At the Preston’s dock in Greenport, Captain David Berson is busy preparing his solar powered launch, Glory, for a visit by a group of fourth graders from Greenport School.
It’s 9:15 on a Tuesday morning and already it’s sweltering, but the harbor is calm and it’s looking like a good day for a boat ride.
As they approach, the children’s chatter can be heard before they can be seen; they are excited. Ten children, their teacher and a grandparent arrive at the dock and Berson greets them warmly, then invites them to sit for a minute so he can set some ground rules.
There are only two.
“You have to listen, you have to pay attention. That’s all,” says Berson. “Now let’s go!”
Berson has been taking schoolchildren out on Glory for years as part of his Glory Going Green free educational program.
“For a long time it was used as a teaching experience,” he says. “But now it’s just us hanging out together on the boat and having a little fun.”
Children are under so much pressure all the time, he says. He just wants them to enjoy a boat ride on a beautiful day and not worry about anything.
Once everyone is fitted with a life jacket and has climbed aboard Glory, it’s time to head out across the harbor to Shelter Island. Since Glory is solar powered, it’s practically noiseless, so everyone can hear the running commentary provided by Berson. He talks but doesn’t lecture and is content whether the children are listening to him or not.
Unable to resist finding out what they know, he asks them a few questions. “What is the name of this bay? What island do you think that is over there? What does solar powered mean and why is it a good thing?”
The kids are happy to answer and immediately begin asking questions of their own.
“Captain Dave, can we jump in?”
“Sure,” answers Berson. “You can jump in but you can’t get back on the boat. You have to swim home.”
“Captain Dave, do you like pancakes? And marshmallows?”
“Captain Dave, do you like green beans? Are you a vegetario?”
He laughs and says, “Look, if you’re going to keep asking me about food, you’re going to have to bring me some food.”
The friendly banter goes back and forth between Berson and the children for the entire trip. He has a knack for making a personal connection with each child, asking them their names then pointing out that he knows their older brother, their cousin, their parents. If it’s a child he’s not met before, he finds something else to mention to make them feel special. The children clearly adore him.
Once the trip is underway, each child is given the honor of donning a captain’s hat and steering Glory. Berson keeps a watchful eye on them but never hovers. He shouts out words of encouragement and the occasional good-natured suggestion to correct Glory’s course.
“You guys are doing great! Perfecto!”
“Hey, what are you doing? You’re like a crazy man, all over the place!”
After a leisurely putt across the harbor, an osprey nest comes into view. Berson asks the children to keep their voices down so as not to frighten the birds. Immediately they become dead silent. Binoculars are passed around to get a better look and the occasional soft “ooh” or “ahh” can be heard.
As Glory pulls away from the nest and the shoreline of Shelter Island, Berson picks up where he left off.
“Guys, smell that? Someone’s making pancakes.”
“Here here, take this,” he says as a girl moves to the front for her turn steering the boat. “You can’t be an official driver without the captain’s hat.”
Berson has one more treat in store for the children. He’s taking them to see the ghost ship. Immediately everyone begins asking to hear the story, but Berson will make them wait.
“The ghost story doesn’t work unless we’re looking at the boat.”
Back across the bay at the dock of a Greenport shipyard sits the rusted frame of a large vessel – this is the ghost ship.
Berson clears his throat to begin telling the story when one of the girls asks if she can tell it.
He agrees immediately and says that he won’t correct her unless she’s “totally wrong.”
“There were three crew members,” she begins. “All three of them were driving this boat and one day they crashed and that’s where the boat is right now. At a full moon in the dark you’ll hear moaning sounds.”
Berson picks up where she leaves off.
“And a knocking sound. Every other night it’s quiet as if there was nothing out here. But when the moon lights up the harbor at night and all that light floods on the bay, what do you hear? And what do you think that is?”
“Let us out!” the kids answer in unison.
Berson continues with a tale of the danger of being on the water when the moon is full.
“I was out here once on a full moon night and I was so afraid my hair stood up on end. Look how grey my hair is. It was never grey until that night. My beard was all black. I heard noises and knocks and my hair turned grey like that.”
The children look at him quizzically and smile, taking the story with a grain of salt.
As Berson pulls Glory up to the dock the kids share their opinions about the trip. A quick survey shows that when it comes to their favorite part of the trip, it’s a three way tie between seeing the osprey, driving the boat and visiting the ghost ship.
After the children have gone, Berson will prepare the boat for the next group, due in another hour or two. Every child in the fourth, fifth and sixth grade will get to take a Glory trip.
When asked what motivates him to provide these Glory trips and the many other activities he organizes for local children, he pauses to think and then admits that he really doesn’t know why.
“It’s just something that I feel I need to do,” he says. “I love these kids and they all know me.”
He pauses again.
“I have no idea what motivates me.”
To find out more about Glory visit her website.
SoutholdLOCAL photos by Katharine Schroeder
