Cape Cod Maritime Museum

The Cape Cod Maritime Museum's mission is to preserve the rich maritime traditions and history for which Cape Cod and the Islands are known. We strive to enable audiences of all ages to understand and enjoy the maritime culture through exhibitions, collections, public events, and educational programs. The museum is dedicated to maintaining responsive and supportive programs to educate and aid the community on maritime heritage. 

The Cape Cod Maritime Museum’s Young Mariner Program aims to provide the opportunity for youths on Cape Cod to get out on the water in a boat, where they will engage with maritime-themed STEM topics in a hands-on and experiential way. While Cape Cod is surrounded by water, many children of Cape Cod never have a chance to get on a boat, depriving them of the incredible life-changing experience that the sea, and all professions related to it, can offer to children.  Our goal is to ignite a spark within them, encouraging them to engage in maritime industry and culture in the future.  

Running  from June through August (summer vacation), each session will host 24 children for three hours a day, four days a week, where they will learn about navigation, seamanship, marine biology and mammals, how to anchor and dock, tides, water quality, and knot tying among other activities.  A captain, licensed educator, and teaching assistants will take the children around Hyannis Harbor, Lewis Bay, and Hyannis Port Harbor, all the while educating the children with lessons and hands-on activities mentioned above. The necessity of this program on Cape Cod is crucial, as the maritime industry is the second largest economic driver of the region, after seasonal tourism.  The importance of getting young people out on the water, and familiar and comfortable with the water, is pivotal to ensuring they are able to engage with year-round occupations that do not rely on seasonal tourism. To keep the strong heritage of the maritime industry alive and thriving, Cape Cod needs a new generation of people with skills and an interest in the maritime industry. 

Very few pursuits illustrate integrated STEM information as much as being on the water can. It also happens in an exceptionally hands on manner: by handling a lobster, seeing the tide on a buoy, watching the depth, landing a boat in the wind, tying a knot, setting an anchor, watching a compass swing, seeing what floats and what doesn’t, looking at seawater through a microscope, understanding what the difference between a red and green buoy is, and even the order that is kept on a boat. These experiences create the environmental biologists, teachers, ferry captains, Harbor Masters, commercial fisherman, and boatyard managers of tomorrow. Although many populations of children on Cape Cod will go to the beach or be on a boat at some point in their lives, we hope to provide this opportunity to children from homes where this may not necessarily be the case. Our fundraising goal for this project is $80,000, and will provide over 250 children from the community 12 hours of experience on the water at no cost to them or their families.

Your donation towards this project can go a long way to ensuring success for these children:

• $25 can go towards the supplies needed to make a sextant or compass
• $50 can go towards a beginner's microscope for children to use
• $100 can go towards rope to use for knot tying lessons
• $250 can go towards the purchase of live vests and other safety equipment for children and staff
• $500 can give 6 children scholarships to the Young Mariner Program
• $1000 can give 12 children scholarships to the Young Mariner Program

Help the youth of the Cape Cod community thrive and flourish in a region with a proud and long-standing maritime heritage!