You can either scroll through these pages or click on a face to jump directly to that crew member.

Captain William Reynolds has been captain of the Half Moon and Director of the New Netherland Museum since 1998. Before coming to the Half Moon, he captained numerous seagoing vessels, both historical and industrial. His background also includes training and work in the environmental sciences. He currently lives with his family in Selkirk, NY, and is looking forward to seeing the new student crew meet the challenges this Voyage of Discovery places before them.

Kara Colley is a math teacher. Last year, she worked in England as a maths teacher. Mrs. Colley's favorite thing to do on the Half Moon is to furl and unfurl the sails.

Sky Colley is our ship's carpenter. He has worked on the Half Moon for two years. He enjoys working with wood, but likes to sail even more!

Daniel Scott Dawson is a professional handyman/painter and has been restoring the Half Moon to its original 17th century colors (after they were muted for the ship's use in the upcoming film, The New World) over the course of the summer. This is Mr. Dawson's second Voyage of Discovery. When not working on the Half Moon, Mr. Dawson is an avid fisherman and wilderness explorer, and he also enjoys skiing, billiards, the New York Yankees, and listening to and collecting live music.

Morgan Stiles Ely, who has recently turned 70, calls himself a "has-been": a retired naval officer, a retired construction manager, a retired state of Connecticut construction design manager, and an active grandfather. He learned to sail at the age of 12 on lakes in Connecticut. Later on, he attended US Coast Guard Academy, and graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a Bachelor's in civil engineering. He now lives in Lyme, CT, at the mouth of the Connecticut River. He owns a 32' sailboat (ketch rig) and often takes his grandchildren sailing.

He remains an active member of the U.S. Power Squadrons, where he was the education officer. This is similar to U.S. Coast Guard activity and promotes boating safety. Mr. Ely has long been one of the Half Moon's volunteer-retirees, and was aboard when the ship rode out Hurricane Floyd.

Christina Fountain is a sixth grade English teacher from Rensselaer Middle High School. This is Mrs. Fountain's second Voyage of Discovery on the Half Moon.

Sylvia Lawler one day asked Captain Reynolds, "Who cooks for all those kids on the Voyage of Discovery?" He smiled and replied, "Volunteers, Sylvia, volunteers." That's it in a nutshell. This is Mrs. Lawler's first trip on the Half Moon, and she's already been promoted from cook's assistant to chief cook. She would like to thank Tecla Heuer for taking the time to help her with menu planning and provisioning the ship. She would also like to thank Captain Reynolds for including her in this adventure.

Originally hailing from the suburbs of Philadelphia, PA, John W. Mangrum is the Voyage of Discovery webmaster, responsible for the daily updates you're currently reading. A former roleplaying game designer, Mr. Mangrum is now in his second year of adventures aboard the Half Moon. What started as a simple dockside tour of the ship has since turned into sailing off the Atlantic Coast, participating in the making of a History Channel documentary, and being an extra in The New World, due out this January. This marks his third Voyage of Discovery with Capital Region students.

Mark Morel hails from the Netherlands, where he lives on a houseboat in Amstelveen, near Amsterdam. He works as an instructor at a sailing school, where they teach sailing to students of all ages. After joining us for our fall Voyage of Discovery and History Channel voyages in 2004, Mr. Morel has returned this year to live and work on the Half Moon for another three months. He considers this an expression of how much he likes being here and working with a student crew.

Grant Prime teaches 5th grade at Taconic Hills Elementary School. Mr. Prime has been involved with historical re-enactments for more than thirty years, and has been bringing his enthusiasm to the Half Moon each summer since 1998. He has completed his Master's in Elementary Education, and was a contributor to the New Netherland Museum's 4th- and 7th-grade curriculum materials.