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Photo: Vineyard views, courtesy of Captain Jan Miles

Date:Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Location: Baltimore, Maryland

The Tall Ship Challenge Great Lakes 2019 campaign of Pride of Baltimore II ended with a flourish.

Following dawdling for Tropical Storm Dorian, Pride managed three quick transit legs to make her scheduled homecoming date of Saturday, September 21, 2019.

It started with a motorized rush to Lunenburg after the passing of TS Dorian for refueling ahead of what could be seen as another rush to New Bedford during long-range forecast for friendly winds ahead of another round of contrary winds.

With Lunenburg refueling, plus some ship’s laundry and grocery shopping done, there was a three crew barbecue hosted by Picton Castle’s crew. A celebration of the three ships (Picton Castle, Bluenose II, and Pride of Baltimore II) that left together from Lunenburg back on June 15, returning on the same day after three months. All three vessels successfully fulfilled all of their tall ship festival obligations. Generating plenty of stories in the press all over the Great Lakes and also back at home via social media and online press.

After the one night in Lunenburg, it was off again for Pride’s crew Thursday to race to Cape Cod with a short period of favorable winds before the contrary southwesterly winds forecast to arrive over the Gulf of Maine Saturday. This “race” was successful. In fact, some very fast 9-10 knot beam reach sailing with all “plain” sail (four lower sails with square-topsail plus main-gaff-topsail and jib-topsail) was had for about 15 hours. Multiply the speed by the hours and a very significant portion of the mouth of the Gulf of Maine was crossed before the wind died off. After a short time of motoring, the wind came back as forecast from the southeast and the last 50 odd miles was finished off quickly Saturday morning. Leaving merely the distance from the “fist” of Cape Cod to the east entrance of the Cape Cod Canal. This quick ending to the Gulf of Maine crossing meant being protected from the forecast southwesterly winds that arrived soon after crossing the Gulf. This quick crossing also provided plenty of time to make the arranged rendezvous at New Bedford Harbor with US Customs & Border Protection authorities morning of Sunday, September 15.

After clearance was achieved, while moored to Fair Haven Marine fuel dock (thank you, Captain Robert Glover, for arranging the touch & go with Fair Haven Marine), there was reason to stall heading on toward Baltimore due to the southwest winds. Contrary winds for heading to the Delaware Bay forecast to linger through Monday. What to do with the stall time? Pay a visit to American traditional sail icon Captain Robert Douglass of course! Captain Douglas is owner and master of the highly renowned revenue cutter square topsail schooner Shenandoah of the harbor of Vineyard Haven on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. Shenandoah and Captain Douglas have been sailing since 1965. Always a smartly handled square-topsail passenger schooner with no engine. Both vessel and its creator owner/master are icons to the post World War II period of growth of American traditional sailing vessels introducing many to the wonders of such sailing. With some time to wait for another period of favorable wind forecast for midweek, it was easy for me to make the decision to call Captain Douglas to see if he would be in for a courtesy call. And so it was that Pride spent two nights at the dock in Vineyard Haven. Courtesy of the generosity of the owner of Tisbury Wharf Company laid on by Captain Douglas. An opportunity to give some time off to Pride’s crew in an exotic part of Massachusetts, as well as mingle with other American schooner crew from both Shenandoah and Alabama. And of course as see plenty of classic yachts from the early 1900s. But also an opportunity to get some maintenance done ahead of homecoming at the end of the week.

The transit to the Delaware Bay turned out to be another fast one. Not completely sailed. Some motoring on Tuesday. When the wind came up from the northeast and east it was all sailing. Eventually with plenty of wind requiring reducing sail being that the strength was peaking at 35 knots Wednesday afternoon. Once reaching speeds of better than 10 and keeping such speeds safely & comfortably through reducing sail, Pride made the entrance of the Delaware Bay evening time Wednesday with a 10 foot following sea. Northeast winds meant continuing to sail all the way up that bay very fast on its smooth protected water till near the C&D Canal around midnight. Took all sail and motored on to Pride’s maintenance dock near the area of Baltimore called Canton. Arriving early Thursday.

We took the afternoon off after the ship was cleaned and stowed and we also had a late start to Friday. Took a charter by Maryland Port Administration for two hours. Then Saturday, made the grand entry official homecoming with Baltimore’s very enthusiastic Mayor Young aboard, who very much appreciated the many cannon salutes Pride’s crew made as she grand standed her way all the way up into the Inner Harbor then back to Fells Point for a welcome ceremony audience. Speeches by Pride, Inc. representatives and Mayor Young and City Council President, Brandon Scott. Deck tours for the public followed plus another two-hour day sail, this one for the general public.

The press welcome was amazing. All of the TV channels multiple times that day. Plus some showing on Sunday.

Hello, Maryland! Your Pride is back!!!

Captain Jan C. Miles

Photo: Cloudy skies over the upper St. Lawrence River, courtesy of Jeff Crosby

Date: Friday, September 6, 2019

Location: Lower St. Lawrence River.

Activity: Moving between night anchorages as we await passage of Tropical Storm Dorian

TS Dorian is expected to cross over Nova Scotia Saturday and Sunday. Dorian has a wide diameter of storm winds. Such is expected to cover most of the width of Gulf of St. Lawrence. We will not be venturing into the Gulf until Dorian passes by. So we dawdle at protective anchorages from local current weather as it changes while we await Dorians’s passing well east of the lower St. Lawrence River.

After a non-stop downriver run of the upper & middle St. Lawrence River (Thousand Islands to Montreal then Montreal to Cap aux Oies, Quebec) we anchored yesterday morning at Ile du Bic. An island on the southern shore of the Lower St. Lawrence near the Quebec town of Rimouski. Time of transit allowance consumed? 3 calendar days out of the allowance of 19.

Reason for anchoring? Tropical Storm Dorian.

As the storm passes over Nova Scotia it will present storm winds all across the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Assuming there is not a surprise move still to be played by Dorian. A storm that has already logged surprises. Therefore we dawdle here rather than risk surprises.

Ile du Bic presented a nice anchorage from decently fresh southwest-west winds. Too bad we could not take advantage of them winds for sailing out of the river … eh?

Those winds have passed now. There is calm today. With a promise of northeast winds tomorrow. No protection from such for our anchorage at Ile du Bic. So we are shifting today to Matane, Quebec.

At Matane is a fortress of a manmade harbor that causes me to think of the fortress walls of Mordor described in the Ring Trilogy. Pride has anchored there before. Shielded from strong northeast winds some years ago during a past transit homeward bound from a summer in the Great Lakes. So here we visit again. New northeast winds are due Saturday, tomorrow. Today we shift and re-position at Matane ahead of the arrival of the forecast northeast winds.

When do we get moving again towards home waters? Early Sunday it seems. As Dorian passes by and heads on away from this area, the strongest winds go away with it and more moderate winds are forecast to fill in behind. The new winds are expected to be favorable for recommencing this voyage home. If all goes as weather oracles suggest, we start out again early Sunday morning bound for home waters. Total dawdle time consumed? Three nights out of a total of eighteen. Or, 16% of total night travel allowance used protecting ourselves from very strong marine weather conditions.

How much distance covered so far? 448 nautical miles. Total overall from Brockville to Baltimore? 1,847 nautical miles. Nearly 25% covered thus far. Using four calendar days. Out of an overall of 19 calendar days or near 21%. So we have 1,399 nautical miles remaining to transit home. But we cannot start till Sunday. This means 12 calendar days to cover 1,399 nautical miles. The standard for estimating required calendar days for transit is 110 nautical miles per day. Remaining mileage divided by remaining time allowance indicates 108 nautical miles per day. Still within feasibility for on-time arrival home. Assuming no significant delays.

Cross your fingers, everyone!

Captain Jan C. Miles

Photo: Sunset in Boyne City, courtesy of Daniel Duncan

Date: Thursday, August 22, 2019

Position: Northeast Lake Michigan motoring northward against a north wind

Pride departed Lake Charlevoix and Round Lake at the town of Charlevoix at 10:30 in the morning, heading toward the Straits of Mackinac (pronounced “Mackinaw”) ahead of continuing toward the bottom of Lake Huron — the first portion of a 700+-nautical-mile transit toward Brockville, Ontario, at the east end of the Thousand Island area of the St Lawrence River.

Boyne City for six full days spanning a weekend was both productive and restful. At least less pressure on the crew than is the average tall ship festival 3-day weekend preceded and ended by additional arrival and departure day formalities. Boyne City was productive for both engaging with the public and experiencing fully booked day sails, plus getting a bunch of ship maintenance done. Restful in the sense that all members of the crew received two days off within the six day visit, rather than the average of one day a week that is the norm for a busy Pride sailing season … With or without back-to-back tall ship festival weekends.

Why call into Boyne City? Now that there is a dock there that can accommodate vessels even larger than Pride, it is the closest the ship can get to Walloon Lake, where a longtime Baltimore family by the name of Kidd have spent summers for the last half century or more. They have generously hosted a day of R&R for crews of Pride since the summer of 1981.

Back when Pride of Baltimore, Inc. was formed in 1980 to assume management of the first Pride of Baltimore as a favor to the city of Baltimore, Jack Kidd was the head of sales for the Maryland-based manufacturing company Tate Access Floors. The company makes special flooring for businesses needing to have plenty of computer cable space. Jack believed in the magnetism of Pride of Baltimore to attract and preserve business relationships. Wherever Pride went, anywhere on the East Coast, and all over the Great Lakes, he would charter the ship for dockside receptions for Tate Access marketing outlets and their clients. During my first year with the Pride Legacy back in 1981, as a thank you to the crew for their work during that Great Lakes campaign, he convinced this captain to add a stop and sail the ship into the port of Charlevoix so he could host the crew to some R&R in a lovely part of Michigan. Over the decades, mostly with the second Pride, he and his wife Ann would have the crew over to their home on the shore of Walloon Lake whenever the ship was able to spare a couple of days during a Great Lakes campaign. Over the three decades of the second Pride, she has had a campaign in the Great Lakes an overall average of every three years. Each time, the Kidd family has hosted Pride’s crews for a Lake Walloon R&R occasion. Over time this tradition has been taken up by the sons Kidd.

This most recent visit to the Kidd family homestead on Walloon Lake included their assistance to Pride, Inc. staff with organizing local publicity for the ship’s visit. Notifying locals of the opportunity to learn about the 1812 War in the Atlantic directly from a reproduction of the most notorious American privateer models that exclusively came from Baltimore shipyards, today referred to by historians as Baltimore Clippers. But also to learn about Baltimore and Maryland’s most worldwide renowned sailing vessel. More recognized and known by today’s world than any currently sailing American sailing vessel. And, oh, by the way, please also come for a short day sail or sunset sail in Lake Charlevoix. No better way to learn about Maryland’s and Baltimore’s Pride. Wouldn’t you say?

Suffice it to say, all day sails were full. There were at least two local TV news videos about Pride’s visit to Northern Michigan (code for the northern lower peninsula of Michigan … just in case you were confused). And deck tours were well attended. Small town regions are like that. Especially when they are well connected to the internet. Considering just about all citizens, local or not, young and old, are carrying smartphones, I think it ought not be a surprise that a strong turnout was witnessed. So, many thanks to the Kidds for connecting Pride, Inc.’s media staff.

UPDATE

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Position: At anchor in Cleveland

Got here late Saturday afternoon. Actively avoiding a contrary wind pattern blowing right now over Lake Erie. Dry weather in a protected anchorage adds to the chance to get maintenance done. ‘Tis tough to have weeks of back-to-back weekend port stops with the required transits between and also get more than essential maintenance done. Our time in Boyne City provided a catch-up day of more than just essential maintenance. Some painting. Some varnishing. Some rigging care. Some mechanical power and systems upkeep. With today’s waiting for favorable wind rather than bounce around out on Lake Erie with it, another very beneficial maintenance day is underway. More paint. More systems care and checking. More rig care and maintenance.

When do we get underway again? Looks like an early departure Monday. And it looks like the wind forecasters continue to be correct, starting some few days ago, about this period of contrary wind. Ending by or before mid-Monday. For the early part of Monday, I think we can actually go ahead and get underway and use wind that would otherwise be contrary if we were starting out from other than Cleveland. Here in Cleveland, we are at one of the most southerly ports to be found on Lake Erie. A southeast wind can be used to get toward the east as the south shore of Lake Erie in this part of the lake runs near northeast. Maybe we can time this next leg toward the eastern end of Lake Erie so that it is all favorable wind. Meaning as we advance toward the east end, we experience a conveniently timed wind direction change toward the south, as forecast. And arrive at the Welland Canal Tuesday morning.

That’d be nice. Especially with Tuesday morning arrival, there is no major hold up in the Welland Canal. Upbound back in early July, we had a 24-hour wait before Pride could be permitted to transit the eight locks of the Welland. That was not an issue of congestion. Meaning not so many commercial vessels that Pride as a lower priority class had to wait for. Nope. The problem was no extra Welland Canal staff on hand to perform as line handlers in the locks. Over the last two to three decades, there has been near continuous trial of an automatic system to keep ships in locks from moving forward and aft-ward while the lock is filling or draining. Without an automatic system, staff at the locks and on the ships were needed to send and retrieve mooring lines that were used to keep a ship in position. The automatic system is now dependably working for ships that are of enough size to receive the vacuum clamps that are sent out to the ship’s sides when in a lock. Ships not large enough cannot use the automatic system. Seems there are so few smaller vessels that the staff of the canal locks have been reduced. Coordinating with vessels that cannot take advantage of the automatic systems booking/reserving the needed line handlers seems difficult. With plenty of warning, maybe this downbound experience will not suffer undue delay for lack of line handlers.

Here’s to hoping.

Captain Jan C. Miles

Date: Monday, October 30, 2017

Position: Chestertown, Maryland

The last “public access sails” for this weekend’s Sultana Downrigging Weekend maritime event were Sunday afternoon. It was a wonderfully serendipitous weekend between two major rain events associated with Tropical Storm Phillipe rushing northward not far offshore past the mid-Atlantic coast in the north western Atlantic Ocean.

Sunday afternoon’s sail wind strength was lighter than it had been Friday or Saturday and the direction was not as “fair” for sailing river reaches between turn-arounds. So, mostly the strategy was motor away against the soft prevailing breeze and then sail slowly back.

During the sail back, another serendipitous development occurred: the five larger vessel attendees, Kalmar Nyckel, Pride of Baltimore II, Lynx, Lady Maryland, and Sultana ended up grouped together, nearly abreast (meaning as many as three abreast with one close ahead and one close behind). This is a rare event due to the navigational restrictions of the Chester River, but in this instance, our slow and steady sailing pace and the somewhat higher than usual water level, along with a fair and light strength but sailable breeze, enabled a degree of comfort for the vessel masters to sail in very close proximity and not feel navigationally or maneuverable-y crowded. In other words, the five vessels were sailing at nearly the same speed while somewhat abreast within proximity of less than half a boat length. At times for-reaching from a half a boat length behind and passing to about a half a boat length forward as the fair quartering breeze would at first be free and clear and then be shadowed by the vessel to windward being passed to leeward.

For those aboard, it was a rare opportunity to have normal volume conversation across all five vessels which were so close together and moving slow enough so that they made hardly any water noise and were more or less gliding along. The light wind also meant little ambient noise.

This small armada-in-formation eventually and naturally (due to different speeds and sail combinations) spread lengthwise by about one to two boat lengths between each and at just the right moment to permit the masters to organize sail taking-in and docking maneuvers without any radio chatter to clarify other vessels’ masters’ intentions. Each master was keenly observant of where they could best go to get what their needs/desires were and yet not give any cause for another master to misread or feel blocked or crowded. Nearly in coordination, sails were taken-in and reverse direction dockside maneuvers were made. This seemingly choreographed routine became pretty logically feasible considering the fleet had already made at least three sails together during this weekend event and the wind conditions were somewhat more moderate this time around. But still, a demonstration of know-how.

My compliments to all.

Signed,

Captain Jan C. Miles

Date: Monday, October 16, 2017
Position: Portsmouth, Virginia

2017 Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race

The results of the 2017 GCBSR are already known. Due to the weather, all competing vessels sailed at their maximum speed for the whole length of the race. There was not much strategizing to do with wind coming from a fair direction; from the start, all vessels were mostly steering directly for the finish line as fast as they could sail. The most strategic decision was how much white-knuckle sailing was acceptable, meaning how much and what kind of sail to set. Aboard Pride of Baltimore II, it was not possible to have her studding-sail up for much of the race. It was set north of Bloody Point, but had to be taken in by the time she reached Poplar Island due to stronger gusts. Around dusk, abeam of Point Lookout in the center of the bay, we struck the main gaff-topsail and the top-gallant due to increasing gust strength. All of these decisions were not due to the overall wind strength, but due to the angle of the wind as it came across Pride. Had the wind direction been more northeast than it was, meaning the ship was experiencing an apparent wind angle of around 100 degrees, we could have kept all the kites up. But with apparent wind angles hovering around 60 to 70 degrees, the ship was unable to stand up to the pressure without risk of burying her lee bulwark. Prudence prevailed and Pride continued down the bay right along with the vanguard group of the racing fleet led by Virginia and followed by the three-vessel group of Summerwind, Woodwind, and Pride.

It was with admiration and enjoyment as I watched Virginia pass Pride by soon after the start and then persist in elongating her lead. She finally led Pride by roughly an hour and eleven minutes over the 118 nautical mile course. Considering there is more than a full century of development in naval architecture knowledge and construction technology between the two vessel types (maybe the most significant being common-thread metal fastenings) it is easy to imagine just how stunned the world must have been with the totally unique Chesapeake Bay watercraft of the War of 1812 and their success as privateers. Since the war, Baltimore Clippers, as the schooners were later nick-named, have been admired for both their beauty and performance, and whose design has been copied and used around the world for transporting high value cargo in high risk circumstances, both legal and illegal.

Lady Maryland was also truly impressive. She is a reproduction of another venerable Chesapeake Bay watercraft known as the Pungy Schooner, developed during the mid-1800s and therefore also advantaged by the easy availability of common-thread fastenings. This advance in technology allowed for a much lighter and as a result, speedy hull form for efficient commercial transport. Shorter than Pride, it stands to reason she would not be quite as fast, but she was a mere two hours and 32 minutes behind Pride. Meanwhile, only three hours and forty-five minutes behind Virginia.

Woodwind is another interesting study for me. She is truly representative of modern construction techniques available these last three to four decades, meaning wood lamination. This technique reduces the weight of construction and permits for an extreme hull shape as compared to bent wood pieces found in traditional wood construction represented by other vessels in Woodwind’s single A-class, like Summerwind. As a seventy-foot schooner, her modern construction permits her to be modernly-shaped under the water, while looking pretty classic to the middle of the 20-century above her waterline. Her underwater shape is akin to a flat bottom canoe with a long and stout two-thirds-waterline-in-length blade/fin attached below. With enough wind from a fair direction, plus quite a bit of gumption from her crew, she can beat the waterline-length rule of thumb for hull speed through water. She stayed ahead of Pride and remained very close to Summerwind and not far from Virginia notwithstanding her significantly shorter waterline. There was a gap of nearly an hour and a half between Pride, the fourth in the vanguard of four vessels (two double-A and two single-A class vessels), and the next finisher: a single-A class vessel.

The surprise for me was being recognized for the Black Dog Trophy during the awards ceremony! I was nearly speechless! Captain Lane Briggs remains a giant in our midst! To be included with those also recognized for being akin to his renowned character is stunning to me. I knew I needed to respond to receiving the trophy and speak to the audience about my feelings of being bestowed such an honor. What to say? How to say it? Completely spontaneously, I thought to share first-hand my experience of Lane’s challenge: a race between the newly christened and launched Pride of Baltimore II and his tugantine, Norfolk Rebel, down the bay for a case of beer. Lane, with his gravelly voice and his off-hand manner of speaking sound and well considered points. It has been almost three decades since that experience and this 2017 GCBSR is number twenty-eight. Congratulations to all for your consistent and persistent organizing of and participating in “The Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race!” I believe it may be the largest schooner-only race in the world. But even if it is not the largest schooner race, it has to be the most welcoming and inclusive!

Portsmouth, Virginia, continues to be a most welcoming port. It is a quiet town with a wondrous “old town” residential area. We are holding off our departure, bound for Annapolis, due to fresh northerly winds this Monday. We are getting some ship care done while we wait for the contrary weather to reduce. There are always wants of care for this complex, well-traveled, nearly three-decade-old traditionally constructed wooden vessel. So no time is being wasted.

Signed,
Jan C. Miles Senior Captain

Photo courtesy of The National Sailing Hall of Fame

The National Sailing Hall of Fame, based in Annapolis, and the Sydney Flying Squadron collaborated to put on a regatta for the Hall of Fame’s sandbaggers and the traditional Aussie 18 foot skiffs that the Squadron sails. They shipped three of the skiffs (Alruth, Aberdare, and Australia IV), all reproductions of designs from the 1920’s through 1950, to Annapolis in a shipping container, and assembled them there.

The sandbaggers (Bull and Bear) are replicas of America’s earliest racing craft, which were essentially workboats used for tonging oysters. In a strange manifestation of Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand, the designs were refined for more and more speed, spreading more and more canvas, because the first boat back to the docks would fetch the highest prices for their catch. The name arose because they would have to use bags of sand as ballast to keep them upright when not filled with their catch.

I sailed two days on the skiffs, and one on the sandbaggers.

The skiffs are, in a word, insane. They are 18 feet long, but their sparred length is somewhere around 40 feet, because of a 14 foot bowsprit and because the main boom sticks out well beyond the transom. They are typically crewed with around 8 people. The spinnaker pole is in 4 sections, kept inside the boat, and needs to be assembled to its full 25 foot (!) length before setting the spinnaker. There are lee cloths sticking up from the gunwale on each side, and if the leeward one gets forgotten when you tack, you sink. If someone shifts their weight the wrong way, you sink. If both sail trimmers are not completely on their game at all times, you sink. I think it is this constant pressure that has allowed the Aussies to develop their exceedingly creative foul language, a sort of linguistic equivalent of Darwin’s finches. I wound up placing second place on Alruth, in light air, and a race win on Aberdare on day two, in a fresh breeze.

The third day, I sailed as part of the American team in a match race against the Australians in the sandbaggers, which seemed absolutely palatial and stable in comparison to the skiffs. We didn’t quite hold our end up, but we did keep it very close, rounding half the marks either overlapped with or less than a length behind the Aussies.

Saturday was a (much needed, by me) rest day, and Sunday all these boats, plus 20 or so other classic boats and yachts, took place in the Hall of Fame’s Wooden Boat Regatta. I sailed with Tom Price, a great local sailor and a friend of Pride for many years, on his wooden Star boat from 1959. We were able to win our class.

As a result of all this, I am very tired and sore and sunburned, and now I have to go back to work.

Signed,

Captain Jordan Smith

Friday, August 11, 2017 — What a lovely home away from home it is for Pride whenever she is able to visit the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum (CBMM) in St. Michaels, Maryland!

Like-minded folk for all things Chesapeake Bay historical watercraft have great appreciation for each other’s efforts in the preservation and re-creation of the unique watercraft of the Chesapeake Bay. And so it is a little bit o’ heaven here for the crew of Pride.

The quaint harbor that is St. Michaels is barely deep enough to accommodate Pride‘s draft of around 12.5 feet. Any time a fresh wind from northern directions covers the northern Chesapeake Bay, the normal tidal water levels are disturbed, meaning that they are obstructed and meaning that quite a bit less depth of water can occur. This can cause a wind-related reduced harbor depth situation that either prevents Pride from entering or prevents her from departing. Fortunately, this August visit has not been accompanied by fresh northerly winds to risk Pride not being able to enter the harbor and moor alongside the museum. So she is safely entered & moored. And if the depths reduce during her stay, she is welcome to stay as long as is necessary till a safe passage out of the harbor is available through return of adequate water depth.

The transit from Baltimore to St. Michaels was without the support of a bit of breeze — just about no wind at all. A Chesapeake Bay classic glassy reflective smoothness existed throughout the nine-hour transit of some near 50 nautical miles. That did not prevent the crew from enthusiastically, and with great hopes of a late day breeze, setting all sail save the studding sail and ring tail. It has been since before Boston in June the “gantsle” was set. And it has been a long time since last the mainsail, the main gaff topsail, the jib-topsail and jib were set. So while the wind remained elusive, there was a great swiping away of crew-cobwebs regarding setting and striking and re-harbor-stowing all sail.

Around 7 p.m. Thursday night, the approach of “lower high water” at St. Michaels predicted to occur at 7:27 p.n., Pride entered and proceeded very slowly to her berth alongside the southern bulkhead of the museum, with around a foot of water under her keel. A small group of welcomers attended her arrival. By 8:30 p.m. all was secure and the crew could really settle back to admire what is most admirable about St. Michaels: a late quiet summer evening with recently full moon crossing the sky and a waterfront park band’s music drifting over the harbor as various types of recreational and private commercial vessels proceeded quietly about, while other vessels lay quietly moored presenting a complicated old style skyline profile in the dwindling light.

Today is the first of a three-day stay open to visitors to the museum. A start to the weekend build-up ahead of Sunday’s crescendo, Watermen’s Appreciation Day, a near “carny” festival of all things waterman, celebrating their profession as they also display their watercraft. One of the more dramatic demonstrations being the deadrise boat docking competitions — highly powered and maneuverable motor vessels of the Chesapeake Bay deadrise type all but slamming their way to the fastest/quickest mooring into a boat slip. This is something that can only be appreciated by seeing …

Signed,

Captain Jan C. Miles

Photo of Pride of Baltimore II in St. Michaels, Maryland, on August 12, 2017, courtesy of Tim Ertel.

A Day in the Life

We write a lot about the big things we do: races to Bermuda in big wind, huge festivals with thousands of people, and the like. Those things are, deservedly, the highlights of a given season, and a large part of why we do what we do. However, the life of this vessel and her people is mostly not things like that. It is, in part, preparation for (and repairs from) things like that, through constant maintenance, upgrade, repair, and many small refinements, but it is also the fulfillment of the rest of the ship’s mission: interacting with the public, representing our state, and educating the youth of this area. What follows is an example of what a day aboard ship is like, here in our home port of Baltimore.

A Maintenance Day

A large portion of our days any given season are, of course, taken up with operating the ship. This might consist of traveling to a new port, hosting a charter, doing a public day sail, participating in a race, attending a government function or ceremony, et cetera. Interspersed between those days (sometimes all too infrequently) are days when the ship is not engaged to do any particular thing. Almost always, these days are given over to maintenance. Maintenance on a large wooden vessel is constant. Indeed, it very often happens on portions of days in which we are also traveling, or doing a charter, or interacting with the public. But, when possible, we give entire working days to it.

Mid-summer in Maryland, for those of us who work outside the region, is a time to carefully monitor our pace, so we don’t get fried. I used to work for a rigging shop in Annapolis. One of our project managers was a South African emigre. It is very hot there in summer, he had a lot of experience in dealing with this, and so he told us: “Go slow.” So, any given hot work day in July, I tell the crew: “Go slow.”

Our work day typically begins at 8 AM. Already, today, the sky has that coppery hue which promises heat. Pride is at her work dock in Canton. It is a Maryland Port Administration facility, which they very generously let us use as a dock and work site. We have several containers full of spare parts, tools, old sails, and repair materials here. The ship has both her awnings up – this means the deck is shaded from stern to foremast, around 3/4 of her total length, which helps both keep the crew out of the sun and keep the sun off the deck, which in turn keeps it cooler down below by as much as 10 degrees.

The deciding upon and prioritizing of maintenance and repair projects (the “what” and “when”) is primarily done by Pride‘s two captains, after either seeing things for ourselves or conferring with the ship’s officers. The day to day management of the crew in carrying these things out (the “who” and the “how”) is done by our first mate, Jeff Crosby, though it is fair to say there is some overlap here, a sort of three circle Venn diagram. On this particular day, Jeff assigns the crew the following projects:

• Stripping the varnish off the caprail. The maintaining of the ship’s varnished surfaces (“brightwork” in nautical parlance) is a constant job. UV sunlight eventually wrecks the varnish, it dulls and then peels, after which the sun attacks the wood beneath. So, periodically, we lightly sand and add another coat to the existing varnish. This works well for a while, but after a few years the ever-thickening coats of old varnish tend to yellow and fade. This process from day to day is not noticeable. It changes at such an incremental rate that you can’t see the difference unless you look at old pictures. But, we did. This led us to completely strip a small surface to bare wood and re-coat it. The difference was striking. Instead of faded and yellowish, the wood was a deep, rich reddish blonde, showing the intricacies of the wood grain – absolutely beautiful. Having thus made a good spot, it was resolved to do the entire caprail (the rail that runs atop the bulwark around the perimeter of the ship). So, several crew are using heat guns (essentially, supercharged hair dryers) to heat the old varnish til it melts, and scrapers to remove it. After that, the bare wood is sanded to make it ready to begin coating with fresh varnish.

• Tarring the rig. There is a common thread thus far: protection. Our standing rigging is mostly galvanized wire. To protect it from corrosion, we coat it with a tar mixture. Sometimes this nasty stuff is laid directly onto the wire (as with the forestays) and sometimes, when a given piece of rigging is originally made, the wire is wormed, parceled, and served first (as with the shrouds) to provide additional protection. “Worming” is laying small stuff (string, basically) into the spiraling gap between the wire strands to provide a smooth surface, “parceling” is wrapping the wire with strips of some flat stuff like canvas or sometimes friction tape, and “serving” is tightly wrapping the whole works with marline. This is a process that has been around in the world of sailing ships for a long, long while, and it is still effective. After this is done (if it is done) the whole works is tarred, to provide a final, protective seal. Tall ships have “gearheads” as ardent as any motorcycle club, and one of the things up for constant debate is the best mixture for tar. Most often, it is varying proportions of tar (preferably Stockholm tar, but it’s pricey) linseed oil, turpentine, and Japan drier, though I’ve heard of plenty of variations. If asked to evaluate on the basis of workability, longevity, and the like, I can’t seem to tell one variation of this witch’s brew from another, which is probably why the ardent debate continues. Just like any other protective coating, it wears out, and we add more coats, getting very, very dirty in the process.

• Replacing running rigging. Kelsey Mullin, who many of you have probably seen pictures of climbing here and there in our rig, is the bosun. This is an old term, a bowdlerization of “boatswain.” Bosuns, in tall ships, are usually responsible for the ship’s small craft and rigging. The rig involves periodic inspection and a nearly constant effort to control and deal with the effects of chafe and UV sunlight. Today, Kelsey is replacing our foresail sheets with new line. Over time, the old line loses its strength due to UV damage, and gets worn out from constantly rubbing its way through blocks, chafing on nearby rigging, getting walked on, having salt crystals worked into the fiber, et cetera. Replacing the line, in this case, involves un-stringing the old stuff from its four part purchase, measuring its overall length, splicing loops where needed into the new line, and re-leading the whole thing.
• The engineer. Charles Reynolds is our engineer this year, and was for half of last year. Pride, though she is very traditional in her hull shape and rig, has a lot of modern equipment crammed below her deck. Charles spends a fair amount of time waist deep in this compartment or that, making sure it all works, with occasional breaks to pester me for parts. Today, he is fixing our fresh water system.
• The “duty.” Every day, regardless of what we do, a member of the crew does what’s called “the duty” (with suitable overtones of dread). Everyone in the crew except for the captain, the first and second mates, and the cook, rotate through doing this. It is basically the cleaning and organization of the cabin spaces – assisting the cook with the dishes, cleaning the galley, mopping the floor, wiping down other surfaces, polishing the copper flashing behind the stove, cleaning the heads, and so on. This takes a significant portion of the day. Whoevers turn it is spends a large portion of the day below, therefore. Often, but not always, they pick good music to play while they work. Yesterday, for instance, I went to get a glass of ice water and was treated to “Misty Mountain Hop” playing in the salon, which made me happy.
• And me? I observe it all, I offer guidance when needed, I work on filling our upcoming deckhand slots, I code receipts, and I write to you nice people.

Signed,

Captain Jordan Smith