The Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, Me. has had a relationship with the Makarov State Maritime Academy in St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) since the first visit of MMA's training vessel to Leningrad in 1974.  Since then, MMA vessels have returned four times, most recently in 1998, and the Castine college has welcomed many Makarov students to its graduate program.

The relationship is believed to have started in 1973 through a cocktail conversation between the then-President of MMA, Admiral Rogers, and a Soviet authority who was rumored to have been the senior KGB official in Washington, DC.  In any event, the MMA training ship visited Leningrad in summer of 1974, hosted by the Soviet academy, and made a second trip in 1988.

In 1992, the State of Maine made its third trip to Russia's second city, which by then had reverted to its pre-Communist name of St. Petersburg.  On that occasion, several Makarov students embarked on the Maine vessel for its return home.  A few weeks later, they returned to Russia aboard the Makarov's tall ship Mir which had sailed to the U.S. to participate in parades of tall ships in New York and Boston.  Eight MMA students and one faculty member sailed with them as far as Great Britain.  The State of Maine returned to St. Petersburg in 1994 and 1998; and the Makarov's training ship visited Rockland in 2000.

As a result of a protocol signed in 1990, a number of Makarov graduates have studied for their master's degree at MMA and several MMA faculty have lectured in St. Petersburg.  In addition, there have been a number of short-term visits by officials of both institutions, independent of the training ship visits or faculty/student exchanges.

While there are not any faculty or student exchanges at present, MMA expects to continue its close relationship with the St. Petersburg school and that the State of Maine will again sail to St. Petersburg in the not too distant future.

This description was adapted from e-mail messages from William Eisenhart, former president of MMA, and Leonard Tyler, its current president.  For more information, contact Dr. John Barlow, Dean, Maine Maritime Academy, Castine, ME 04420, 207-326-2371.