War of 1812

Lake Erie Astern, Detroit to Port and Canada to the SOUTH!

8 July 2011
Pos: Alongside Port Detroit Dock
Wx: East F 2, Sunny. Hot

Pride II in Detroit — Pride of Baltimore II dockside in Detroit

PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II now has two Lakes under her belt in 2011. With the Northeasterly filling in on Wednesday evening, we sailed until midnight, then used engines to assist for a few hours so we could make our ETA to Pelee Passage on time. Once through Pelee – a pass formed by the Southernmost point on the Canadian mainland and the Southern most island of Canada – we had enough breeze to reach the Detroit River under sail. Finding our sister Privateer LYNX at anchor off the river mouth, we sailed close under her lee, then took in sail and motored up the river. All told, we were able to sail roughly 170 of the 200nm from Buffalo to the Detroit River.

Along the river, LYNX passed us as we prepared to reset sail for our grand arrival into Detroit. LYNX is heading straight through to Duluth, MN, where we will see them again so we have some catch up to play once we leave Detroit. Before she motored on, LYNX made use of the J.W. WESCOTT II, also called “Mailboat,” to deliver a package of goodwill. As the world’s only ship-to-ship Postal delivery service, the Mailboat is typically used to deliver mail on a pre-arranged basis to passing freighters. In this case it was an assortment of snacks and other things courtesy of Captain LeeAnne Gordon and the crew of LYNX.

Making our grand arrival, we secured at the snug inner slip of the new Detroit Port Authority Facility. This marks another stop where PRIDE II is being used to showcase a waterfront development project. Tucked in between the towering Renaissance Center and the green lawn of Hart Plaza along Detroit’s Riverwalk, PRIDE II has attracted quite a bit of attention and will hopefully be the first of many traditional vessels to make an appearance here.

Today was quite busy, between the public, the logistics and the unforeseen visits. The day started with a thorough hose down of the whole boat – a sure sign of summer arrived last night in the form of the Mayfly hatch. Thousands and thousands of these strange, mouthless insects covered the deck, the sails and the river. Walking across the footbridge from the outer wall had the sound effects of rice crispies. Fortunately, that should be the last of the hatch, and serve as a good omen of warm weather.

Once the ship was cleared of the overnight plague, nearly 1200 visitors crossed the gangway, with some crew working the decks to answer questions and interpret the details of PRIDE II, while others were off handling the laundry and the provisioning and all the other details of being in port. Fortunately logistic support was near brimming from Engineer Andrew Kaiser’s mother, and from last year’s Cook, Amanda Doren, who is living locally and fixing up her own sail boat.

And though we scarcely got here, we’re off again in the morning, with three lakes and two rivers to cover before Duluth. In the meantime, we enjoy Detroit’s hospitality, as well as the novelty of having Ontario to the South of us.

All best,
Captain Jamie Trost and the crew of PRIDE of BALTIMORE II

Of Duels and Daysails

3 July 2011
Pos: Alongside Buffalo’s Erie Canal Harbor
Wx: West F 3, Sunny

PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II’s visit in Buffalo has been the cause of much excitement and interest so far. From the moment we rounded the point into Erie Canal Harbor the film has been rolling and the cameras flashing. Crowds have gathered nearly constantly in the park next to the dock. Sometimes they come for concerts, but more often they line up to tour PRIDE II. Last night they watched the crew furl and secure for the night – every step of the process receiving a round of applause.

In fact, Buffalo is so enamored of PRIDE II that all six of her daysails here have been completely sold out! This is a great sign for the future development of Erie Canal Harbor into a tourist destination similar to Baltimore’s own Inner Harbor. Hopefully the enthusiasm will carry on for our return visit in September and also have people exploring Buffalo Harbor aboard their own local ship SPIRIT of BUFFALO.

The enthusiasm on the dock reached a completely unforeseen and novel level before yesterday’s sail. After PRIDE II closed for tours, a man clad in full British Naval costume stood on the promenade above the dock and called me out with formal English inflection and pronouncing my name – either out of increased stage drama or unfamiliarity — in the German fashion as if there were an umlaut over the “O.” He demanded, with a rattling of his saber and increasing attention from the crowd, that I produce PRIDE II’s Letter of Marque and Reprisal, else he would “see me hanged as a common pirate.”

These types of theatrics and costumery are amusing at appropriate times, and in small doses. This was as appropriate a time as any, and the crowd was certainly amused. As a rule, the crew and captains of PRIDE II do not wear historic costume, and are never “in character.” We go to sea in EMULATION of Captains Thomas Boyle and Joshua Barney and all the sailors whose sweat, toil, craft and craftiness made their indelible mark on the history of the War of 1812, and forever etched Baltimore and her Schooners into maritime lore. But we do not IMMITATE, or re-enact, anything. The weather, the wind and waves, the stability and all the concerns of going to sea in a wooden boat are as real for us as they were for the Privateers in 1812. We, of course, have vastly advanced navigation equipment and auxiliary power, but we also have the scrutiny of official regulations and fixed schedules. To dress and act the part would trivialize the realities of our constant nautical archeological experimentation in sailing one of these sleek and powerful Baltimore Schooners.

Additionally, in our case, the SHIP is the centerpiece. PRIDE II herself is, and should be, the focus of attention for the onlooking crowd. A lofty rigged and gorgeous Baltimore Schooner is far more interesting than any or all of her crew in historic dress and watching PRIDE II charge into a harbor under a press of canvas is much better show than any staged exchange imaginable. We play the supporting cast to our ship, and are happy to do so. But none of this means we aren’t opposed to having a bit of fun ourselves.

I told our decorated British “adversary” that the Letter of Marque was below. It, in fact, is, but framed and fastened to the bulkhead aft of the main saloon table. Instead of fetching the Letter, I took the only course available – I went to my cabin, retrieved the Nerf Pistol I received as a jovial birthday present by Captain LeeAnne Gordon of the Schooner LYNX, and challenged our man to a duel. We agreed to ten paces, had a young boy in the crowd count them out, then turned and “fired.” His was a non-firing pistol. The Nerf dart went ten feet. My adversary fell, croaking out “for England” as he fell. I helped him to his feet and the crowd applauded.

Turns out it was an issue of frustration that led to our British friend’s outburst. He had wanted to book a sail aboard, but tickets were sold out before he could. He was, I should note, an excellent sport about the whole thing. I encouraged him to try again in September, when we’d return for Labor Day Weekend.

We parted amicably, but as PRIDE II motored out of Erie Canal Harbor for her afternoon sail, he appeared on the shore once more, taunting and jeering. Swearing his revenge and triumph. Adding an appropriate dose of color at exactly the appropriate time. And then we flashed out the fores’l, sheeted home the tops’l and let PRIDE II start her own show.

All best,
Jamie Trost, Dueling Captain aboard PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II

A Great Weekend in Rochester

DATE: SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011
LOCATION: ROCHESTER, NEW YORK
CHANGE OF COMMAND BETWEEN CAPTAINS MILES & TROST

Rochester has proven to be a very busy port. The usual set up of the ship takes crew several hours rearranging the ship from voyaging mode to port festival mode. This involves a myriad of activities:

re-stowing emergency gear (designed to be available in case of abandon ship) down below to permit PRIDE II to appear more as she might have appeared back a couple of centuries ago;
furling sail used to parade PRIDE II into port;
setting up, both ashore and aboard, propaganda displays depicting the coming Star-Spangled 200 and bicentennial of the War of 1812;
figuring out and setting up electrical hook-up of the ship to the local power grid, as well connecting to the fresh drinking water network.

PRIDE II approach Rochester with Schooner Lynx — Pride of Baltimore II approaching Rochester with the Schooner Lynx.

It is most beneficial to all that PRIDE II was able to catch up to her original schedule and parade into Rochester Harbor on schedule with Schooner LYNX last Thursday at noon. Arriving any later would present the specter of doing all of the above prep in a compressed rush.

On top of the above there is the need to figure out crew work schedule between maintenance needs, festival needs and of course some time off. Oh, did I forget shopping? What about the needs of the galley? How and where do we send the cook to shopping? Then the phone rings…concerning daysail passenger candidates wanting to reserve space…or the local festival organizer regarding logistics or the mail that has been received on behalf of the ship…or getting the latest passenger manifest from the office for the scheduled daysails…or a friend of the ship living locally offering a car and a summer cottage for the crew!?!

Bob Castle is father to David Castle, PRIDE II crew alumnus currently out in Portland, Oregon. Young David arranged with his family to let PRIDE II’s crew use the family summer cottage and have transportation to get between that cottage and the ship, as well as any other errands wanting to be run. Thursday evening Bob met with me and took me on a tour of the cottage a mile and a half away and turned a car over to me. What a sublime setting and thoughtfully useful gift to the crew and the ship!!! And what a lot of coordinating added to the regular coordinating. The festival organizers had also provided a hotel room to the ship…some 8 miles away. With the Castle car, it became possible to get the crew between the cottage and the ship in shifts as well as get this captain to the hotel. But wait…LYNX’s captain does not have any transportation and also has a hotel room. And LYNX’s crew are welcome to the cottage as well. OK. PRIDE II’s captain has the car. So there was a lot of end of the day driving to get folks back and forth. By the way, late in the day was often around 11 PM! Because both Friday and Saturday the ship had obligations that went that late.

Now it is time for the “change of command”. Captain Jamie Trost returns to PRIDE II and Captain Jan Miles head’s off for Maryland and home & office till the end of July when he returns to PRIDE II. Jamie is coming from LYNX…only a couple of boat lengths away…so the captains discussion of the status of things is spread out over several days rather than compressed into less than a day. Sunday afternoon finds Jamie heading off for a daysail aboard PRIDE II and Jan standing on the dock dropping dock lines.

Rochester is the first Great Lakes port for this campaign. It was a busy stop with a number of day-sail events per day scheduled between being open for deck tours. During this port stop, with all of the public activities as well as getting crew to and from the cottage as well as the captains to and from the hotel, it was also important to locate and procure fuel, food and spare parts. Considering the tremendously thoughtful gift of the cottage and transportation provided by the Castle Family…something that will not be available at future ports…it will be interesting how similar scheduling & logistics will transpire. I am certain we will all look back at Rochester as particularly special for the most thoughtful gift provided by the Castle Family!!!

Signed,
Jan C. Miles, A Captain with PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II

Boston and the War of 1812

The War of 1812 did not play out in Boston the way it did in Baltimore. Boston was never directly bombarded due to Fort Independence, which guarded Boston from marine invasion, and possibly the fact Boston was not building a type of vessel that was causing the British fits like the Baltimore Schooner did that caused the British to be interested in getting past Fort McHenry so as to burn the Fell’s Point shipyards building the fast “sharp built” Baltimore Schooners. But the waters off of Boston did see a number of American vessels captured by the British Navy during American efforts to conduct trading by water near Boston.

Boston is the home of “Old IRONSIDES”, the American Navy’s longest surviving warship, the USS CONSTITUTION. During the War of 1812 with England, OLD IRONSIDES engaged the Royal Navy on four separate occasions and won all of them. While none of these engagements had any pivotal impact on the course of the 1812 War, they did have a significant impact on the self esteem of Americans at an uncertain time during our early years as a nation, as well as earning the grudging respect of both the British Empire and the rest of the world for American boldness, seamanship and inspirational maritime naval prowess. USS CONSTITUTION is reputed to have gotten her nickname of OLD IRONSIDES due to sailors observing a cannon shot “bouncing” off of USS CONSTITUTIONS hull during the vessel’s first naval engagement, which took place off of Nova Scotia against the HMS GUERRIERE.

PRIDE II is moored in Boston at Rowes Wharf. Over the years Rowes Wharf has been very generous permitting PRIDE II to dock as a guest through the auspices of Sail Boston, a not-for-profit organization that concentrates on providing welcome of sail training vessels on behalf of Boston. On this arrival yesterday the Colombian sail training vessel GLORIA was leaving just as PRIDE II arrived to take her place. PRIDE II’s stop in Boston on the inbound voyage to the Great Lakes was primarily for the purposes of exchanging Guest Crew between transits.

The Maryland Port Administration (MPA) took advantage of PRIDE II’s stop in Boston by hosting a sailing reception of their commercial maritime partners in the Boston area. There was not a breath of wind so PRIDE II was motored around the edge of Boston harbor. Just before the end a cannon salute was made toward Faneuil Hall.

Today the crew are completing some “get ocean ready” details for the long trek around Eastern Canada on the way to Rochester in Lake Ontario. By 1400 hours…all crew could be given the rest of the day off. With only two nights in port it is very hard to both keep PRIDE II functional and provide the crew with time off. But to tell the full truth…the crew are very anxious to make this voyage. So, even a little time is received very well.

Signed,
Jan C. Miles, Captain aboard PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II

PRIDE II, 1812 Privateers and New York Harbor Fortifications

New York played a contributive role in the “privateering” war the Americans practiced for the War of 1812. The British Royal Navy embargo (blockade) of the American East Coast was particularly focused and problematic off the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. As a result, those Chesapeake Bay privateers who were successful at getting out of the Bay and past the Royal Navy blockade often used New York Harbor as a base of operations because the Royal Navy was not as prevalent with their blockade efforts off of New York, making departure and return rather less risky for the American privateers. PRIDE II’s namesake CHASSEUR operated out of New York Harbor after getting out of the Chesapeake Bay. It is from New York Harbor that Captain Boyle sailed CHASSEUR on his privateering campaign that took to the British his proclamation of giving “vigorous” blockade of all of the United Kingdom…creating a national panic among the close to shore trading vessels that cried aloud for Royal Naval escort to protect them from CHASSEUR and Captain Boyle…no matter what part of the United Kingdom they were from.

New York Harbor has four fortifications that were important during the War of 1812. One in what is now Central Park, called Blockhouse No. 1, was meant to protect from attack coming from East and North. Another is Castle Clinton located in Battery Park. It was constructed before the War of 1812 and was meant to protect the approaches to Manhattan. The third and fourth are on Governor’s Island, Castle Williams and Fort Jay. Both were built to protect New York Harbor. A quick way to get information on these forts is to go to the “United States Daughters of 1812” – New York City Chapter/1812 War

Pride II at North Cove Marina with World Financial Center as the Backdrop

PRIDE II’s stay in NYC this time is a short stay. The sail up from Baltimore was only three days long and the next leg to Boston from New York is only two days (not including departure day). These shorter trips are quite popular among those interested in making trips as GUEST CREW aboard PRIDE II. On the long trek to the Great Lakes, it is helpful for marketing and fund raising the Guest Crew opportunities if the legs are shorter.

The transit up from Baltimore was pretty warm with an early summer heat wave covering the Mid Atlantic Coast. But we got a nice sail between the mouth of the Delaware Bay and Verrazano Narrows with light NE to E then building S to SW winds during the 30 hour sail. We were accommodated with an early arrival at North Cove Marina when it became clear the approaching cold front had tornado advisories posted approaching New York. Also, the plan to do day-sails out of North Cove Marina had to be cancelled due to the strong cold front that pushed out the hot weather. Afternoon winds of 20 knots with gusts of 30 knots were forecast and seen. With a new docking situation set up by North Cove to provide a place for PRIDE despite having her usual locations filled by motor yachts of 140 to 180 feet long, the wind made it inadvisable to try day-sailing from the unfamiliar “Mediterranean Mooring” style we were provided. Already a neighboring schooner got out of control in the cove and hung up on PRIDE II’s head-rig when she tried to leave the cove. The NW winds had increased during the morning…as predicted…but the schooner did not anticipate the strength of the wind and could not complete her badly planned maneuver…so drifted down on PRIDE. With the quick action of PRIDE II’s 1st Mate Ryan Graham with PRIDE II’s small boat, followed up by North Cove’s own marina staff and small boat, the problem was quickly dealt with before anything beyond scuffed paint could occur.

Being able to moor in North Cove Marina since 2006 has been a great opportunity for PRIDE II in dock-starved New York Harbor. Compared to Baltimore, New York has been slow to recognize the recreational value of its waterfront. There have been tremendous improvements in certain areas over the last 20 years…but so much of the city’s waterfront docking is still of the old vintage of the regular cross the Atlantic passenger ship days as well direct cargo ship loading and unloading…the aging of those piers makes for an expensive and difficult urban planning challenge. There is a shortage of secure mooring options in New York for moderate to small sized vessels, hence the accommodating North Cove Marina operators are most appreciated for the welcome they extend to PRIDE II.

Meanwhile, surrounded by great weather, PRIDE II is open for deck-tours and a moderate stream of folks, often with children in tow, have been coming aboard and getting a reminder of the 1812 War. They are also being informed of the coming Bicentennial of that war, as well the creation of our national anthem The Star Spangled Banner in 1814 down in Baltimore, Maryland. We tell everyone they should make plans to visit Baltimore and Maryland to get a first-hand look at the history 1812 War and the birth place of the Star-Spangled Banner.

Tomorrow (Saturday) we head off before breakfast to catch a favorable flood current up the East River on our way towards Boston.

Signed,
Jan C. Miles, Captain aboard Pride of Baltimore II