New London — The tall ship Oliver Hazard Perry will be taking some local students on the voyage of a lifetime next month.

Students from rival New London and Fitch high schools will be working and learning together Sept. 12-17 aboard the 200-foot-long ship as part of the Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival. The festival runs in the downtown Sept. 9-12, featuring a parade of vessels including the Oliver Hazard Perry as well as boat races, educational programs, a chowder contest and a maritime art show.

Richard Bailey, the ship's captain, said more than two dozen students from Groton and New London will travel aboard the three-masted, steel-hulled vessel, which had its maiden voyage in July and is the first operational full-rigged tall ship constructed in the United States in more than a century.

"This has been going on for generations," Bailey said in a phone interview. "There's no better educational platform than a ship at sea."

Bailey said everyone aboard the ship will have a job to do. Students will have a chance to stand watch, man the helm, handle the lines, go aloft and perhaps even help out preparing food in the galley.

Operational safety will be a key component of the shipboard learning, with various drills being required of each student. Roving patrols also will be conducted to ensure that objects and doors are secured and equipment not in use is turned off.

With sailing being a 24-hour operation, he added, students work in shifts of four hours on and eight hours off.

"This ship does not suffer slackers," Bailey said. He added that the ship's educational program is geared toward "kids with an urge for leadership" and that the general response from students after spending time literally learning the ropes is "I never thought I could do those things, and I did them."

He said the ship, which was built as a sailing school vessel, includes a science laboratory on deck where students might wind up dissecting squid or studying the bioluminescence of plankton.

The ship's exact route is unknown, since it largely depends on the wind direction, Bailey said. But students — 15 from New London and an equal number from Groton — will board in the Whaling City and dock in Newport, R.I.

"This is a tremendous opportunity for these local students to experience life on the sea and learn about our state's rich nautical history," said Bruce MacDonald, chief operating officer of the maritime festival, in a statement.

The ship is named for a naval war hero born in South Kingstown, R.I., who is credited with leading the successful Battle of Lake Erie against the English during the War of 1812. Oliver Hazard Perry also was the older brother of Commodore Matthew C. Perry, who helped open up trade between Japan and the West in the 1850s.

Michael Graner and Manuel Rivera, superintendent of schools in Groton and New London respectively, said their students are excited about the opportunity.

"We expect it to be a memorable and worthwhile journey for everyone involved," Rivera said in a statement.

"It's an impressive reminder," added state Rep. Ernest Hewett, D-New London, "of the Thames River's glory days when her harbor was full of sailing ships that traveled around the world. ... They will be, in a sense, continuing a long tradition of going to sea."

l.howard@theday.com

Twitter: @KingstonLeeHow