Date: Friday morning, April 21, 2017

Position: At anchor just southwest of Baltimore Lighthouse. Near mouth of the Magothy River.

We did not have to be at anchor from Thursday evening to middle of day Friday. We could have spent a night dockside and had a normal start to Friday morning, then motored and/or sailed to Annapolis. Could have been merely “day work”.

Instead, it was a busy Thursday moving the ship from her “winter berth” at 1910 South Clinton Street, to the Fort McHenry National Monument & Historic Shrine pier for history deck tours. Then another shift to Vane Brothers tug & oil barge transportation headquarters pier in Fairfield on the south side of the Patapsco River to pick up the Maryland Historical Society Maritime Committee members for a day sail from 2 to 4:30 PM. Then shift back to Clinton Street to attend to some minor logistics. Around 6 PM, we headed off for an overnight anchorage somewhere in the bay.

Got anchored around 9 PM. By 9:30 PM all was secured and discussion about a night at anchor was completed; not a creature was stirring, not a sound could be heard until generator time at 6 AM this morning.

A very peaceful and un-distracting night a little bit removed from the stimulation available when connected to land.

This morning is being spent attending to the usual details normal to the last bit of spring rig-up and re-commissioning of the ship after a de-commissioned winter spent down-rigged and under winter cover. Safety gear training. Last sail bending-on details. Another re-organizing of storage.

And no direct shore side distraction. Merely a foggy day with 100% cloud cover and a persistent threat of rain, though not currently falling. A light wind from northeast. Forecast to go even lighter. Thence shift to the southwest later and on to the northwest and north as the next phase of the current cold front passes over.

Life is just a little bit simpler. The island community of 14 persons that is Pride on this trip is only 100 feet of hull, 26 feet wide, and 12+ feet deep. With one below deck area. With a 360° view of the horizon from up on deck. Such as the view is with limited visibility. Grey it is. Hazy too. A shadowy vision. A few recreational fishing motor vessels milling about. Also a few Chesapeake Bay water craft “dead-rise boats” working as recreational fishing tour boats or crab-pot setting/recovery boats.

Pretty peaceful.

Signed,
Jan C. Miles