sail this ship.

"Tall ships are excellent platforms for teaching people about life, leadership, problem solving, building self confidence, overcoming fears, communication and interpersonal relations.

"Those are all an outcome of sailing a big ship like this with a bunch of inexperienced hands.

"We're not teaching them to be squarerigger sailors, we're teaching them to be leaders, professional mariners.

"It's a very nautical way of building character.

"Every time we handle the ship we have a different set of trainees in charge, at the bridge, at each mast and on down the chain.

"If things don't work it's immediately obvious do we try it again.

The public are welcomed to look around today and tomorrow afternoon.

"People are always amazed when we show them the three big steering wheels.

"They ask if it really takes three people to steer and we tell them -- no it takes six in bad weather.

"It doesn't have any mechanical aids, it's all manual. We have an engine to get in and out of port and if the wind dies. But all the sails are handled by hand -- we don't use winches or power of any sort.

Captain Luke says: "We sailed eight of eleven days. We train damage control, fire fighting, navigation, all the administration details are exactly the same as with a powered ship.'' His crew even learn to communicate using the colourful signal flags with a different pattern for each letter. Still a useful tool if a power failure wipes out the computer system.

But hardly the quickest form of communication as spelling just one word can take around two hours to mount all the flags across the top of the sails.

Petty Officer Alice Sennott says: "We use the computers as back-up, we're very paper orientated.

"We don't want to depend too much on technology as we're a training vessel.

We teach them the old fashioned way and they can do it the simple way later.'' Not surprisingly Captain Luke is a big fan of the Tall Ships 2000 event.

"We are going to a lot of Tall Ships festivals along the East Coast similar to the one you are having here next month. We've couldn't be here for that one.

"We'll be the host ship because we're America's tall ship -- we'll lead the parade of sail.

"We also want to raise the visibility of our role to attract recruits and build international goodwill. Just as Bermuda, America is very much a maritime nation but we tend to forget that. We wouldn't exist if it wasn't for people who sailed ships like this to found our nation and to defend it.

"What you will find when the tall ships visit Bermuda although the languages and the uniforms are different the sailors are the same. Politics disappear when sailors get together.'' Captain Luke has been at the helm of the Eagle for a year. But the vessel, was originally named after Nazi Horst Vessel, made famous in an SS drinking song.

The ship was taken from the Germans after World War Two.

Now it's used to train officer candidates at the mid-point of a 17-week course.

Tomorrow they disembark to be replaced by Academy cadets who will be out at sea for five weeks.

Captain Luke explains that being a coast guard is much more than chugging up and down the coast -- some of the service's vessels have a range of 10,000 miles.

He says: "We operate essentially worldwide, we have ships in the Mediterranean and the Baltic and the Arabian Gulf working with the Navy.

"When we are patrolling around here we are looking for smugglers bringing contraband into the US "All of our patrol cutters have small arms and also naval deck guns and machine guns.

"We are fully prepared to defend ourselves.

"We have not, since the days of prohibition, got into a gun battle with anybody.

"We usually have overwhelmingly firepower when we stop a boat.

"There's no place they can go, we've got the drop on them.'' And if the smuggler chooses flight rather than fight the Coast Guard have other tricks up their sleeve. "In the Caribbean the smugglers are using 35-40 knot launches and we have recently got a armed helicopter which uses disabling fire -- it shoots the engine with a very accurate sniper rifle.

"Then our cutter catches up with them.'' Photo/US Coast Guard All hands on deck: The Coast Guard officer trainees can spend up to six hours a day manning the sails -- an exercise their captain says is character building.

Photo/US Coast Guard Merry mariners: The Coast Guard training ship Eagle will lead flotillas in some of the American ports for the Tall Ships 2000 race. IT'S BACK TO