Archives for April 2020

Photo: Screenshot of the onboard TimeZero Pro electronic chart program

Date: April 13, 2020

Position: Baltimore, Maryland

Today’s start of a virtual cruise of the Chesapeake Bay by Pride of Baltimore II has been delayed due to gale force winds. Pride remains at her winter berth, as one might be able to see by the small red arrow shape in the lower right section (the blue are other vessels transmitting their locations via the AIS system for indicating vessel location, speed, and course, along with other details if one opens a data window of an AIS contact) in the image of Baltimore’s North Branch “Inner Harbor” of the Patapsco River in the TimeZero Pro electronic chart program provided to the ship by the makers of TimeZero. (With our sincere gratitude, TimeZero continues to support Pride’s navigational chart needs.)

This virtual cruise of the Chesapeake Bay will involve manually plotting voyage legs, taking into account real-time weather conditions; using live and recorded video to talk about the sailing conditions, the maneuvers (e.g., tacking or jibing) needed to sail from point A to point B, ongoing maintenance, and life aboard; and presenting information, historical and current, about places and ports on the Bay. We’ll be working with volunteers and partners to present content that will really make this a rich and interesting voyage! The whole time, Pride II will never actually leave the dock. It should be fun to give it a shot.

Considering the actual weather this day, no matter the public relations plan for an actual voyage start, a plan to actually depart this day would have had to be abandoned/postponed. Departure ceremonies might still have taken place for a real voyage departure. But not necessarily. Maybe such departure pomp and celebration could have been shifted to the next day. As is the decision to delay this virtual cruise.

Signed,

Captain Jan C. Miles

Photo: Deckhand Camille sanding Pride‘s topsides , March 6, 2020, courtesy of Jeff Crosby

Date: Monday April 5, 2020

Location: Baltimore, Maryland

Pride of Baltimore II Maintenance Under Maryland’s Stay-at-Home Order

Pride of Baltimore II remains moored at her fenced secure marine facility in an industrial area of Baltimore named Canton. A compound located some several blocks away from any residential area, so there is no pedestrian traffic passing by.

The live-aboard crew have long been emulating “stay in place” during up-rig that started back in mid-February. Sure, occasionally they ventured out in the evening. However, with full days of work, good meals provided three times each day, and a commute to work that can be counted in mere feet, going the distance to a nightlife place, walking nearly a mile after a full day of vessel preparation was almost more effort than it was worth. So, when the stay-at-home order was issued, life for Pride’s crew did not change much.

Two weeks ago, there were two crew shakedown sails. Just the crew. Last week, Marylanders were ordered to stay at home. During this very important strategy for restricting spread of this new virus, Pride’s crew is getting into maintenance as well as finishing the up-rig. Like all of you, we are awaiting the time that Pride is able to again do what she is worldwide renowned for.

The first week of stay-in-place (last week), the crew got into varnishing. One of the most outstanding views of Pride for those that walk by or aboard is seeing her varnished rail-cap atop her bulwark — 3.5-inch-thick Central American Mahogany some 14 inches wide and more than 200 feet long as it rings the deck.

The preparation for the first full coat of varnish took six crew two days of sanding and cleaning up. Applying one coat of varnish took four crew most of one day. Properly speaking, there ought to be another three to five coats of varnish applied each year. Over the span of a normal operating season, those three to five coats eventually get applied between public events and voyaging. It looks like this spring those coats might all get applied before the next sail.

I and the crew sincerely hope all of you are being very diligent of your personal safety as well all those around you as we all work to halt the spread of infection.

Signed,

Captain Jan C. Miles

Photo: Pride at Clinton Street, March 31, 2020, courtesy of Jeff Crosby

Date: April 1, 2020

Location: Baltimore, Maryland

Pride of Baltimore II will discontinue ship movements for crew training and practicing their roles for safe and orderly sailing of Maryland’s most renowned, as well as most complicated, traditional sailing vessel.

This decision is in full support of Governor Hogan’s stay-at-home order announced Monday for increasing the effort to forestall the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

During this period, and since mid-February, the crew make their home aboard and the ship is moored behind a chainlink fence in a “secure” (from public contact) compound, in a non-residential, commercial area, the crew and ship have been and remain as protected as everyone abiding by stay-at-home order. So, they will continue to ready Pride for hoped-for operations recommencing whenever the Governor lifts the stay-at-home directive.

Like every vessel that serves the public, maintenance is a responsibility of its professional crew to ensure public safety, as well as maritime safety and vessel preservation. Traditionally-constructed wood vessels require repainting so that the wood does not deteriorate, unlike metal that can often go without repainting for some extended time leaving only surface corrosion to overcome, if not left for an overly long time. Wood is not nearly so forgiving. Wood surfaces aging through not being coated with something means loss of dimension. As well as possible incursion of rot-causing moisture through narrow openings of grain and seams. Even if not repainted to cover exposed wood and seams for as little as three months, when it comes time to prepping for repainting or varnishing, some wood is lost. Possibly a bit of opening of grain has let moisture into the piece or into seams between pieces that, when covered over by repainting, could become an epicenter of future deeply buried rot.

So all of the operating part of every year, for every year of the life of Pride II, all kinds of maintenance is on the work list to be done. Between public events and voyages — even during voyages when conditions permit — wood preservation, as well as traditional rig preservation, is scheduled. A past chief mate from the early 1990s quipped “stealing maintenance time” like a mantra as he would work with me to prioritize maintenance of rig and wood (as well other things) between public events and during fair weather times of voyages.

With the Governor’s stay-at-home public safety announcement, Pride will discontinue any ship movements for crew training between maintenance work and focus exclusively on maintenance. A curious opportunity compared to a normal year to not only get caught up but, maybe, to get ahead, considering the only interruption to exterior maintenance will be weather.

Down-below projects are to be done as well. Plenty of winter cosmetics down below were done over the winter. More can be done in the non-living areas. Meanwhile, ship systems care is another area that can always withstand more time than merely ensuring all systems work.

Rig-wise, the most powerful engine of motive power aboard, even though the rig went sailing last week, there are a myriad of details to complete for future extended sailing. Instead of fitting such details between public events and local protected waters ship movements, this virus crisis public safety strategy announced by the Governor is an opportunity to attend, somewhat continuously, to fiddly rig details and work toward being fully ready-for-sea future sailings.

Keep protecting yourselves!

Signed,

Captain Jan C. Miles