As it has been making its way across seas around the globe, the 131-foot research vessel known as Dardanella is typically carrying the requisite dive gear, charts and the like.

But it also has some surprising gear in its hold: art supplies.

That’s because at the helm of Dardanella — figuratively at least — is the art philanthropist and archduchess Francesca von Habsburg. And Dardanella is the centerpiece of a new Habsburg-funded initiative called the Current, which provides exploratory fellowships at sea for artists, scientists, conservationists, and other experts in allied fields.

The idea behind the Current is to bring on board, quite literally, the best creative minds in varied fields to address the challenges facing the world’s oceans. Then each voyage culminates in a convention where participants share their experiences at sea in a public forum, the first of which took place in late March in Jamaica, where Jamaican artists, policymakers and scientists were invited to be an integral part of the mix.

Von Habsburg is considered royalty in the art world as head of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA21), the private Vienna-based foundation she founded nearly 15 years ago.

“The more time you spend out there, you connect more and more,” says von Habsburg, who became a certified diver at 17, as she gestures to the sea off the northeast coast of Jamaica. “It just became more and more personal to me.”

The Current’s first expedition was to Papua New Guinea in the fall of 2015, and the ship set sail for French Polynesia in June.