This could be your chance to sail for a living

The Aberdeen-based organization that operates Washington state’s official ship, the Lady Washington, is looking for captains and other crew members. And it will even provide on-the-job training.

“We have a tremendous history of training our own captains,” Caitlin Stanton, operations director with the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport, said in a news release. “We create a lot of new mariners for the industry. Right now, many of our younger captains have gone to cruise ships, ferries, and tugs and we are seeking folks willing to take on the challenge of sailing an 18th century vessel.”

The organization has been trying to recruit candidates from a variety of methods.

“For the first time, we are taking out paid ads in maritime publications, and have even posted on Craigslist,” said executive director Brandi Bednarik. “Word of mouth and training have worked well for us in the past, but hiring has become more competitive and we’re having to do more marketing to reach people. Believe it or not, we've gotten several great crew members from Craigslist ads.”

The Lady Washington is at the Festival of Sail in Tacoma this weekend. For more information on the brig and its job openings, go to www.historicalseaport.org.

This story was originally published June 17, 2017 at 2:27 PM with the headline "This could be your chance to sail for a living."