The schooner FULTON – the unique ship

Head of department: Chief captain Jakob Jensen
E-mail: skonnerten@fulton.dk

The ship is a small world – very restricted in extent. Nevertheless, the ship contains the same ingredients (apart from the material) as the surrounding world. It is in no way a kind of paradise where a St. Peter look-a-like person would have opened the doors for the sweet kids and made them float around on white wings of innocence. The ship is nearly the opposite – Nobody is let in unless they have a somewhat shady past.

Life on shipboard is easy to grasp and everyday life is structured. But the kids are not isolated, cut off from the surrounding world, and with no means to make their own day. A great part of the time the ship is crowded with passengers of different age and sex. Their task is, together with our boys to have the ship sailing its best. The professional ship-crew of course has a word to say.

The better the boys get to know the ship and its way of function, the bigger the possibility that they shall experience the feeling of self-esteem and –confidence, when they have to act towards the passengers as instructors.

If they fulfil a job or omit it – the result is not hidden in a far away future. The effect of the sails, when set or taken in can be observed and felt. If a rope-end slips when it should not, it might cause serious damage to the gear or, in worst case, to persons. If the coal-stove is not fired – and therefore gets cold – the food cannot be cooked and there will be no hot water for the peggy (dish washing).

A watchman might prevent a catastrophe; for instance, such as a fire in the engine room.

Acknowledging remarks about the state and the look of the ship from visitors in the harbours or from the passengers give the boys a well earned feeling of having done something of use. They have, after all been part of the maintenance of “their” ship.

Besides the pedagogical aims the ship has a further task – which is to get passengers from one place to another. That too gives the sailing trip significance.

A positive being together – our boys and the passengers – has good chances to develop during a trip. This is, of course, of major consequence to the boys’ wellbeing.

The confined space makes privacy scarce, but this also has the effect that conflicts cannot drag for long, before they are felt and seen. Thereby the possibility to intervene and solve the problem quickly is obvious. Frequently the boys turn up in skipper’s cabin for a casual talk. But also serious and private matters may be at stake and in these surroundings feelings may be let loose without losing face to the passengers or the other boys.

Whether you are the skipper or quartermaster (AB) you have to be ready to join the boys in all the practical doings onboard the ship. In doing so a close contact to the boys is obtained. Hence the boys don’t consider the jobs they have to perform as unimportant, imposed upon them by ship officers in immaculate uniforms.

When the passengers have been paid off, normally on Fridays, adults and boys often spend the weekend being together round a real good dinner they prepare jointly.

Many of the boys have tried smoking grass (hashish). Some of them find it hard not to. It is almost impossible to control whether some of it is inboard the ship. If we find it reasonable to believe that hash has been smoked, we may institute a urine test, unless the boy admits to have smoked. When influenced by hash, the boys become a safety risk onboard, as well to themselves as others and they will therefore normally be returned to Postgaarden. Under certain circumstances they will be sent home to their parents for a “time for thinking”. This done with accepts from the boy’s home and the social worker in charge of the boy.

The necessity of teamwork onboard – working in the rigging and above water – directing the passengers. No wheelhouse – no hot showers – no television or video gear. The ship being somewhat primitive (Compared with modern vessels) gives work as well as watch below a feeling of frontier crossing for the boys. Crossings help them to open up to a more positive look upon themselves as well as upon their surroundings.