Cape-based students aid 49 Haitians

Twenty-two college students spending a semester aboard a research vessel in the Caribbean helped rescue 49 Haitians drifting on a disabled sailboat yesterday and carried them to a Jamaican port, the school program said.

The students were aboard the Corwith Cramer, a 134-foot steel brigantine, on Wednesday as part of the SEA semester program for undergraduates offered by Sea Education Association, based in Woods Hole. They spotted the small boat crowded with refugees about 45 miles off Jamaica, according to information the program provided.

The Haitians, 35 adults and 14 children and infants, had left their country five days earlier before their ship, an old 25-foot vessel, lost its mast and rudder, said John Bullard, president of the Sea Education Association. ''The students were deploying scientific gear for a student project when one of them spotted a large number of people in distress," he said.

The Cramer's captain, Steve Tarrant, and other crew members contacted the US Coast Guard and the Jamaica Defence Force, and it was determined that the Cramer was the only ship immediately available to rescue the stranded group, Bullard said.

''We determined the best course of action with least risk to our students was to take on the 49 Haitians and to proceed to Port Antonio" in Jamaica, he said.

The students, along with 11 crew members, helped the Haitians onboard, making sure they had food, water, and shelter, as the ship sailed to Jamaica.

Members of the Jamaica Defence Force escorted the ship during the last few miles of the trip, and took the Haitian group into custody, Bullard said.

Because the students have little outside communication during six weeks on the ocean, Bullard spent much of yesterday informing parents. The students are due to return to the United States on March 19. ''Their parents are thrilled that their kids could take part in this humanitarian effort," he said.