The Captain's Logs are below.

Back to Captain Logs 2000

Chesapeake City is the only city (town really) located on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. Widely known as the C&D Canal, this strip of water has been carved out of the low flat farm lands of the upper Delmarva (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia) Peninsula that forms the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay. It links the Delaware River and Bay with Chesapeake Bay. It is deep enough, wide enough, and the bridges and wires are high enough to accommodate ocean-going cargo and passenger vessels over 700 feet long.

Tall Ships 2000

Pride of Baltimore II is out on her first leg of the year 2000 itinerary! This year promises to be an interesting one. Since so many people consider this the first year of the new Millennium (although numerically speaking, 2000 is not considered a first number but rather a last number), there are many special celebrations organized around the world. An exciting one for Pride II is the Tall Ships 2000 Races organized by the International Sail Training Association (ISTA). The racing starts in Europe and brings the participating tall ships to America. Once across the Atlantic, the fleet will visit several ports, including Baltimore's Inner Harbor in late June. With so many sailing vessels around, there will be a spectacular Fourth of July/New York City/Hudson River Tall Ship parade organized by Operation Sail. Only this time there will also be an international Naval Review of navy vessels from around the world on July 3^rd. While I have never seen a naval review, I suspect it could be like the famous reviews staged for the Queen of England. Should be spectacular!

What will be a new experience for Pride II is her participation in the eastbound Tall Ships 2000 Race going back to Europe. We will join the European vessels as they race back to their home waters after parading around in various East Coast ports. This racing will not be like the highly competitive international racing we have heard so much about, such as the Whitbread (now Volvo) 'Round the World Race or the America's Cup. Instead tall ship racing is meant to foster international goodwill and promote individual growth of young people between the ages of 14 and 26. Even so, the competitive spirit of tall ship racing is intense, if in a conservative way. For Pride II to qualify for the race, half of her complement of personnel aboard must be between 15-26 years. We have room for six sail training cadets - young men and women under age 26. Do you want to be one? Contact the Pride Inc. office soon! The available berths are beginning to fill up. The first leg of the race is from Boston to Halifax, Nova Scotia (July 16-20). The next leg will be the transatlantic crossing between Halifax and Amsterdam. The fleet will sail out of Halifax on July 24 and will arrive in Holland at various times. The official end date, when the Amsterdam celebrations begin in earnest, is August 24. This will be six weeks of intense learning and doing alongside Pride II's crew. For details, call Devan in the Pride office at 410/539-1151.

Cruising the Chesapeake

Until the tall ships arrive in Baltimore in late June, Pride II will cruise Chesapeake Bay stopping in all the ports she can fit into with her 12'6" draft. Which brings me back to our first cruise out of Baltimore's Inner Harbor this spring. Today, here in Chesapeake City, we are spending the morning teaching Maryland fourth grade kids from Havre de Grace about the ship and it's history. After they leave, Pride II will be open to the public here in Chesapeake City for visitation. During these activities, those crew not involved with interpreting the ship to it's visitors will be working on maintenance chores. There is always a lot to do to keep Pride II shipshape and ready for sea. Currently the work involves catching up with details of getting the ship fully put together after a winter of disassembly for maintenance and overhaul.

Winter Maitenance & the Spring Crew

Over this last winter, much of the rig was again taken apart to repair a crack in the foremast that showed early signs of growing after a number of years of dormancy. The bowsprit had already been removed for replacement with a totally new piece of timber. In addition, the winter crew of six worked on such annual tasks as block refurbishing, spar varnishing, and cosmetics down below as well as on the removed spars. Special projects, in addition to the foremast and bowsprit, included reconditioning the head of the port engine, replacement of galvanized deck hardware, and attending to some leaks in the deck.

This season's crew includes several members who have sailed aboard Pride II before. The crew came aboard at the end of February and have been working steadily for these last six weeks getting Pride II ready for this sailing season. Returning from last season, we have Jesse Kenworthy continuing as Bosun. Along with him are deckhands Chris Landers and Brad Fluery. From the crew of 1998, we have Chris Flansberg as Chief Mate, Mike McCreery as Second Mate, John Shellenberger as Engineer, and Andy Jackson as Cook. Crew members new to the ship include Dayle Tognoni who comes to us from a number of vessels including the Brig Niagara, Paul Gill from the windjammer schooners in Maine, Ellen Ewonkow who has also sailed with the Maine schooners, and John Mitchell who has worked aboard vessels on the West Coast, particularly the schooner Adventurous.

Aside from re-assembling Pride II in time for her 2000 season, the crew also scrapped down the big lower masts and oiled them so they nearly glow. They also striped Pride II's mahogany rail cap to bare wood and re-varnished it with many coats of varnish. Both of these jobs were seen as big bothersome tasks that would have to be squeezed into an already full work schedule. However, with such an experienced crew, the work went more quickly than we anticipated and we are on schedule - maybe even a little ahead of schedule.

Our annual haul out period, during which the ship goes into dry-dock at General Shipyard, was very close to our scheduled departure from Baltimore bound for Havre de Grace. Everyone aboard was relieved that the fit-out period was coming to a close. Everyone was looking forward to going sailing! And sail we did, but only for a few hours as the wind was not cooperative. But the sails did get stretched for the first time and everything worked as it should. I have known years when this was not so.

Havre de Grace

A highlight of our stay in Havre de Grace was a fundraiser for the Skipjack Martha Lewis. This involved a major Oyster and Bull Roast in Frank Hutchins Park adjacent to Pride II's berth. What a spread! The crew was invited and all enjoyed the oysters, fried or raw, and the roasted meat along with Cole slaw, potato salad, sausage, shrimp gumbo, and more. There were skipjack races, too. Unfortunately, the fog and lack of wind prevented a decent show.

Skipjacks are a vessel unique to the Chesapeake Bay. They are the only surviving commercial sail fleet in the United States. Their only purpose is dredging oysters using sail power. The fleet used to number many but is now down to about half a dozen vessels.

The reduced oyster population has nearly put an end to the work of skipjacks. But they are now on the historic vessel list and those surviving are being actively preserved and kept in business. In addition, the United States Coast Guard is helping the owners of skipjacks get the vessels certified for passenger carrying so they can do more than merely dredge for oysters. This is important since oyster season is in the winter. Back in the high times of plentiful oysters, skipjack owners could afford to lay their vessels up for the summer and work on other projects. Often this was farming. But today, the depleted oyster harvest makes it so hard to earn enough in the winter season that the skipjack fleet was at risk of disappearing. But now they have a chance of working at non-oyster dredging jobs, such as carrying passengers during the summer, which should help to keep them sound and around for when the oysters comes back.

Havre de Grace is located on the southern lip of the Susquehanna River. This river begins way up in New York State. It provides by far the greatest amount of fresh water to Chesapeake Bay. When it is swollen with storm runoff, it can also be the single greatest source of pollution in the Bay. The Susquehanna never became an important freight highway due to its many rapids. But it continues to be an important source of hydroelectric power. Today Havre de Grace offers access to the many recreational possibilities of the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay. There are a number of recently constructed waterfront condominiums. There is a very busy yacht yard and marina accommodating a couple of hundred sailing vessels from 25 to 50 feet long.

There are numerous restaurants established in older business buildings. There are also many antique stores. A maritime museum is being established and there is a well-regarded decoy duck museum. Nearby train tracks cross the river and serve Amtrak trains as well the long freight trains that rumble past during the night. Traffic on Interstate I-95 rushs past just outside downtown. Still, despite the nearness of the modern world, Havre de Grace offers a quiet idyll to those who visit.

Chesapeake City

Our passage to Chesapeake City was mercifully short in a day of northeast winds and near torrential rain with cool temperatures near 40 degrees Fahrenheit. We had to make special preparation to get Pride II off the dock since the wind was pushing her onto the pier and the water straight ahead was shallow. But the crew performed well and we got off without incident. As we motored down the narrow dredged and minimally marked commercial channel to the upper Chesapeake Bay, the crew familiarized themselves again with ship procedures. Later, as we motored up the big ship channel through the Upper Bay into the C&D Canal, I held a seminar on safety gear carried aboard. After getting docked at Shaeffer's dock in Chesapeake City, the crew scrubbed down Pride II's yellow whale strake cleaning off the dirt accumulated during the winter haul out. Then all hands went below for another session discussing maritime safety and emergency procedures.

Safety Procedures

While all maritime safety concerns cover the same general topics, the details of how to respond to emergencies differ widely from vessel to vessel. Even so, there have been changes in safety philosophy over the years. In the United States, there was a time when government regulations did not cover small vessels. But in the early 1950s, some accidents in smaller vessels caused them to be brought under Coast Guard regulations. These regulations provide details about construction, design for stability, equipment acceptability, and emergency gear such as flotation for everyone aboard in the case of abandoning ship. However, even with these regulations in place, it is left up to the operator and crew to determine how to respond to any given emergency.

One topic that stimulates a lot of differing opinions is the proper response to a person overboard. For sailing vessels, there has been much discussion of the possible danger of turning around immediately without regard to the existing weather conditions the moment a person is seen falling overboard. In the old days of sail, when commercial sailing vessels were large, engineless, and slow to stop or turn in less than a few miles, many experienced sailors held that if a person fell overboard they were as good as dead. Usually these occurrences occurred in rough conditions. This made it even more unlikely to be able to turn around and sail back to the victim.

Today, however, most commercial sail vessels have engines. They are also designed with greater stability than their cargo carrying ancestors and thus can sustain a larger degree of roll without fear of capsizing. Another difference is greater inherent strength because of modern materials. With the wide use of wire as standing rigging and good metal fastenings, along with synthetic sail and rope material, vessels today are generally much stronger. All this adds up to quicker and smaller turning circles. Sailors also have greater confidence in the stability of their vessels that gives them a willingness to turn the ship around quickly without fear of irreparable damage as a result of the turn around. In addition, there has been a gradual but definite shift in public attitude. The public now values human life over the cost of easily replaced material things on board that might be damaged during the turn around.

For many years aboard Pride II, the standard operating procedure in the event of a person overboard is to immediately start to turn the ship back toward the victim, with the turn being towards the wind. Pride II's size and underwater profile will not let her turn so quickly that anyone will be thrown off his or her feet. Pride II's stability is great enough to not fear capsize in most conditions. She is strong, too. But even if a sail is blown out or a spar is broken in the event of a turn around, it is a small price to pay to recover a person overboard. Also, Pride II's engines are always ready to start even under sail and can be engaged from on deck. If ever the call went out that a person had gone overboard, the whole crew would be on deck before Pride II turned more than 130 degrees. A turn like this would almost completely stop the distance from the victim increasing. Even with sails all a flutter or flogging fit to tear from the ship, Pride II would be nearly stationary in the water relative to the victim. With the whole crew on deck, engines started, and the captain on deck, decisions can be made as to how best to get the victim aboard. Possibilities include sending a small outboard driven inflatable boat or sailing back to the victim. Regardless of the philosophy espoused, training of the crew using the vessel's actual gear is imperative for an efficient response to emergency. This training for the Europe-bound 2000 crew has now begun.

Cheers,
Captain Miles