The Pride of Baltimore II's Log

March  & April 1997

DATE: Thursday, April 24, 1997
TIME: 1300 LMT
POSITION: Latitude 38 23,03 N, Longitude 077 15,43 W
Potomac River
ENTERED BY: Captain Robert C. Glover

AHOY ALL,
Today is departure day from Alexandria, VA. At this time we are riding the ebb tide down the Potomac River. We transited the Woodrow Wilson Bridge at 1000. That’s the earliest allowed so as not to clog up the morning rush hour. However I still don't think they are happy with us stopping traffic and their hurried lives on a major interstate! Slack high water was at 1015 so we have taken advantage of the plus-1 knot of current. The forecast has been saying N'ly today to 20 knots, then becoming NW'ly 15 knots for the Bay and tidal Potomac. We have been experiencing light to no wind W'ly all morning. (So much for our nice "sail" down the Potomac!) Consequently, we start the Caterpillar engines (known on board as the "CATS") and push our way down the river with the crew happy to have partly sunny skies and warming temps.

While in Alexandria we had schools tours from Prince George County, MD visiting the ship. Over 200 hundred students!!! They got the Cook's tour (i.e. the whole deal). They got to hoist a sail and learned about the life of a sailor. On Wednesday evening, we hosted a reception for the Maryland Dept. of Transportation and the Maryland Port Administration. Despite the cold wet weather, a hardy group attended and enjoyed the opportunity of meeting representatives from Maryland government and Pride’s crew.

On Wednesday mid-day we hosted five players from the NFL players Association. They came aboard with a film crew who are filming a commercial that will run during the NFL season this fall promoting the league's players’ union. They were all quite amused that we actually sailed the schooner around the world. They were very impressed until we had them work the anchor windlass. "Too much hard work," they said. Can you believe that?!

We continue to work on Pride’s maintenance. Despite the wet and cold weather we have experienced this winter, the crew is making great strides. We have finally painted Pride’s II’s yellow shear stripe back on the hull, along with oiling the deck pinrails, fiferails, cleats and cavel cleats. Never wanting to lose time, we have been continuously training crew in engine room procedures and safety drills. The other day we had all hands climb into their survival suits for practice. In case of emergency they will have all had the experience of getting into the cumbersome suits.

We have four passengers joining us for our northern transit of the Bay towards Baltimore -- old friends from LDA, the computer guys from Fells Point who have worked with Pride, Inc. over the years as our computer needs have grown. Also two new folks who have never sailed aboard Pride II.

We will try to get as far as St. Mary's City tonight. Come tomorrow we will start what I hope will be a nice sail up the Bay. With NW'ly winds forecasted, we should have a day of tacking up the Bay. For a schooner as large as PRIDE’S IIII, this can mean over 25 tacks from the mouth of the Potomac to, let’s say, Annapolis. It’s a real work out for Pride’s crew as we tack over all 6 sails.

Bye for now. See you in Baltimore.

---

DATE: Sunday, April 20, 1997
TIME: 1000 LMT
POSITION: Latitude 38 10,45 N, Longitude 076 38,63 W
     Off Ragged Point, Potomac River
ENTERED BY: Captain Robert C. Glover

AHOY ALL,
Our stop in Solomons Island was windy and cold but heart warming nevertheless. The folks of Solomons Island and the Solomons Island Yacht Club (SIYC) made PRIDE II and her crew feel at home. We arrived on Wednesday, April 16, with a nice SW'ly breeze blowing that allowed us to sail right into the inner harbor with cannon's blasting to let folks know PRIDE II was back in town.

On Thursday and Friday we hosted four school tours despite the cold NW wind. Each school tour gets to visit all parts of the ship. We break each class up into four small groups and assign them to one of four stations. The groups rotate among the stations every 15 minutes at the sound of the ship’s bell. During their visit, each group tours below decks, puts up a sail, learns about the life of a sailor, and gets a brief rundown on how PRIDE II navigates from place to place. This all takes about one hour.

On Saturday evening we had the ship open for a private reception being hosted by the Yacht Club and the Solomons Island Business Association. These folks were honoring former Gov. William Donald Schaefer, Comptroller Louis Goldstein, and former Secretary of Transportation Jim Lightheiser. They were honored for their role in the revitalization of the Solomons Island River Walk area. We are honored to have been part of the ceremony. Gov. Schaefer and Mr. Goldstein toured PRIDE II before the festivities.

We all arose bright and early this sunny Sunday morning to get underway by 0530. With a red easterly sky and birds signing to the rising sun, we quietly slipped our mooring lines and eased out of the harbor. We need to take advantage of all the daylight we can in order to transit the Potomac River. Our goal is to get to the anchorage off George Washington's Mt. Vernon by evening time.

Bye for now. Captain Bob.

---

DATE: Wednesday, April 16, 1997
TIME: 0800 LMP
POSITION: At anchor off Drum Point, mouth of the Patuxent River
ENTERED BY: Captain Robert C. Glover

Ahoy all,
We spend a quite evening at anchor here off Solomons Island after transiting from Annapolis Harbor down the Bay to the mouth of the Patuxent River. We had somewhat of a NE'ly breeze in the AM, but, as the day wore on, the wind was too light for us to make it to our anchorage by sunset. So we started up the engines and slowly pushed our way south. We kept our sails up in hope that the breeze would fill in again, but to no avail.

In the meantime, the crew went about the mad task of maintenance. As it is spring and the schooner has been laid up all winter, we have much to do to get Pride looking like she normally does. At present she is not up to snuff and it saddens me – it’s kind of like having your own child dress himself for church and not quite understanding that his outward appearance says something about who he is (and who we are) and how much respect we all have for the event we are about to attend. I feel like Pride should have her finest dress on – before she goes out in public. She not quite dressed yet. I must say the crew are working hard getting Pride looking her best. Time is what we need now – time and patience and a little good weather.

On our voyage from Baltimore to Solomons Island, we have had aboard our Director of Education, Jerome Bird. He is experiencing what it’s like to be aboard Pride II in order to have that hands-on experience so he can speak with authority about life aboard the schooner. He has also brought aboard a camera and a tape recorder to record the various sounds of life aboard the schooner so that he can create a great new web page for the company. All of us at Pride, Inc. are looking forward to this updated version on our web page. In case you’ve bookmarked the old address, please enter our new easy to remember address – it’s www.pride2.org.

Today we arrive in Solomon's Island with cannon's blazing. We have open houses while we’re here along with a reception that will be attended by former Governor Schaefer and our state's comptroller, Louis Goldstein. We depart Sunday and head up the Potomac River to Alexandria, VA.

Bye for now….Captain Bob.

---

DATE: Monday, April 7, 1997
POSITION: Havre de Grace, MD
FROM: Captain Bob Glover

Ahoy All,
PRIDE II arrived in Havre de Grace, MD, on Sunday's High Water of 0845. We had arrived in the Bay after transiting the C & D Canal on Saturday evening just as the sun set over the western shore of Delaware. We heard and felt our first signs of spring, of all places, as we transited the canal! As we motored along, we could hear the evening summer "peepers" singing loudly along the shoreline – those same "peepers" that you heard as a kid at summer camp while sitting by the campfire. We all felt the hope of warmer weather as we arrived home in the Bay.

PRIDE II went to anchor in the mouth of the Sassafras River on Saturday night. The morning high water to Havre de Grace was at 0845. After a hardy breakfast, we weighed anchor with an overcast sky and the threat of rain. Sure enough, just as we entered the Susquehanna Flats and the channel proper, the light rain started to fall dropping the visibility and threatening our ability to make the passage. With poor visibility PRIDE II can not transit such a long, narrow channel. Since it was Sunday morning, the Flats were covered with recreational Rock fishermen in their small boats. They slowly but reluctantly gave up their favorite fishing spots to let PRIDE II pass by.

As we made that 1.5 hour transit, the crew got out the soap and scrub brushes for the first time this spring and started scrubbing off the dirt of the winter lay up and the movie. They spent a total of 5 hours cleaning PRIDE II on Sunday. Every piece of deck apparatus and wood was scrubbed and WOW! did it make a difference. Everyone felt like we were cleaning our souls. There is something refreshing for a crew to turn too and clean their home. Now we can really make an assessment of what cosmetic maintenance needs to be done in the next 2 months.

Today we host over 70 school children for educational tours aboard PRIDE II. Tomorrow morning we do another 40 youth from the surrounding Hartford County area schools. Then PRIDE II leaves on the morning tide for her transit to Baltimore, arriving Wednesday afternoon, April 9, in the Inner Harbor. See you there.

---

DATE: Thursday, April 3, 1997
POSITION: Newport, RI
FROM: Captain Bob Glover

PRIDE II arrived in Newport, RI, last Friday after two days of filming in Mystic, CT, for the Speilberg movie "Amistad." We have, of course, the "starring role" as the east-coast stand-in for the slave ship Amistad. We completed one day of filming on Monday, March 31, off Jamestown, RI. That scene simulated the slaves of Amistad coming ashore to get fresh water and food, then paddling back out to the Amistad as two rowing boats full of US officials approached the ship in order to seize her. This was all done very early Monday as both Mr. Spielberg and PRIDE II were very aware of the forecasted storm. As the wind was starting to blow hard from the NE with rain, we all knew that if we didn’t get the scene filmed that day, it would be a least three more days until the weather would allow.

Since the "show must go on," film we did. For the last three days, PRIDE II and her crew have been hiding out from the late spring blizzard that hit the New England area on April Fools Day. We had over 5 inches of snow, sleet, and frozen rain on deck and through the rigging.

Everything was frozen in place. The storm has brought N’ly winds with gusts to over 60 mph, with constant winds from 30-40 mph for over two days. Sea conditions offshore were 20-30 feet. Today, Thursday, April 3, the wind has slacked off to 20-30 mph from the NE. Sea conditions lay down slowly offshore after such a big storm. We will attempt to leave at daybreak Friday, April 4 and race for the Chesapeake Bay and home to Baltimore where it’s warm and the O’s have already opened the season.

---

DATE 15:40 1997-03-17 GMT MONDAY (1040 SHIP +5)
POS Latitude 39 41,56 N Longitude 073 40,53 W

MOTORING AT 8.5 KNOTS C: 060 M. WX: SWxS FORCE 3. SS: SLIGHT. TEMP: 44 F. SEA TEMP: 39 F. BP: 1032.5 S. SKY: 3/8 CIRRUS AND ALTO STRATUS. 24 HR POS: NEAR MYSTIC. 24 HR WX: ?.

PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II is at sea again! Her first sortie into the Western North Atlantic in this year of 1997. And is it cold!

We are on our way to Mystic, Connecticut to join Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks in the making of the movie AMISTAD. The movie is a recreation of true story that occurred in 1839. Fifty-three Africans aboard the Spanish salve ship AMISTAD rebelled against their captors and took over the ship. Captured off the coast of Connecticut when their desperate attempt to sail home failed, the Africans were forced to stand trial for the murder of the crew that had held them prisoner. The case went all the way to the US Supreme Court where the Africans were helped in their cause by former President John Quincy Adams. Guess what role we play in the movie? Right – AMISTAD! At least during the East Coast filming. The movie asked for us to be at Mystic Seaport (a premier marine museum) by March 21st. Since our original plan for 1997 was to be sailing in the Chesapeake Bay by April 5th, the movie request forced a 'hurry-up' spring fit-out and dry-docking and now has us at sea in a late winter cold snap. Thankfully there is a smooth sea and nearly no wind as we make our departure from the Delaware Bay and the New Jersey coast on our way towards Montauk Point, the eastern end of Long Island. The lack of wind means the wind chill factor is reduced. As we motor along, the engines produce some electricity to help with keeping the un-heated aft cabin warm enough to survive in. These 'mild' conditions also mean the new crew (only two returnees) can get used to the ship and her systems in a more orderly fashion.

But the cold is very cold! It slows everyone down and creates greater opportunities for mistakes. So we are fortunate to have moderate winds and seas that help keep conditions as warm and comfortable as possible. But this will change soon. A low is developing to our west and weather reports are warning of a possible now storm starting Tuesday evening in Pennsylvania and spreading north and east. I don't think anyone aboard will want to be underway in the snow, so we will let the Caterpillar engines do the thing they do so well and continue to motor toward Mystic in hopes of beating the snow storm (or rain if this cold breaks). We could be in Mystic as early as 0600 hrs tomorrow at the current rate of progress (150 miles to go at a speed of 8 knots actually means an ETA of 0300 -- but I often hedge). This could be good, because it happens to be high water in the Mystic River at that time. PRIDE can't go up the river unless the water is high. Being in at Mystic Seaport will be MUCH better than being at sea!

We have had quite a bit of dialog with the movie people about when they wanted PRIDE at Mystic. In the last 6 weeks the starting date has changed at least four times. First it was March 19. Then March 21. Then a surprise! How about March 18? Now it is March 21 again. Of course all of this was highly speculative since late winter weather could really make getting to Mystic from Baltimore very hard. One average winter storm could easily last three days and throw all traveling plans out the window. It is only 375 miles to Mystic, which would normally have a time allowance of three days. While it is true PRIDE can go a lot faster than 120 miles a day, it is foolish to guarantee a day of arrival with a sailing vessel that can't go to windward, even under power, if the weather is sever enough. But with good or favorable weather PRIDE can easily make 200 miles a day.

With the moderating winds that came on Sunday, March 16, we got underway and sailed out of the Inner Harbor and all the way up to the Sassafras River using only our foresail, staysail and square fore-topsail. By then the northwest breeze was dying, so we started the engines, took sail and moved on through the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and down the Delaware Bay. It got dark as we exited the Canal into the Delaware Bay and the temperature dropped from a balmy 35 with wind-chill to well below freezing. At midnight we made the mouth of the Delaware Bay and turned northeast toward Montauk Point some 200 miles away. All night the wind was light. The Atlantic Ocean is calm because the wind of the last three days has been from land and therefore has not kicked up any sea. At 0900 today the little bit of wind blowing was from the west and the clear sky allowed for the sun to begin to warm things up. Weather prognosis is for the wind to fill in a little from the southwest. I don't think it will be of enough strength to sail us fast enough to get to Mystic by tomorrow morning. If the wind builds enough, we may sail and be able to get in by Tuesday evening. We shall see. Meanwhile the engines are pushing us at a rate of 200 miles a day. If the wind does develop so as we could sail fast enough with it, we will certainly try and make use of it.

The crew has been together now for four weeks. Each of them are very conscientious and all but two have a lot of experience on other vessels (plus there are two that have come back from last year). This means that they listen and try to do things the way that best fits PRIDE. But still there is a lot to learn. However, even with being together this long, and having sailed on three occasions before departure, last night was the first time they have been underway all night long aboard PRIDE. There are lots of procedures that have to be learned that do not get learned by day sailing. The watch leaders are new to the ship too (one is an old-hand from last year, but is a new watch leader), so they must learn about the details of watch managing procedures such as log entry, position fix, boat check specifics. They also need to learn the parameters of what is logged in order to note if something is wrong or not. While all this is going on, the Captain must be available to clarify any confusion and remind about priorities. Having stable weather conditions, especially calm conditions, means that it is possible to get some sleep between all the questions as each watch comes on through-out the night and day. Soon though, the watch leaders and crew will know our procedures and the number of questions will shrink. This will make it possible to respond to changing weather conditions and not have to worry that the very important basics (like safety) are being cared for properly.

Cheers -- hope all of you are keeping warm!

-------

Sunday March 2, 1997

Dry-docked for bottom maintenance

We have been high-and-dry in dry dock at General Shipyard on Key Highway in Baltimore since Wednesday, Feb. 26. We're in for our annual maintenance routine in preparation for our 1997 Great Lakes Tour. The new crew for 1997, who have been aboard for a week and a half, are now scattered around the shore in homes of friends for the period the ship is out of the water. The crew comes in everyday and works in two areas of concern -- getting the ship ready for sea and helping the caulker do minor maintenance to the hull seams in preparation for the shipyard crew to come and paint. We are in a bit of a hurry due to an obligation to be in Mystic, Connecticut by March 19 to help Steven Spielberg of DreamWorks on a movie called AMISTAD. Except for the hurry-up aspects of this spring fit-out, we are all very interested in what the moviemakers are going to ask us and the ship. Also, we have been looking over our shoulders at the coming weather and wondering just how long the weather is going to stay so mild. It sure has been easy to get much of our work done with the mild weather we have been having! One week of snow and ice could easily grind our progress to a stop!

Winter for the ship started right after she returned from Europe in early December 1996 --one week later than planned. The homeward-bound crew turned-to with a will after the last event of the year, the Baltimore Christmas Parade of Lights, and stripped PRIDE of most of her rig and supplies by moving all of it into our storage area ashore (a space provided by our friends at HarborView in the Inner Harbor). Then they assembled the winter cover frame and got it covered in plastic. The amount of work the crew was able to do and the quality of the disassembly job would be impressive at any time, but this time they also to the foremast and bowsprit ready for removal as well. This requires a floating crane to do the lift (courtesy of our friends at Martin Imbach of Curtis Bay). All went smoothly in the two week period available for this winterizing and dis-masting work. So PRIDE spent the winter with only the mainmast in her. This gave rise to a bit of speculation by those of us with hyper-active imaginations -- what rig is she now?

Schooner-sloop?

The winter-crew came to work after the New Year. We scheduled five workers, but that soon increased because of the movie contract. Our normal time for starting the new sailing season is early April.  However, the movie people asked us to be in Mystic and ready for filming by mid March. So we had a lot to do in a short time. The foremast had been pulled so the carpenter, Dan Thorman (one of PRIDE II's builders), could replace a rot spot with a wood dutchman. We also took the opportunity to pull the bowsprit to do some caulking on the deck area under the bowsprit, as well as check the area of the stem of the ship where the bowsprit goes out through the bow. So far we are on schedule. Thanks go to all that helped us get to this point.

Winter Crew Skilled Labor Volunteers

(Full time winter crew)

(Part time skilled labor)

(Volunteers)

The work list for this winter and spring dry-docking included;

This list may at first glance seem short for so many people to work on over a two and a half month period. However, just consider block maintenance. There are over one hundred blocks on PRIDE. None of them are modern blocks, i.e. metal strap blocks. They are rope stropped blocks. This means that there is a loop of rope (the strop) that must be seized around the block tightly to take the normal strain the block will be subjected to. The seizing of this strop must be properly done -it usually takes an hour. I leave you to do the math to understand how long it takes to re-seize that many blocks. The answer you arrive at does not account for how long it takes to maintain those blocks with two or three coats of varnish.

In the meanwhile the new crew are becoming a team. It will be a long while yet before the amount of learning becomes less than the amount of knowing. But so far this year's spring crew are showing good potential. They come from a wide range of backgrounds and geography. I am pleased by this as this helps to give the ship and it's mission a wonderful quality of intelligence, diversity, and approachability for guests to enjoy. It also provides a lot of stimulation for crew members as they get to know each other through working and living together. Their differing backgrounds enables them to show each other ways and means of accomplishing things that can be very helpful to one other, which is always beneficial to the ship and her mission.

Today is a half crew day. One half of the crew has the day off. Yesterday the other half had the day off. Sometimes a dry-docking does not permit giving anyone a day off. The estimate for how long the ship needs to be in dry-dock to get the necessary work done can be off.  Also, we can run afoul of inclement weather. Bad estimates and bad weather can eliminate any time off in order to compensate for delays. But not this time...at least not yet. Tuesday, with luck, the shipyard crew will start painting the hull. This may take most of the week. If it rains a lot or the hull sweats a lot due to the this really warm weather, we may yet have some delays. But at least the crew have had one day off.

Cheers

Back to the Current Month Logs

Past Logs

| December | September - November | August | July | June | May