Pulling out from the Battery Maritime Building in downtown Manhattan, the ferry to Governors Island rose and fell on the waves with 24 inner-city teenagers on board, while an orange Staten Island Ferry lumbered toward the Statue of Liberty and yellow New York water taxis scooted around like ants. The historic 172-acre Governors Island loomed, revealing Castle Williams, a circular brown-red stone fort from 1812, and more recent stately brick buildings with white trim and black-tiled roofs.

The 14- to 18-year-olds were to spend the night camping on the island in the middle of New York's harbor as part of an unusual outdoor and science experience organized by Cornell's New York City Cooperative Extension (CCE-NYC), the Police Athletic League and New York's Harbor School, a public high school with a maritime focus.

The two-day "Explorer's Day" event, April 17-18, marked the first of what organizers hope will be many future educational programs as part of Harbor 360, a public environmental education and research center focused on the harbor and planned by CCE and seven other academic, environmental and civic organizations.

Governors Island is currently in the midst of an ambitious revitalization that will eventually open the island to the public after two centuries as a government facility. Under a mandate to devote 20 acres of the island to education, Harbor 360 plans to build an interactive visitor's center there, designed with state-of-the-art green-building standards.

The organizers needed a special permit from the island's managers -- the National Park Service and the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation -- to use the historic section of the island. They treated the teenagers to workshops on maritime charting, field and aquatic ecology and the island's unique history -- and to a night under the stars.

"A lot of them have never camped out before," said N'Jeri Mitchell, CCE extension associate who works with the 4-H family and youth development program. "Some of them have never left the city, never been in a boat."

The students are part of the 4-H club at York College in Queens and the 4-H Youth Council based out of the CCE-NYC office in Manhattan. Others were from the New York Harbor School, the Andrew Jackson Campus Magnet High School in Queens and the Queens Gateway High School.

"They said we were going camping, I ain't never been camping before," said Anthony Lewis, one of the CCE 4-H members. "They said it was out at Governors Island, so that's what drew me to come. We learned about the trees, we learned about the forts. It's cool." Lewis plans to attend culinary school at the City University of New York in Sullivan County in August.

"Last night the teachers were trying to scare us, telling us ghost stories," smiled Leydi Bassilio, a sophomore at the New York Harbor School.

"I was the ghost of governors past," quipped Harbor School teacher Noah Heller.

Gretchen Ferenz, senior extension associate and program leader for urban environment at CCE-NYC, called the two-day campout "a unique opportunity to engage in hands-on environmental and outdoor learning experiences focused on the New York harbor, and the urban ecosystem where they live."

Workshops included a tour of the island and a lesson in its rich history. Because of its strategic location, the island served as a U.S. Army facility from 1800 until it was transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard in 1966. It lay dormant from 1996 to 2003, when the government sold it to the people of New York City for one dollar.

Other Explorer's Day activities included lectures on the island's tree species and the aquatic ecology of the harbor; a maritime workshop that included knot tying and charting; a scavenger hunt at Castle Williams; and a boat tour of the harbor.

The green and gray tents were set up on a sloping field that led to Fort Jay, a star-shaped fort built in the 1790s. The slope was part of the fort's defenses, along with a dry moat and a 30-foot brick wall topped with grassy knolls where gunners once were set up. The corners of the fort still retain their cannons.

"It's like a new adventure, to camp out and get sleeping bags, stay with friends and to get comfortable in a different environment," said Mike Mitchell, a senior at the Andrew Jackson High School, who will attend State University of New York, Albany, to study communication in hopes of becoming a sportscaster. "It's not like our home with TV and all that."