Marlinspike #6

Spring 2015

How SEA Creates Community Building the Diligence

Pioneer & Her Volunteers Voici Entre: Les Tall Ships!

Cargo Under Sail

$6.95 — about the cost of a Rum Punch

Number 6

You’re Hired

MICHAEL RUTSTEIN

You’re hired.

Not to worry, this is land-based work. No going aloft on moonless nights in a lumpy seaway. No dashing below at the urging of the skipper to figure out why that @1#*^&! engine won’t start. No long days chipping rust or sanding spars or re-wiring bilge pumps. And you won’t have to rebuild any marine heads.

Nope, this is easy work. You’ve been hired as the marketing director of this magazine.

Relax — you don’t have to shoulder this awesome responsibility by yourself.

There are a thousand other marketing directors, and they have all been assigned the same task as yourself.

Get the word out. Turn the uninitiated into readers. Turn the readers into subscribers. Turn the boats, programs and museums into advertisers.

We’ve made a great start in our first year. We launched this magazine in February of 2014 with no long-term advertising commitments and zero subscribers. Our website had no traffic. Our facebook page had 0 likes.

Twelve months later, we have hundreds of subscribers, the beginnings of an advertising base, and nearly 4000 likes on facebook. We’ve had as many as 90,000 post views in a single week on our facebook page, which is already one of the most-trafficked maritime facebook pages anywhere.

But in order to take Marlinspike to the next level, we need to spread some canvas. We need to grow that subscriber base. We need to attract more advertisers. If we do those things, then we can compensate our writers and photographers and generate more and better content as a result. We can print more pages, publish more frequently, update our calendars and job listings more often.

We have no marketing budget. What we have is you — our marketing directors. Help us spread the word!

MARLINSPIKE MAGAZINE SPRING 2015 • NUMBER 6

Michael Rutstein, Editor & Publisher Cover Photo: SEA

Advertising: (978) 561-3020 Marlinspike (ISSN, USPS pending) is published quarterly for $25 by Pennant Publications, Inc., 73 Middleton Road, Boxford, MA 01921.

Periodical postage paid at Boxford, MA, and additional entries.

Postmaster: Send address changes to: Marlinspike 73 Middleton Road, Boxford, MA 01921.

Copyright 2015 by Pennant Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Fair Winds,

MarlinspikeMagazine.com

Michael Rutstein, Publisher

4 b Creating a Community 8 b Cargo Under Sail

SEA shows how a personal approach can bear fruit

12 b Due Diligence

Tres Hombres is earning money the old-fashioned way

16 b Irving Johnson & the Silver Strand Independence Seaport’s ambitious new exhibit

LAMI’s long road back from the traumatic grounding

28 b Boatyards 30 b Calendar 33 b Sailing Opportunities 34 b Boats, Bars & Beaches 40 b Tools of the Trade 44 b Job Listings 46 b Show Us Yours 47 b Jen Buttery

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Creating a Community You took them sailing — that was the easy part!

Now, your job is to take those people and mold them into a supportive community of friends, volunteers, and donors We spoke recently with Victoria Smith, the Alumni Relations Coordinator at Sea Education Association (SEA), about the challenge of creating a vibrant community out of sailtraining alumni.

Marlinspike: We talk a lot in this magazine about building sustainable business plans for non-profit sailtraining organizations. Central to this discussion is alumni relations, as a necessary precursor to successful development. SEA is one of the organizations that has succeeded in creating a real sense of community among alumni. What is your secret?

Victoria Smith: I don’t think there’s any one ‘secret’ but certainly one element of it is the quality of programs that SEA offers. They’re rigorous, they’re unique, they’re different from a lot of things that these kids are used to in a college environment.

They have four years at a school; they only get maybe 12 weeks with us. During that time the main focus for the students on campus is academic, but we’re also teaching 4

them how to function as a team. When they’re living on campus in the houses, they have to learn how to problemsolve, they’re cooking for each other, they’re prepping meals for each other. Many times students can’t get off campus, so we have things for them to do during their downtime, with their RA. So we’re honing their teamwork skills; they do a lot of group work. And I think that really helps solidify the group, so that when they go to their ship, even though they’re broken up into watches, that community becomes even tighter.

That’s one thing that sets us apart from other programs: campus time, and the opportunity to turn this group of individuals into a team with a purpose.

Through the whole time they’re with us, it’s a very personal relationship that we try to create with them, as a class, as individuals, each different ship. We feel that the SEA experience is very personal. They’re going to come out different people than they come in, and there’s a lot of personal growth that goes on. And because that’s a very personal process, the output for alumni relations and also development is also very personal.

We write them letters. I write a ton of thank-you notes, especially when they come to events such as an open ship or a sail. We have this huge archive of photos, and if I find something cool that has a quote on it from an alum, maybe from the 1970s, I’ll reach out to that class and say,

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“Hey! I found this cool photo, and I hope it brings back fond memories of your time on the Westward!” or the Cramer or Seamans.

First and foremost, it’s about teamwork and creating personal relationships.

MS: It speaks volumes that your title is Alumni Relations Coordinator. Not every sail-training organization has the resources to dedicate a staffer to this task. Is this actually a full-time position?

VS: Yes, it is. Kate Parker was the first alumni coordinator — Rafe Parker’s wife, he was our president for a long time — and they really started to look ahead. Kate Parker was like a mom to alumni. That was a time when SEA only had two or three hundred alumni and it was easy to wrap your arms around it and have contact with each and every person. She would make dinners for the students and so on, and I think that really started our way of thinking. At SEA, it’s always been very hands-on.

MS: I noticed that on your website! Tell us about those events.

VS: They’re really fun! We have them in the areas where we have the largest concentration of alumni: Boston, New York, DC, Seattle, and San Francisco. Last year we went to Portland, Maine; the year before we went to Philadelphia.

Those events are great. They’re mostly networking, a way for alumni to get together and meet other folks. I think the greatest thing is that although you might be separated by 20 years and different ships and different cruise tracks, everyone has the shared experience of being on watch, everyone has scrubbed the galley floor, everyone has climbed aloft, everyone has their own unique challenges that they overcame. At these events we have both older and younger alumni — or maybe I should say the more established alumni and the more recent alumni! — but they all have this common ground that they can talk about, and that’s important to foster.

MS: Tell us more about what your position entails.

MS: How many people turn out for these events? Do they tend to be the older alumni, the younger alumni, or a mix?

VS: It’s definitely outreach, every single day! [Laughs] It’s contacting and trying to find lost alumni, trying to think of new ways to reach out. Every student, every class, every ship is a bit different. There’s some broadbrushstroke type things, like getting ready for events and creating alumni sails, and big outreach stuff where you can shoot out a general e-mail that says ‘Hey, come to this event!’

Each class also has a class representative for each ship.

Right now we’re trying to figure out how to keep those class reps in contact. Being chosen for that, over time that ends up on the back burner for some folks. How can we enliven this program, how do we use our class reps to the best of our ability and their ability and interest?

I spend a lot of time answering e-mails. Once the students leave, I become their primary contact, or at least one of the ways that they can stay in touch. Often, younger alumni want to come back and become sailing interns, become a mate, a steward, an engineer, or go the assistant scientist route. They get in touch with me to see how they can do that.

We have a job and opportunities board through our online alumni directory, not unlike any college or university out there. I’m always scouting for jobs to post, encouraging alumni to post on the Jobs and Opportunities board. I’m working on our alumni database, to clean it up. Our alumni can log in and update their information, and I’m helping them make those changes.

Right now I’m prepping for an event we’re having in Cambridge [MA]…

VS: Usually between 35 and 45 people It’s really a mix. That’s the goal.

MS: What about people who served as officers or paid crew or scientists on those vessels? Are they invited?

VS: Yes. In the past these events have been geared toward alumni, but we’re opening it up now to the greater SEA family which includes crew and faculty, past and current.

Peg Brandon, our president, comes to these events, and we talk about what’s going on at SEA. That’s important, keeping our alumni informed. It shows due diligence on our part. Sometimes it’s not always sunshine and rainbows. You need to present realistic information, and often it can be fruitful to ask for help. How do we create this dialogue between our alumni and SEA? It starts with being honest with them.

We also have many alumni that are involved in colleges and universities and of course, that’s our recruiting ground.

Whether they’re professors or assistants or research professors or working as admin staff, we try our hardest to reach out to them and say ‘Hey, we’re going to be on campus,’ or ‘Hey, this is a school that’s never really sent students before — maybe there’s something we can work out with the college administration.’ We usually get a pretty positive response.

MS: Your job obviously has a big online and social media component.

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VS: That’s another huge part of what I do: reaching out online. We have a LinkedIn page, the SEA Alumni group, specifically for our alumni. We have a facebook page for SEA alumni, and that’s a public page that’s open to everyone, but I post alumni events and opportunities there, same as on the LinkedIn page.

I try to find interesting articles that are relevant to SEA, relating to marine science or conservation, blending of art and science, that kind of thing. And we want to share what our alumni are doing, their successes. We had a couple of alumni set off on this very cool trip in the Caribbean and wanted to make sure we were sharing that. If a student gets an award, if someone publishes a paper or a book, we want to post that to the alumni facebook page. That also helps us with our marketing.

And of course we have our main SEA Facebook page which is run by our marketing coordinator. The focus is to attract students, but we also have a big alumni following

there.

Every day during the week, we have a post that goes out on our main SEA Facebook page. Monday Musings, that’s a quote and a photo from our archives that we feel goes well with that theme. Transformation Tuesday, we’re taking quotes from students who have sailed, who are currently on the ships, or who just completed the program, about the influence of the program on them. I am responsible for Words of Wisdom that we post on Wednesday, using quotes from our established alumni about how SEA influenced them personally and professionally. On Thursday we do a TBT thing where we’re posting archived photos. And Friday is something fun and random.

We’re always trying to reach out, not just to potential students, but to keep our alumni engaged as well.

MS: A little earlier you were starting to tell us about your Alumni Directory.

VS: It’s not unlike any college or university online directory. It’s just another way for alumni to reach out to each other online. They have a profile they create with their contact info and professional information, and we have a space where they can post updates on what they’re doing.

One thing that I think is cool is the mentor feature — we’re really working to get the younger alumni to take advantage of this feature. I think it will help them professionally. As we know, it’s often who you know when you’re trying to get into grad school or land a job! It’s all about connections and SEA is all about that. People can sign up and volunteer to be mentors, which means they’re there to help.

One alumna was applying for a conservation internship on Nantucket. She reached out to the alumni network to find out if anyone was living there, if anyone knew anything about the organization she was applying to, and sure enough, she was able to get some information and make some connections.

We also post job opportunities, internships, and so on through the directory. Alumni post jobs, and I post jobs as well. It’s a gathering place for all that sort of information.

MS: Now, this question crosses the line from alumni relations to development, but could you talk a little about how, having created this community, you then leverage it to support your programs?

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MARITIMEGLOUCESTER.ORG 6

VS: Janet Wagner is our Director of Development, and I think she’d tell you that’s the challenge for any development group! It’s a work in progress for us, but I’d say our theme at SEA is the personal touch.

We’re always trying to figure out how to convert that enthusiasm into helping out, giving back, helping the organization. It’s all about tapping into that personal expe-

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“It’s all about tapping into that personal experience, creating physical ways for people to meet each other that strengthen their ties to the organization. It’s getting them back on the ships for alumni sails, for open ships.”

Pictured are alumni from C-320 (top) C-470 (middle) and C-252A (bottom) rience, creating physical ways for people to meet each other that strengthen their ties to the organization. It’s getting them back on the ships for alumni sails, for open ships.

Whenever we can, we try to create opportunities for alumni to come back and get on board the ships.

When we’re doing our annual fund drive, every thankyou note has a handwritten, personal note from myself, from Jan, or from Peg, depending on who they’ve had contact with in the past.

Peg of course is both an alumna and a former SEA captain; she has either taught or crewed for 34 classes, and any time a donation comes in from one of her former students, they’re going to hear from her. That’s really important, letting folks know that you are invested in them and that you care. It’s not just that we want your money! It’s making sure that we’re giving back as much as we’re asking.

That’s our job: creating those experiences — open ships, sails — having people be in touch with their former faculty, a lot of personal contact and personal outreach, keeping them informed and abreast of what’s happening with SEA. MS: What advice could you offer to programs that offer opportunities to different populations: urban or at-risk youth, for example, or high school students, or the public in general? It could be said that with your college population, you have it easy. Most of these populations are intrinsically more difficult to mold into a supportive community.

VS: That’s true. I think you begin by really looking hard at your programming. Again, a lot of it is the personal connections you make and realizing the power of those connections. For that to happen you’ve got to hire really exceptional teachers, people who are not only good teachers but good communicators, good at reaching out to people.

You need to build your program from the ground up with the notion that to keep this going, your students must become invested in your program. Creating a good program is not enough. You need to hire the right staff to run it — people who not only love their job but love people, and then you need to ensure that your staff is always acknowledging this personal connection, always working on establishing and strengthening those bonds.

Museums do this really well. They have the same challenge — reaching out to people from all walks of life, persuading them to get involved, to invest, to become

members of the museum and so on.

Keeping in touch — which is 90% of my job — keeping in touch with people after they leave the program, creating ways for people to talk about the experience that they had with you, that’s critical.

Giving back financially is a goal, but there are other ways people can give back to the program. They’re out in the world as unofficial recruiters, ambassadors, mentors.

Creating and establishing a personal investment in the program and then afterward keeping in touch with people, reminding them of this powerful experience that they had — that’s the key. You hope that they have good memories of it, and that at some point they want to give back! b

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CARGO In 2000, three young sailors aboard Europa took an oath to attempt to carry cargo emission-free.

By Gerhardus van Wilgen Jorne Langelaan and Arjen van der Veen, both from the Netherlands, and Andreas Lackner from Austria were crossing the Atlantic on the Bark Europa in 2000. They were close friends; the captain nick-named them the Tres Hombres. The trio witnessed gigantic freighters with massive exhaust fumes, following the same route as Europa and wondered why there were no sailing freighters. They couldn’t come up with a satisfying answer, so they took an oath to one day sail freight emission-free.

Fifteen years later, their brigantine Tres Hombres is carrying freight across the Atlantic emission-free and doing well enough to justify adding a second sailing vessel to their fleet.

MS: What was the first step you took after taking your oath?

Jorne Langelaan: The three of us were on the Europa, sailing north along the American East Coast doing the Tall Ship Challenge. The whole fleet docked at all major ports.

On one of those stops we met Captain Daniel Moreland of the Picton Castle. He told us he was hauling some freight as well, and we told him we wanted to know everything about 8

hauling goods. We didn’t stop bugging him until he let us tag along. At the end of the tour in Halifax, we jumped ship, left for the Great Lakes with the Picton Castle, and ended up in Chicago.

By that time Andreas was already in Peru. We were eager to meet up with him again — but we wanted to travel emission-free. So we, young bloods, decided the only choice we had was to either find us a couple of horses and travel by horseback, or build a raft and travel down the Mississippi River.

MS: And you chose the raft, of course. How did you go about building a raft in Chicago?

JL: On our way to Chicago with the Picton Castle, we met some great people at a stop in South Haven, Michigan.

The folks of the Michigan Maritime Museum offered us space to build a raft, but when we saw the space, the tools and the skills people had, we immediately changed our plans.

We decided we were going to build a traditional Dutch “Schonker.”

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UNDER SAIL A “Schonker” is a combination between a “Schokker,” “Tjalk” and Dory. It carries one semi-square-rig mast with a mainsail, staysail, two jibs, a square topsail and a square course and two studdingsails. It’s a similar design to the craft which used to sail the shallow waters — with leeboards — of the former “Southern Sea” in the 16th-century Netherlands.

Arjen went around town to rustle up support and I started working on the design. It was an amazing experience, because the entire community was on board with our project.

The vessel is called the Pierius Magnus. There’s a video of the project on our website.

MS: Did you sail down the Mississippi?

JL: No, we sailed her on Lake Michigan, but we did haul some freight — a piano and paintings — and eventually we sailed her via Bermuda and the Azores to the Canary Islands. The vessel is still there laid up on the tiny island of La Craciosa, next to Lanzarote. She’s waiting for some new adventurers to refit her and start trading with her again.

MS: And that was the start of your company?

JL: No. After that adventure we went our separate ways. We all worked on different tall ships to become chief officers and later captains. In 2006, I had just came back from Antarctica with the Europa. I was hitchhiking in Argentina. Arjen contacted me because he felt that with oil prices going through the roof, this was the perfect time to

fulfill our oath.

Arjen traveled to Croatia to convince Andreas to join our partnership again. Andreas had started a yacht rental business and small shipyard. He left this business to his Croation companion and followed Arjen.

MS: You were planning to build your own ship?

JL: Yes, just like we did in Michigan. But this one had to be much larger. However, as soon as we started planning we realized that without a real track record in trading under sail, it would be difficult to find investors. That’s why we opted to find an existing vessel.

We ended up with a mine sweeper, built in Germany in 1943 with the name Seeadler. After the war she was sold to Ireland and renamed Baidin which is Gaelic for “small blue boat.” Wood planking over a metal frame, beautiful lines.

The sellers were a bunch of guys who bought it when they were still in college. They totally stripped the interior, took off the old wheelhouse, replaced deck planking, installed steel bulkheads and a steel aft cabin. They also installed a huge old-fashioned diesel engine. For many years they spent their weekends and time off refitting her.

However, after a while they got married, had kids, and they weren’t able to put in the time anymore. When we took over, we went straightaway full-time for two and a half years.

We were working with a team of 15 people at the same time, sometimes as many as 25 people.

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MS: She was in good condition?

the island, because the roads were still inaccessible.

JL: It looked like she wasn’t leaking much — but that was because she was sitting in the mud! We had to replace almost all the planks at the bottom. But our first order of business was to remove the engine and the propellor. We wanted to sail emission-free.

MS: How did you pay for the restoration?

JL: We started a company called Partenrederij Tres Hombres S.A. to represent the ship. We issued shares of 1,250 EU each. Now we have 125 shareholders who hold single or multiple shares. The restoration cost half a million Euros. We couldn’t have done it without the hundreds of volunteers who helped us.

We also started the company Fairtransport which arranges our cargoes and organizes all different operational matters, acting as a general agent.

MS: You launched in 2009 and christened her Tres Hombres. Where did your first trip go?

JL: Our maiden voyage was to Copenhagen for the — unsuccessful — UN Climate Change Conference. We hauled goods from an organic supermarket and wool from the Isle of Texel. We were there to show that emission-free transport was possible. Not long after we returned, the earthquake in Haiti happened. We loaded up with aid and supplies for a juvenile center, and left for Port au Prince.

After delivery, the UN hired us to drop off goods all over

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MS: Did you sail back empty?

JL: We didn’t have any cargo booked, but we didn’t want to sail back empty either. We sailed to the Dominican Republic to buy rum. The purchase price of the first batch of rum came from a separate venture that the shareholders of Tres Hombres were asked to invest in. The shareholders who did join made a nice profit!

MS: Are you making a profit now?

JL: The first year, the ship made a huge loss, in part because our insurance premium was very high. You can understand that insurance companies weren’t eager to sell us a policy. The second year, we had a smaller loss and that trend continued. Now we are paying a lower insurance premium and are making more money.

One of the things we’ve learned is that we shouldn’t do tramp shipping, but instead plan our trips ahead just like a regular liner. So everything is falling into place — we’re even able to pay our shareholders a dividend this year!

MS: How is life on the ship?

JL: It’s hard work. A ship is a living, breathing organism that needs constant maintenance and repair. We have seven crew aboard and eight trainees. We start in the morning before breakfast, pumping out the bilges and soaking the deck to keep the seams tight. The rest of the day we do our

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maintenance or teach our students how to splice, tar the rigging, scrape the deck, prepare sails — we have to do it all and do it continuously.

Once a year we take her to a drydock to inspect and redo her bottom. But I have to say, the rewards are beyond words, sitting outside on the foredeck of a sailing brigantine underneath the stars, feeling content for being part of a revolution, that’s hard to describe in words.

65 degrees into the wind, so we had to make quite a lot of tacks. She turns like a small yacht, but even so, it takes a few minutes for every tack.

We talked the entire crew through every tack we were going to make. The Stad Amsterdam was moored in the harbor and they watched us tack right in front of them. When we cleared the breakwaters they saluted us — that was a great moment.

MS: Without an engine, have you had any trouble manuevering in harbors?

MS: When are you going to launch your second vessel?

JL: The most challenging situation I can remember was in Horta. There’s a breakwater for the marina inside the breakwater for the main port. We were inside the marina

turning towards the ocean into the wind. We can sail at best

JL: This year. Like Tres Hombres, the ship will be operating as its own entity with its own investors. If anyone is interested, you can download the business plan from our website. She will be doing our European route. Her name is Nordlys, which means Northern Lights in Norwegian. She was built in 1873 on the Isle of Wight as a fishing vessel. We had to restore her as well. We will be transporting organic products for companies who want to keep their carbon footprint as small as possible.

MS: No engine, I presume.

JL: Indeed. We took out this engine, as well as the tanks, propellors, fuel lines and so on.

MS: What else is in the pipeline?

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Gazela

JL: Although we call it a revolution, I don’t think we are revolutionaries in the traditional sense of the word. We are businessmen but we are also activists.

I don’t see why you can’t be both. We work out of respect and love for the world we live in.

I’m convinced there’s a future for sustainable, emission-free transportation. I am also convinced that the market of ecologically-viable products is growing. What I would like to see is a global network of sailing cargo vessels, traditional or newly-built, in order to transport goods from all over the world in responsible way. b For more information, visit: www.fairtransport.eu

ENDORSED BY

Chris Richmond crichmond@allenif.com

2014

An employee-owned company with offices in Camden, Rockland, Belfast and Southwest Harbor, Maine.

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Due Diligence At the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia, Mark Donohue and his crew are building a schooner that will sail only in the imagination of visitors.

PHOTOS BY NELSON CHIN

Marlinspike: Tell us about this boat you’re building.

Mark Donohue: We’re building an 80% replica of the Diligence, a 1790s topsail schooner. She will be the centerpiece of an exhibit on the birth of the United States Navy here in Philadelphia.

The Diligence was built here in Philadelphia as a revenue cutter, and she was part of the West Indies squadron during the Quasi-War with France.

As we’re building her, we’re also recreating a shipyard in Philadelphia, and allowing the public to come in here and interact with us.

She’s going to be 65 feet on deck, 102 feet overall, and her beam’s about 19 feet. Her bowsprit will go right through the wall there!

The masts are loblolly pine, and they’re going up into those two big holes you see in the ceiling. We’re drilling out holes right now for our eyebolts to allow us to step the masts.

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It’s interesting, stepping her masts first!

For us shipwrights, building a boat indoors, a boat that will never float, creates different engineering problems.

MS: For example, how do you step a mast when you have no keel?

MD: Exactly. We’re going to put up some eyebolts, we’re going to have a chain fall, and we’re going to kind of scooch it up in there, and we have some metal brackets that we welded up that will be her mast step on the ground. And there will be brackets inside the ceiling to support the masts there. We’ll also have traditional partners and wedges, of course.

MS: Tell us about the materials you’re using.

MD: Since we’re inside, we don’t have to use white oak. We’re using poplar. It’s very easy to work with and it’s a lot cheaper. All our sticks — bowsprit, jibboom, masts, gaffs and MarlinspikeMagazine.com

booms — will be yellow pine, loblolly.

Our deck planking, which you can see in a big pile right there, is white pine, which is probably what they would have used originally.

MS: You’re not going to caulk the deck, are you?

MD: No. We had the mill cut a groove in the deck planks for us, so that when we’ve butted the planks, it looks like a caulking bevel. We’re going to fill that bevel with a synthetic caulking to resemble pitch.

We have no keel. The waterline of the schooner is on the floor of the gallery. What we have is a curve, which our frames are attached to. We’re using Douglas fir for the curve as well as for our deck breams.

MS: Still, each of these frames has to be lofted. You’re still using a lot of traditional techniques…

MS: Everything we’re doing is tra-

“Everything we’re doing is traditional in the sense of the practices and the methods.

When we do the planking, we’ll do a butt plan so that the butts are in the right position. We’re doing it as traditionally as we can. Otherwise it would look like a stage set, and we want it to look like a real schooner.” ditional in the sense of the practices and the methods. When we do the planking, we’ll do a butt plan so that the butts are in the right position.

We’re doing it as traditionally as we can. Otherwise it would look like a stage set, and we want it to look like a real schooner.

This space was an active exhibit until after the holidays, so much of the work has been going on over here in our boatshop. We were building our frames in the shop; it’s almost like a kit boat in that respect. We came in here right after New Year’s, demo’d the old exhibit, set up our centerline with all our major points of reference, laid our curve down, used concrete bolts to fasten that to the ground, then set up all our frames. Our frames are 20” on center.

We set up our transom yesterday, and our next step is to get the masts up so we can start working on fairing the frames, installing the deck beams, and such like that. It’s just like any other ship.

The deck will have some camber to it, but not too much — the vessel has to be ADA compliant, with ramps and enough space to maneuver a wheelchair.

This vessel may never float, but it is going to be structurally sound. After all, you’re going to have kids running around it, birthday parties, educational programs. One of the important aspects of this project is that the finished ship will feature six simple machines…

MS: Got to tie into that core curriculum!

rect rake on the masts and have the correct angle for the shrouds. Everything that goes up into the ceiling is going to be at the right angle.

MS: What’s your boatbuilding background?

MD: I’ve been building and restoring boats for about 20 years. I started out when I was 13 at a boatyard in New Jersey, went to college, took a semester off and got back into boatbuilding, and I’ve been doing it ever since.

MS: And how do you feel about building a boat as an exhibit, a boat that will never float?

MD: It’s different, and that’s what makes it interesting to me. When I first heard about this project from John Brady, I had a hard time picturing it, especially with the old exhibit still in here. I couldn’t image we’d have the room. But we mocked it up and it looked like it might work. Once we had the hall cleared out, then we really started to get a sense of the space we have here, how neat and open it will be.

Imagine how this will look when the ship is finished — people will come down this main hallway and see the big bowsprit sticking out, and we’re going to rig up a netting so people can actually climb out on the bowsprit! It’s going to be pretty neat. We’re really excited about it.

MD: Right. So we have simple machines set up right now in the shipyard that people can come in and interact with; and later we’ll have them on board. We’ll have some of the sails on halyards so they can be raised and lowered. We’re going to have the corMarlinspikeMagazine.com

Another aspect about it that I enjoy is that we have a bunch of people on our crew who are new to the industry. Some of them have worked on boats a bit, or been crew on boats, but they’ve never had any experience with construction. We have an opportunity to teach them and pass on these skills and that’s one of the things I really like about this project.

MS: And these skills will definitely be translatable to working on a boat that will actually swim.

MD: Yes. We talk about that — “We’d do it THIS way if this were a real boat, but were going to do it THIS way on the Diligence, because she’s an exhibit.”

But we’ll show them the right way to do it. They’ve learned lofting skills.

One of the guys cut his first rabbet in our stem here. He said, “How do you do this?” We showed him various ways to do it. And he took some time getting the first one done, but the second one went a lot quicker. b 13

Marlinspike spoke to Independence Seaport Museum President and CEO John Brady about his ambitious new exhibit.

Marlinspike: Why Diligence?

John Brady: We wanted to create an exhibit about the founding of the Navy in Philadelphia. We felt that would be a great second-day visit for someone who had come to town to see the Liberty Bell or go to Independence Hall.

Our initial idea was to do sections of the frigate United States, sister ship to Constitution, which was built right down the river. But when we started to look at that in terms of an exhibit design, it just didn’t work. The scale was huge.

We realized that a vessel more or less 65 feet on deck would be the perfect exhibit tool, because then we could have all the parts of a boat and have visitors, particularly kids, engage in a lot of different ways. So we started looking for a vessel that would suit the gallery, and the Diligence is what came up.

The other nice thing about this period is that they didn’t do all that much documentation on vessels of this size, which means we can make decisions along the way that make the boat more suitable to our purposes, without being historically inaccurate. For example, we could put a barrel windlass behind the foremast rather than forward of it. I think there are examples of both [laughs] — no one knows!

Diligence was built by Joshua Humphreys for the Revenue Service, so we have a Coast Guard connection there, and she served in Barry’s squadron during the Quasi War. So it perfectly suits our founding-of-the-Navy theme.

What’s informing the build is a mixture of sources. We have a great collection of line plans in our archives, the Lenthall Collection, and the drawings, including one of the Diligence, are just incredible.

Going forward, we’ll have a science lesson, the six simple machines — everything will be interactive. When a ship comes and visits, you can tour it, but you can’t really touch anything, you can’t really do anything! This will be different. This will be set up so that visitors can really engage.

MS: Kids will be able to run out those six-pounders?

JB: Run out the six pounders! Grab the wheel, climb out on the bowsprit, and eventually … since we’re looking at a new building at some point, we are building the Diligence so that she can come apart and go back together. In the new gallery setting, with a higher ceiling, kids could be climbing the rig as well. We could also build out the aft cabin, so that they can go below.

We want to make it as engaging as possible. The fact that we don’t sail, we compensate for by the fact that you CAN interact…

MS: And you can interact year-round...

JB: ...and it’s not going to have the maintenance burden of a sailing vessel.

So the concept here, while we’re building the boat, is that this is a shipyard. When we’re done, we’ll be building an adjacent exhibit called Patriots and Pirates. It will give the kids something to do so that their parents can do more serious history. Or they can enjoy the ship with their kids.

MS: The plan reads “A fast-sailing schooner…” and I see her maximum beam is well forward.

East Coast USA/Canada May-Aug Transatlantic starting Oct 1

JB: She actually proved kind of small for hanging with the squadron. She went back into the Revenue Service and was based, I believe, in South Carolina for the duration of her career.

MS: Where did you get the idea of building a full-scale replica inside of a gallery?

JB: I’ve always admired the New Bedford Whaling Museum’s model of Lagoda, but she is a half-scale model.

We wanted to build something that was full-scale and that would fill the space. So that when you’re on board the distances, the dimensions, everything works and is right.

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Advanced training for experienced mariners Aug 12-Sep 23 Lunenburg, NS

Looking forward through the hull, with the frames set up on the waterline curve and the masts about to be stepped.

PHOTOS BY NELSON CHIN

We’re very excited about this exhibit. I’m excited personally. My career was as a boatbuilder.

MS: Really?

The masts will extend into the ceiling of the gallery

JB: Yes, I ran the shop for many years. But I also spent some time on Gazela and in the schooner world.

MS: That’s a pretty unique career path for the President and CEO of a maritime museum. They might come out of development or marketing; they don’t usually come out of the boatshop!

JB: I think I’m the first. That’s a long story. But the boatshop is all about building kids through boatbuilding, and I guess I’m the poster child. Boatbuilding is problemsolving, and so is running a museum. b

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Irving Johnson & the Silver Strand A tenth-anniversary look at the traumatic grounding of the Irving Johnson and LAMI’s long road back

by Marann Fengler BRYSON SYLIBOY

It began around 15:30 with a phone call.

“Turn on the TV!” my aunt exclaimed urgently. “Your boat is in trouble, and it’s all over the news.”

No way it’s my boat, I scoffed inwardly. But I switched on the TV to be certain...

And March 21, 2005 ceased to be an ordinary Monday.

There, plastered across the screen in a glorious overhead shot from a helicopter, was my brigantine, Irving Johnson. Every channel was showing it: Irving, stuck at the entrance to Oxnard’s Channel Islands Harbor... Passengers and crew abandoning ship... Stunning. Inconceivable.

Heart-wrenching.

The boat was being slammed rail to rail by large waves near a jetty. The crew were helping passengers — college students — and one another to time swells as best they could, and fling themselves overboard. Coast Guardsmen on jet skis would swoop in to pluck them from the surf once they cleared the rolling boat.

Soon, I was recognizing friends. Justin Smith jumped for it. I watched in helpless horror as he backstroked away from the vessel with the course yard bearing down to impale him. Jullie Jackson did a beautiful swan dive off the midships rail. Leave it to her to extract herself from danger in style (though we did tease her later for going head-first in a PFD).

The relief captain who was driving (whose name I’m withholding) was the last to leap. With no one left aboard, the sea took control of Irving, spun her in circles, drove her 16

bow-first into the rocks of the jetty several times, then turned her again.

My phone was still ringing — friends and relatives calling to make sure I was safe. Glad I was. Glad everyone had gotten off the boat safely. I appreciated their concern, but in the deep emotion of the moment, I became angrier and angrier. I felt like they were saying everything was fine, when it was far from it.

Tears streaming down my face, I snapped at one friend, “The boat isn’t safe!” Those who don’t live this life cannot understand how much these vessels become a part of us.

I resisted calling the office. Knew they’d be swamped.

I couldn’t stand being separated from my boat family, though, so I got in touch with Bryson Syliboy, a friend on the crew of Irving’s twin, Exy Johnson. He told me a few people had gathered at the office and that I should join them. I didn’t hesitate.

The Los Angeles Maritime Institute (LAMI) office was busy, but oddly quiet. I found the deckhands from Exy and a few diehard volunteers (like me at the time) in the classroom area at the back of the building. The internet was in its infancy, so for news we were relying on a small TV with rabbit ears that could tune in only one station, and that badly. We struggled for a picture, for any kind of fresh information. No one said much. Neither did the news.

Around 22:30 Exy’s captain, Mike McLaughlin, walked into the room, his face hard, with a grave announcement. A phone call had just been received from Steve

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Peckham, Irving’s full-time captain, who had cut short the vacation he was taking upon hearing about his boat. He was on the beach in Oxnard. The boat was, too.

On the beach. Fully aground.

Mike’s words fell heavily. We froze, dumbfounded.

He walked out, then everyone was holding someone else and crying.

An hour later, several of us were on the way to Oxnard.

We’d grabbed blankets, foulies, bottled water, and camping mats off Exy and were rushing north to watch over her stricken twin.

We pulled into the parking lot at Silver Strand Beach outside Channel Islands Harbor, but couldn’t find the boat.

Ninety-foot masts with yards are hard to miss... unless they’re not vertical. When we spotted Irving, she was resting on her port side, masts at a 45-degree angle, illuminated by the headlights of a sheriff’s Bronco that was parked on the beach.

The night was long, cold, and damp. Eight of us spent it huddled together against an overturned dory from the boat that we hauled out of the water. At one point long-time volunteer Joan Sharp (who had slept in Irving’s unfinished hull the day the boat was launched) produced a bag of popcorn. We passed it around and stared at the boat as we ate, as if in some sort of bizarre movie theatre.

All night, waves crashed over Irving’s starboard side.

Bigger ones would throw her over hard enough to ring her bell — a haunting cry for help we couldn’t answer. At times the tide would drag her stern back toward the jetty, and though we could’ve waded to the boat, we were powerless to stop its motion.

I must’ve dozed at some point. I remember just after dawn jolting awake, thinking that the light on the boat seemed brighter than it should be. I glanced toward the parking lot. It was full of news vans. Satellite feeds were up, spotlights were on, and before we knew it, packs of reporters descended upon us.

Our lonely vigil had gone agonizingly public.

Morning light revealed the situation was bleaker than we’d imagined. Debris from the boat was washing ashore — oars from dories and kayaks, food from the galley, deck brushes, one of the light boxes, chunks of purple heart from the stem, and the bit that reduced us all to tears: a piece of the name plate from one side of the bow.

The beach got more crowded. LAMI founders Jim Gladson and Alice Robinson arrived. They dealt with the media frenzy. Steve showed up to coordinate the rescue effort. More LAMI volunteers appeared. A tank truck pulled onto the beach, accompanied by divers, who snaked

hoses to the boat to pump off the diesel fuel. The sky clouded and it began to drizzle. Everything was a sleep-deprived, heart-broken blur.

For three days they tried to pull the boat off the beach.

Evening high tide on Thursday the 24th was said to be the last chance we had to save the boat — she was taking a beating. Tractors were employed to build a berm behind Irving.

The thought was to get more water under the keel to help float her.

As sunset passed, three tugs, so far off shore you hardly could see them, pulled the bow seaward. Slowly, slowly, the faux-pool behind Irving filled, and boat began to right. She sat on her keel, but moved no further. We held our breaths.

Then all at once, someone was yelling that she was free. It was a minute or two more before everyone could tell, but it was true: Irving was underway.

We cried, hugged each other, laughed hysterically.

Bryson yelled, “Three cheers for the Irving Johnson!” and we filled the night with joyous huzzahs.

And the media missed it.

Only one local station remained. A wondrous, epic moment — Irving, underway, parallel to the beach, all sails in their gear... like a ghost ship sailing with no crew... went unnoticed by anyone but us. It seemed fitting.

The mood on the drive home was considerably more upbeat than it had been on the drive up three nights previously. A core group of us, now bonded even more tightly by the week’s trauma, spent the night on Exy. Here is where having a pair of identical brigantines turns surreal.

The first hour was spent on deck, listening to crew “survivors” recount their tales: Leslie Abramson demonstrated how she had used the main stays’l sheet as she helped evacuate students; Jochen Hoffman clung to the grab rail at the nav hatch to show how he’d braced himself and a student there for protection. To this day I don’t have the words to express how eerie it was to stand on Exy and hear and see what had happened in the identical spot on Irving.

At the end of the day, though, we had our boat back.

We had no notion of what it would take to bring her back completely, but the future looked brighter. We felt glad, grateful, and humble.

How do you begin to recover from such a massive punch in the gut? The only way you can: one day at a time and one step at a time.

Step One: Downrig the vessel and haul it to assess its condition. Simultaneous Step Two: Figure out how you’re

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going to squeeze bookings for two vessels onto one. Step if wondering how many we possibly could have.

Three: Start fixing your broken baby.

We discovered leathering, wire seizing, wire splicing, The damage was extensive. The hull withstood its patch serving... I got so excited about the usefulness of a ordeal fairly well. The jetty had holed the forepeak on the marlinspike hitch, I demonstrated its versatility to my father port side and shredded the stem. The tow ropes for the tugs on a long screwdriver. The project was an absolute goldhad wreaked havoc on the forward hawsers. A chunk of the mine of knowledge and experience for a young rigger. rudder was missing.

And all the while, Irving hid from public view in a The worst, however, was the water damage below. shipyard, two bridges away from us, in the gritty recesses of Every compartment had been filled – either by the sea, or on Terminal Island. purpose to ballast the boat on the beach. Warped soles, black water two inches deep in the heads, smashed sea We stepped tentatively onto the lot of Gambol shipchests, broken doors... the sights were demoralizing. yard on a chilly morning that fall. Irving sat on the hard, But that was where the heartbreak ended. Despite the tucked in amongst mega-yachts, looking dusty, lonely, and heavy toll on the vessel, naked. Her rig lay in the we were fortunate: the shelter of a steel hut, Camping on Silver Strand Beach only casualty was a foot rumored to have been the injury sustained by one of police station set for the our older volunteers as he TV show Nash Bridges. abandoned ship. And The sticks had been pulled what was more: opportuintact, shrouds and all, nity abounded. and they rested, atop 55gallon drums, surrounded Enter José by the yards and booms.

Hernandez-Juviel, Though we weren’t LAMI’s rigger extraordiallowed on the boat, we naire. In an interesting could see repairs to buland fortuitous fluke of warks and hull planking timing, Steve had recently underway. prevailed upon him to Over the next BRYSON SYLIBOY begin training a corps of months, we became fixriggers for the organization. Classes had begun three weeks tures in the yard, keeping to ourselves, going about our busibefore the grouding. Armed with a bit of basic rig anatomy ness... while entertaining ourselves with X-Files jokes at the and terminology, and under the expert guidance of a gifted, expense of the Tyvek-suited yard workers who were restordetail-oriented leader, LAMI’s intrepid band of fledgling ing the vessel’s interiors. riggers was about to be thrown into the ultimate classroom.

On the day we stepped the main mast — all 90 feet of José’s shore job boss, clearly an enlightened fellow, saw it, with a crane — we finally had the chance to go aboard. the wisdom in allowing José some scheduling flexibility. As We crept around the deck cautiously, not wanting to abuse he had when the brigantines were rigged originally, José the privilege. Progress was being made, but Irving was still a divided his days. Consequently, our hours became 0700mess, and it was strange to look through the chain locker 1200 weekdays. hatch and see pavement through openings in the hull.

Our initial duties tended toward the mundane. We Below decks, however, the Tyvek army was having a unbent sails from yards on the hard and rolled them into field day. The sole no longer was warped. New tables had heavy, green sail bags. In a moment of welcome mirth, we been installed in the saloon. And the paint job! It was discovered six adult humans of average size fit into the sail ridiculous — pristine, glowing, yachty white so shiny you bag for the main. could see your reflection in it.

We worked in the unglamorous confines of a shipping Before we knew it, we were celebrating the one-year container in the LAMI parking lot. We organized and anniversary. Irving was still on the hard. stored all her gear, from running rigging to the mournful bell. Once that was accomplished, we dove into the typical In the meantime, Exy held the fort for the program. tasks of winter maintenance.

For her, winter and spring were madness. The office We tarred anything that wanted it — anything served, invented a stop-gap measure to cover days when both boats again and again, until the container smelled like home. José had been booked: “Double Day Sails.” In normal circumtaught us to overhaul blocks, and we did tons of them. The stances, when school groups arrived with 60 students, they harbor fire department was our neighbor. The firefighters would have been split between two boats. In the “Double on their daily jogs past our endeavors smiled, greeted us, Day Sail” scenario, 30 were on the boat for a few hours, then stared at our sawhorses full of white dangling blocks, as while the other 30 engaged in adapted shoreside activities, 18

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such as knot-tying or a handy-billy tug o’ war. We’d swap positions at lunchtime. It got LAMI through the season, kept us from losing bookings, but the shore component was tough. Everyone preferred to be on the boat.

May brought what in these parts is nicknamed “Voyage Season.” LAMI’s typical late-spring to early-fall schedule runs six days a week: Monday through Friday is voyaging, with around 30 kids per boat, and Saturdays are day sails. In reality, Voyage Season 2005 was a bit easier because we only had one vessel to manage. We needed half the usual complement of crew, and had half the provisioning to do.

Despite the lighter load, it felt strange to send Exy out on her own. There was something off and slightly lonely about seeing just one Johnson on the hook at Catalina’s Isthmus. We wanted Irving back.

August brought the Tall Ships Challenge to our shores. Eager to show the sail training community we could sail our boats, we were presented with an unbelievable opportunity. Exy was slated for an Elderhostel trip that coincided with the Challenge’s arrival. We would join the fun — in Oxnard, of all places, the site of the grounding.

Steve, who’d mostly been driving a desk since his boat was taken from him, was in command for the trip. That meant one thing: we were going into Channel Islands Harbor, and we were going BIG. The day prior to our return was spent doing setting, taking in, resetting, and striking drills in the sweltering lee of Santa Cruz Island. Passengers, still game in their 60s and 70s, and fresh off a dock mere days earlier, were thrust into the world of halyards, LINDA GOLDEN clews, bunts, and sheets. Bewildered at first, they caught on well. Steve repeated and rotated till everyone had a bit of familiarity, then we sailed back to the mainland.

A boat full of tired, but elated voyagers spent the night on the hook, about a mile off Silver Strand Beach.

Our entrance to the festival the following morning was a well-planned, well-rehearsed, well-executed spectacle. We motored to within a half a mile of the harbor entrance — Irving’s almost-grave — then stood down the “D-sail,” and on a single command from chief mate Diane Morgan, set every sail on the vessel.

I’d never seen it done. Three jibs, four squares, three staysails, a scandalized main, and the main gaff topsail... all at once. It was electric; there wasn’t a face aboard not wearing a wide, excited grin.

Exy eased her way past the ‘scene of the crime,’ and into the channel in her full glory. It was effortless, almost aloof. If it is possible for a boat to strut, Exy did so in

spades. And it just kept getting better.

We exchanged fire with a shore battery, turned into the harbor... and struck everything. Swoosh. Down. Done.

Then we Med-moored beside Bill of Rights, furled, and sat there looking hot.

Take that, Silver Strand Beach.

Irving became a real boat and floated again in April 2006, returning to service on Memorial Day weekend. A crowd of the LAMI faithful lined the dock to cheer her home. She lay alongside, every sail in her BRYSON SYLIBOY arsenal set and hanging calmly in the warm, breeze-less air. Pendants splashed color aloft. Her hull gleamed blinding white. A few speeches were made.

For those who had spent over a year effecting her recovery, the afternoon was a bittersweet anti-climax. Irving had become more of a home than ever, our little fellowship, a family. We could see one another’s silent signatures in every leather, splice, seizing, and whipping.

We knew no one ever would understand what we shared: the months of labor in isolation, the frustration, the laughter, the camaraderie. We realized an extraordinary chapter in our lives — a bright, silver lining to an exceptionally black cloud — had reached its conclusion.

We gazed at the faces of those who hadn’t seen Irving since the grounding and knew we had to let them back in, to allow Irving to fulfill her mission, to let go. So what did we do?

We took her to sea, and sailed the snot out of her.

Some may wonder why I’m choosing to revisit a very dark time for LAMI. The truth is, the grounding has lingered in the public consciousness and perception of us.

Every time we go to a festival, someone inevitably asks, “Isn’t this the boat that was on the beach?” As recently as 2013, a perfect stranger in San Diego handed me glossy blown-up photo and a memory stick full of pictures of the boat on the beach. This composition is an effort to tell the story behind the headlines, to quash rumors, and to credit the staff, crew, and volunteers that worked tirelessly to keep a dream alive.

Accidents happen. What counts is how we react to them.

So what is the state of LAMI-nation, ten years removed from the events of March 2005? Life has continued; the program has gone on. There have been changes.

There has been growth. There have been setbacks. Like Continued on page 43

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South Street Seaport’s PIONEER is still going strong at 130

PHOTO: JONATHAN BOULWARE

PIONEER AND HER

VOLUNTEERS This offseason we had a chance to chat with Captain Richard Dorfman of Pioneer, one of a large contingent of Pioneer crew and volunteers who livened up the proceedings at the Tall Ships America conference in Philadelphia.

As Dorfman tells it, the volunteers are at the heart of the Pioneer program, making it possible for the 130-year-old vessel to continue as a successful sail-training platform at the same time that younger, purpose-built vessels have struggled.

Marlinspike: Tell us briefly about the schooner.

Richard Dorfman: She was built in 1885 in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania by the Pioneer Iron Works as an iron sloop to be used for carrying sand to the Chester Rolling Mills. Sand was needed for casting iron. She’d sail down to the mouth of the Delaware River and they’d beach her on a sand bar and fill her up with sand. When she was built she didn’t have an 20

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engine, so she was doing this strictly under sail.

Boats of that size would normally have been built out of wood. But being built in this iron shipbuilding center, they built her out of iron. She was the first iron sloop built in the country. You can see by looking at her hull shape, her wide beam and her shallow draft, that she was intended to be beached and the hull was built strong enough to take it. She wasn’t designed to cross oceans.

They built two sloops, of which only Pioneer survives.

Pioneer was later re-rigged as a schooner, for simplicity’s sake, and she carried various cargoes and changed hands numerous times into the 20th century, when she was fitted with her first engine. Over time, she was progressively downrigged to the point where she was no longer a sailing vessel at all, until finally she ended up as an oil lighter in Gloucester.

In 1966 a man named Russell Grinnell Jr., who owned a dock-building business in Gloucester, bought Pioneer for $1000. He rebuilt her as a schooner over a period of a couple of years, plated in steel over the old iron frames.

And he started using her to carry pilings to job sites.

She had a little 37horsepower engine, but she was mostly doing this under sail.

That’s one of things about Pioneer — she’s Volunteers and crew pose almost always earned her keep!

She’s never been a yacht. The reason she’s survived is that her shape makes her handy for a lot of different purposes.

She’s a hard-working vessel, a real survivor.

And she’s a great-looking boat. People often don’t realize she’s a metal boat until they get right up next to her.

She’s an amazing-looking boat, and very graceful — for a trailer truck!

Grinnell died in 1970 and left the schooner to the Seaport, and she’s been here ever since. She celebrated her centennial in 1985.

MS: Is she the oldest active vessel sailing in New York Harbor?

RD: Yes. And when Pioneer started carrying passengers in 1974, she was pretty much the only game in town. She brought the whole passenger-schooner business plan to

New York. It really wasn’t until the 1990s that anyone else started doing it. And lo and behold, although she was designed to carry sand, she’s the perfect size and shape to run school programs, and she’s a very comfortable boat for those evening trips on the harbor. Russell Grinnell never envisioned these things, but it’s worked out very well. She’s very well suited to the trade we have her engaged in.

MS: With its recent difficulties, South Street Seaport relies perhaps even more than other organizations on its volunteers. Can you talk about the role that your volunteers have played in keeping Pioneer sailing?

RD: Well, if you’re referring to Sandy, the impact that Sandy had on Pioneer was pretty minimal. The Museum itself, of course, suffered a great deal — the infrastructure of the Museum — and that has impacted fundraising, and the administration, and so on.

Our volunteers bring an amazing amount of energy to the Seaport.

They come to us from their day jobs with a great deal of enthusiasm. We’re the thing that they look forward to!

Pioneer is what they sit at their desk and daydream about.

They come down here, full of enthusiasm, and it makes such a difference PHOTO: NELSON CHIN for us. They’re under Pioneer’s transom excited about being here, and we’re just as glad to see them!

I tell the paid crew that the volunteers are going to be here long after the full-time people have moved on. They’re the ones who keep Pioneer going. They carry the institutional memory that makes it possible. Our volunteers are absolutely crucial to us. They’re at the very heart of our program.

Volunteers have always played a major role in how we man and crew Pioneer, and especially in how we handle maintenance. We always have at least one volunteer sailing with us for the evening and weekend sails; our crew schedule for those sails is predicated on that. We also rely on volunteers to flesh out the crew for our school programs.

We love to have the additional help.

When it comes to the maintenance, we couldn’t possibly do it without them. We’ve got people who’ve been here, involved in the operation and maintenance of the boat,

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Guests enjoy a well-provisioned private charter aboard PIONEER biologist, filmmaker — and from everywhere in the tri-state area: Long Island, New York City, New Jersey, Connecticut. Sometimes we have people who’ve moved away, but they still come back periodically, whenever they can. One of our relief mates lives in Boston, but she comes to town every once in a while and works the weekend.

MS: What’s the process by which people get trained and become part of the crew?

NELSON CHIN

since the late 1970s!

MS: Who are these volunteers? Where do they come from?

RD: From every possible occupation — nurse, steeplejack, lawyer, physical therapist, history professor, marine

BURNHAM BOATBUILDING

RD: When someone calls up and says ‘Hey, I want to do this, how do I do it?’ we invite them to come for a training sail.

We do training sails every Saturday morning from 8:0012:00 right through the season, from early April into October. We cover the basic skills that one needs to be an effective contributor. Line-handling — docklines, halyards, sheets — setting and striking sail, tacking and gybing,

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Volunteers are really the lifeblood of the Seaport Museum. In the days when these ships — particularly the larger ones — were in active service, they were manned and crewed all the time. Crews were at the maintenance of the ship underway, at anchor, and alongside the pier. Now that these ships are in an alternate service, the demands are very different. And so is the motive for participation. Whether it’s Pioneer, Lettie, or Wavertree, the reason people give of their time in support of the vessel is because they believe in it and they get something out of it. Asking any one of our volunteers what that is will get you a different answer, but I suspect you’d find themes that resonate.

Contributing to something larger, working as a team toward a common goal, community, trust (with your safety) of the people alongside you. These are the fundamental components of any sail-training experience and they’re alive and well in the South Street volunteer program. And though I’ll acknowledge a bias on this point, the volunteers of SSSM are among the finest people on the planet, and the best group of people I’ve ever had the privilege to work with.

— Captain Jonathan Boulware, President, SSSM dealing with passenger comfort. They are taught those basic skills. We do drills: fire drill, man overboard drill, abandon ship drill, anchoring drills.

And that’s not merely for the benefit of the new folks; at the same time we’re trying to advance the people who are at other stages in their training, we’re trying to help them improve their skills.

Once a new volunteer has done two of those training sails and passed a drug test, then they can start signing up to sail.

MS: Can you single out a couple of volunteers as examples of how your system works?

RD: Well, there’s Kirsten Johnsrud, although she’s not working here at the moment. She was a woman with a day job who happened to wander down here in 1995 or ‘96 and did the initial training and intake and worked her way through the process. After not too many NELSON CHIN years she got a job as full-time mate on the boat. When I came on the scene, she was the second mate. Later she went off and got her licensing and did a bunch of stuff on other vessels and then came back to us as a full-time and relief-crew person, and finally as a relief captain a few years ago.

Nelson Chin is another example. He was signed up for a photography workshop on another vessel, the Ventura.

But that vessel was unavailable for some reason, so they ended up re-booking their trip on Pioneer.

He saw what we have going on, and he thought it was

cool. He asked a few questions of the volunteers who were on board at the time, got interested enough to sign up and go through the process, and worked his way up to being a paid deckhand. He’s worked as mate on board, and got thoroughly involved in the Museum as well. He’s just taken by the place!

This place has a habit of doing that — taking people who just sort of stumble on it, and turning them into real staunch supporters and volunteers.

That’s what happened to me. I was a volunteer on Clearwater in 1996, something I’d been trying to do for decades, and I had finally got around to it. I met someone who was passing through one day, and then about year later when I happened to be down on the docks at South Street for some reason, I noticed that person working on the Lettie Howard, tied up across the pier from Kirsten Pioneer.

So I re-introduced myself and Johnsrud said, “This looks like a lot of fun, how do I get involved”? And he said, “Well, I can’t have you do anything on Lettie, but why don’t you go across to Pioneer? They’re always looking for volunteers.”

I called up the volunteer coordinator and made an appointment and started the process. First training sail, second training sail, drug test, started sailing. That was 1997. In 1999 I started working as deckhand, started help-

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The Columbus Foundation has built replicas of the two smaller ships from the first voyage of Christopher Columbus, the NINA and PINTA. PINTA is pictured here.

NINA was launched in Brazil in 1991 and is billed as the most accurate Columbus replica ever built. She sails from port to port as a museum ship. Her consort PINTA was also built in Brazil, in 2005. She features more modern accommodations below decks and is available for charter.

She’s 85’ on deck with a 23’ beam and draws 7’6”.

PINTA sets 3800 square feet of sail.

For more information on the Columbus Foundation vessels, visit thenina.com

OLIVER HAZARD PERRY

DAN CLEVELAND

The Oliver Hazard Perry is gearing up to run her first programs this summer. The ship is currently at the Hinckley dock in Portsmouth, RI, where a team of marine tradesmen and women are working through all conditions.

The rigging crew is bending on sails and crossing dressed yards, while the interior of the ship is having the soles and ceiling paneling completed.

The 2015 season will begin with dockside events at the Volvo Ocean Race at Newport Stopover in May. The summer will be filled with voyages in partnership with local universities (Salve Regina University and the Graduate School of Oceanography at University of Rhode Island) and local schools (Chariho High School, Rogers High School and Portsmouth High School) as well as one- and two-week summer camp programs for middle and high school students in July and August.

H April 19 has been set as the launch date for the San Diego Maritime Museum’s full-scale replica of San Salvador.

Construction of the modern representation of conquistador Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo’s galleon began at Spanish Landing Park near the San Diego airport 28

in February 2011. The $6.2 million vessel has been built almost entirely by a corps of nearly 400 volunteers.

During what remains of the construction phase, the shipyard will be open daily from 11-4. To view hundreds of photos of the construction (as well as other local vessels such as Bill of Rights and LAMI’s Swift of Ipswich) go to http://jgsoto.smugmug.com.

H Educational Tall Ship continues to make rapid progress

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SAN SALVADOR

JERRY SOTO

on their sail-training brigantine, Matthew Turner.

The vessel, when complete, will be operated by Call of the Sea, who has been running on-the-water programs since 1984. Matthew Turner will more than triple the organization’s reach from 5,000 to 17,000 kids each year.

Call of the Sea currently operates the 82’ steel staysail schooner Seaward, which berths 22. This summer they plan to conduct three- and five-day sail training voyages in and around San Francisco Bay, as well as public sails and private charters.

Matthew Turner is being constructed in Sausalito, CA, in Marina Plaza, just off the waterfront in a historic shipbuilding district. The shipyard and Visitor Center are open Monday-Friday, 9:00-5:00.

For a live feed from the boatshed, be sure to check out www.educationaltallship.org.

H As March began, the crew was ready to commence planking the traditionally-built reproduction of Maine’s First Ship, the pinnace Virginia.

Virginia, the first ship built in North America by English colonists, was constructed in 1607-1608 at the mouth of the Kennebec River. During her lifetime, Virginia crossed the Atlantic at least twice.

The 51-foot replica of Virginia will be built to USCG Subchapter T standards. When the pinnace is complete, middle school and high school students will participate in programs that teach operating and maintaining a traditionally-rigged sailing vessel.

For more info, visit www.mfship.org.

H An unusually cold and stormy New England winter has delayed the beginning of the Ernestina-Morrissey’s rebuild in Boothbay. As of mid-March, the schooner remained trapped at the State Pier in New Bedford.

When the ice finally breaks up, the tug Jaguar — which

COLUMBIA

VIRGINIA brought Mayflower II from Plymouth to Mystic back in December — will tow the 121-year-old Ernestina-Morrissey the 200 miles to the Boothbay Harbor Shipyard.

The $6 million contract is being financed by private donations, state funding, and the ongoing fundraising of the Schooner Ernestina-Morrissey Association (SEMA).

Harold Burnham of Essex, MA was hired in early March as the owner’s representative for the overhaul.

Burnham was extensively involved in the schooner’s 20082009 stay at Boothbay Harbor, after which he drafted a 60page project plan for the boat.

Unlike the decision to do the work out of state, which drew criticism from local politicians, the hiring of Burnham, a 2012 NEA National Heritage Fellow, was universally applauded.

H Columbia is coming!

The Gloucester Schooner Festival and the Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival got a big boost in early March when Eastern Shipbuilding confirmed that their new steel Columbia replica will attend the two events.

It was not clear at press time which other summer festivals the new schooner might attend.

A second Columbia replica is currently under construction at the yard in Panama City, Florida. b Got an update for us? E-mail us at marlinspike1812@gmail.com

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To be included in future editions of our calendar, e-mail your event information to marlinspike1812@gmail.com.

WEST & SOUTH Council of American Maritime Museums LAMaritimeMuseum.org April 13-14. Annual meeting at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum.

Maritime Museum of San Diego, San Diego, CA (619) 234-9153 * SDMaritime.org April 19. Launch of the San Salvador, the Museum’s full-scale replica of conquistador Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo’s galleon.

Los Angeles Maritime Museum, Los Angeles, CA (310) 548-7618 * LAMaritimeMuseum.org April 13 -14, 2015. Council of American Maritime Museums (CAMM) Annual Meeting. More information available at http://councilofamericanmaritimemuseums.org/annual-meeting/ Texas Seaport Museum/ELISSA, Galveston, TX (409) 763-1877 * TSM-Elissa.org Passage to Galveston: The Story of Elissa, is presented every day on the hour and half-hour, in the theater. This 17-minute, award-winning documentary beautifully tells the story of Elissa’s discovery, purchase and restoration.

The San Francisco Yacht Club, Belvedere, CA (415) 435-9133 June 13. The eighth annual Great San Francisco Schooner Race.

Participants are encouraged to arrive at the SFYC docks in Belvedere Cove on Thursday before the race and stay through the weekend. The race takes place in San Francisco Bay and includes marconi and gaff divisions.

GREAT LAKES BaySail – Appledore Tall Ships, Bay City, MI (989) 895-5193 * BaySailBayCity.org The half-day Science Under Sail program encourages students to engage in real-world problem-based learning. Available from May to mid June and from September to early October.

Inland Seas Education Assoc., Suttons Bay, MI (231) 271-3077 * www.schoolship.org ISEA's Schoolship program is a half-day science learning adventure aboard the schooners Inland Seas and Manitou. Students from 4th to 12th grade collect and analyze samples from the bay.

Spring programs run from early May–mid June and the Fall programs run from early September–early October.

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Erie Maritime Museum, Erie, PA (814) 452-2744 * FlagshipNiagara.org May 12-June 2. College History Program includes port calls at the major maritime museums and historical sites on Lake Erie.

June 10-July 3. Environmental Science Field School: a multidisciplinary program incorporating marine sciences, underwater archaeology, and square-rig seamanship. Itinerary includes PutIn-Bay, Alpena and Georgian Bay. July 7-21. Exploring the Great Lakes: A voyage-based program intended for HS students ages 16-19 and recent HS graduates.

Michigan Maritime Museum, South Haven, MI (269) 637-8078 * MichiganMaritimeMuseum.org This year’s Classic Wooden Boat Show will be held June 20-21.

Wisconsin Maritime Museum, Manitowoc, WI (866) 724-2356 * WisconsinMaritime.org May 15-17. 39th Annual Midwestern Model Ships & Boats Contest and Display. Modelers from throughout the US will fill the Riverview Room with exquisite models for the weekend.

EAST COAST Annapolis Maritime Museum, Annapolis, MD (410) 295-0104 * AMaritime.org The Museum's Summer Camp engages campers with the ecology of the Chesapeake Bay and the maritime history of Annapolis. At our waterfront location, campers will explore Back Creek and Annapolis through hands-on nature activities, exciting games, crafts and songs. One-week sessions start June 29.

Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, St. Michaels, MD (410) 745-2916 * CBMM.com June 19-21. Wooden classics, vintage race boats, and other antique and Chesapeake Bay-related boats are coming to the Museum for the 28th annual Antique & Classic Boat Festival.

Clearwater Festival, Croton-on-Hudson, NY (877) 435-9849 * ClearwaterFestival.org The 2015 Clearwater Festival will take place June 20-21 in Croton-on-Hudson. Inspired by Pete Seeger’s desire to clean up the river over forty years ago, this event initially helped raise the funds to build the Clearwater, now a world-renowned floating classroom and a symbol of effective grassroots action.

Conn. Maritime Heritage Festival, New London, CT CTMaritimeFest.com Sept. 9-12. This year we are recognizing the Coast Guard as it celebrates its 225th birthday. The new steel replica of the famous schooner COLUMBIA will be one of many vessels in attendance.

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Gloucester Schooner Festival, Gloucester, MA (978) 281-0470 * GloucesterSchoonerFestival.net Sept. 4-6, 2015. The new steel replica of the famous Gloucester schooner COLUMBIA will be one of many vessels in attendance.

Herreshoff Marine Museum, Bristol, RI (401) 253-5000 * Herreshoff.org The Museum offers youth and adult sailing classes for the summer and fall. All classes are taught on our Herreshoff 12 1/2s — 16 foot wooden sloops with jib, main & spinnaker — or our Sea Sprite 23 on Narragansett Bay. Historic Ships in Baltimore, Baltimore, MD (410) 539-1797 * HistoricShips.org June 11, 6:00-9:00 pm on board USS Constellation, Captain’s Jubilee: a seated four-course dinner with wine pairings in support of preserving and restoring our maritime heritage.

Independence Seaport Museum, Philadelphia, PA (215) 413-8630 * PhillySeaport.org Opening this spring: a new exhibit on the birth of the US Navy in Philadelphia, featuring a 102’ replica of the Diligence, a locally-built schooner which served in the Revenue Service and in the Navy during the Quasi-War with France.

Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Vergennes, VT (802) 475-2022 * LCMM.org The Museum’s inaugural Lake Adventure Camps offers experiential adventures for young explorers to discover our maritime heritage and environment.

Long Island Maritime Museum, West Sayville, NY (631) HISTORY * LIMaritime.org June 20-21. Annual Pirate Festival. Roving entertainment and live music!

Lowell’s Boat Shop, Amesbury, MA (978) 834-0050 * LowellsBoatShop.com May 17. Spring launch!

Maine Maritime Museum, Bath, ME (207) 443-1316 * MaineMaritimeMuseum.org Opening this summer: a significant redesign and renovation of “Lobstering & the Maine Coast” now in its own 6,200 square foot, two-story building, just steps from the Kennebec River.

The Mariner’s Museum, Newport News, VA (757) 596-2222 * MarinersMuseum.org Through April 26: B is for Buttersworth, F is for Forgery. Solve a Maritime Art Mystery!

Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT (860) 572-0711 * MysticSeaport.org June 26-28. The 24th Annual WoodenBoat Show. Last year’s show featured 11,000 attendees and eight boats were built over the weekend!

New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford, MA (508) 997-0046 * WhalingMuseum.org May 15-17. 27th Annual Scrimshaw Weekend. This gala event attracts antiques dealers, collectors, whaling history devotees, and interested bystanders from all over the country and abroad.

North Carolina Maritime Museum, Beaufort, NC (252) 728-7317 * NCMaritimeMuseums.com May 2 from 9:00 to 4:00. The Museum’s annual Wooden Boat Show features a variety of small wooden boats, historic vessels, nautical crafts, educational activities, boat models, traditional skills demonstrations and displays. Admission is free.

Peabody-Essex Museum, Salem, MA (978) 542-1609 * PEM.org More than two centuries of collecting have produced the finest and most comprehensive assemblage of art and objects relating to the sea in the country, including grand gold-framed oil paintings, drawings, ship models, marine decorative arts, tools, weapons, navigational instruments and ship and yacht plans.

Penobscot Marine Museum, Searsport, ME (207) 548-0334 * PenobscotMarineMuseum.org One of New England’s largest displays of classic small craft, with more than 50 boats on view in several buildings. Lobster boats, peapods, dories, cedar/canvas and birchbark canoes, Whitehalls, racing sloops and more, all with a Maine pedigree.

Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME (207) 775-6148 * PortlandMuseum.org Through April 26. The Coast & the Sea: Marine and Maritime Art in America. Organized by the New York Historical Society.

Strawbery Banke, Portsmouth, NH (603) 433-1100 * StrawberyBanke.org June 29 – July 3. History at Play: Growing up Colonial.

Campers aged 9-11 experience George Washington’s time, wear colonial clothing, use the tools and skills of the 1700s, and cook on the open hearth!

US Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, MD (410) 293-5275 * USNA.edu/Museum Highlights include Oliver Hazard Perry's famous "Don't Give Up the Ship" flag from the Battle of Lake Erie, a piece of USS Monitor, a video and light display illustrating the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the Rogers Ship Model Collection, the largest collection of 17th- and 18th-century models in North America.

USS Constitution Museum, Charlestown, MA (617) 426-1812 * USSConstitutionMuseum.org The ship is currently drydocked and closed to visitors, but the Museum remains open. In “All Hands On Deck” you can explore the harsh realities of life at sea and join USS Constitution just as the War of 1812 is declared. Discover the unique world afloat and the men and women that made history alongside Old Ironsides. b

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MAINE MARITIME MUSEUM Home of America’s Great Schooners Sign up today for the quarterly magazine devoted to traditional sailing vessels, sailors, and programs!

Single issues $6.95 * Annual subscription $25 Two-year subscription $40 — save $10!

Subscribe via PayPal to Marlinspike1812@gmail.com via credit card by calling (978) 561-3020 or mail your check to:

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MarlinspikeMagazine.com and be sure to check out our facebook page!

Only at Maine Maritime Museum can you: 䡵

See the full-size sculpture of Wyoming, largest wooden U.S. sailing ship

䡵

Tour the intact historic shipyard site where the great schooners were built

䡵

Go aboard and below deck on a Grand Banks fishing schooner

䡵

Inspect the remains of Snow Squall the last American clipper ship

䡵

New Blacksmith Shop exhibit opens this summer

Open year-round, 9:30 to 5 daily

 Washington Street • Bath, Maine • -- www.MaineMaritimeMuseum.org

A select list of sailing programs, summer camps, and passage opportunities open to the public.

Ocean Classroom Foundation, Portland, ME (207) 699-3368 * OceanClassroom.org Revamped organization plans to offer programming beginning this spring, and semester-long high school programs in Spring 2016.

WEST COAST Grays Harbor Historic Seaport, Aberdeen, WA (800) 200-5239 * HistoricalSeaport.org Two Weeks Before the Mast programs on Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain.

Los Angeles Maritime Institute, Los Angeles, CA (310) 883-6055 * LAMITopSail.org Sail-training for school and youth groups.

Oliver Hazard Perry, Newport, RI (401) 841-0080 * OHPRI.org Week-long summer teen camps; educational programming for students of all ages; sail-training cruises for adults and families.

Schooner A. J. Meerwald, Bivalve, NJ (856) 785-2060 * BayShoreCenter.org Day and overnight Maritime Camp programs for children 13-17.

Schooner Adventuress, Port Townsend, WA (360) 379-0438 * SoundExp.com Overnight programs for teens, adults, seniors, and families.

Schooner Zodiac, Bellingham, WA (206) 719-7622 * SchoonerZodiac.com Windjammer cruises in the San Juan Islands, April-October.

Schooners North, Friday Harbor, WA (360) 378-2224 * SanJuanSailCharter.com Cruises from the San Juans to Alaska on the schooner Spike Africa.

GREAT LAKES Appledore Tall Ships, Bay City, MI (989) 895-5193 * BaySailBayCity.org Day-sails, charters, educational programs, and overnight sail-training opportunities.

Brigantine St. Lawrence II, Kingston, ON (613) 544-5175 * Brigantine.ca Sail-training programs on the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario.

Traverse Tall Ship Co., Traverse Bay, MI (231) 941-2000 * TallShipSailing.com Education, day-sails, charters, and multi-day windjammer cruises.

US Brig Niagara, Erie, PA (814) 452-2744 ext. 214 * FlagshipNiagara.org Live-aboard sail training and Boot Camp weekend programs.

EAST COAST Barque Picton Castle, Lunenburg, NS (902) 634-9984 * Picton-Castle.com Ongoing world voyage, divided into passages, open to all.

Schooner Alliance, Yorktown, VA (757) 639-1233 * SailYorktown.com Public sails and private charters in Yorktown during the summer; Windjammer-style Caribbean cruises during winter months.

Schooner Ardelle, Gloucester, MA (978) 281-0470 * SchoonerArdelle.com Public sails, private charters, and educational programs in conjunction with the Maritime Heritage Center.

Schooner Fame, Salem, MA (978) 729-7600 * SchoonerFame.com Public sails, private charters, and educational programs. Week-long Schooner Day Camp sessions for ages 8-14.

Schooner Mystic Whaler, Mystic, CT (800) 697-8420 * MysticWhalerCruises.com Single-day education programs for youth, overnight cruises for adults.

Schooner Pride of Baltimore II, Baltimore, MD (410) 539-1151 * Pride2.org Passages ranging from two to 46 nights.

World Ocean School, Boston, MA (340) 626-7877 * WorldOceanSchool.org Education programs on board the schooner Roseway.

Schooner Sultana, Chesterton, MD (410) 778-5954 * SultanaProjects.org Weeklong “Chesapeake Adventures” programs for ages 11-14.

Schooner Wendameen, Portland, ME (207) 766-2500 * PortlandSchooner.com Overnight trips for up to 14 passengers on Casco Bay.

Liberty Fleet of Tall Ships, Boston, MA (617) 742-0333 * LibertyFleet.com Windjammer-style Caribbean cruises during winter months.

Maine Windjammer Association, Midcoast Maine (800) 807-WIND * SailMaineCoast.com Eight vessels offering windjammer cruises on the Maine coast from mid-May through early October.

SEA Semester, Woods Hole, MA (508) 540-3954* Sea.edu Accredited semester-at-sea programs for college students.

Sea/mester, Sarasota, FL (941) 924-2900 * Seamester.com Semester-at-sea and gap-year programs for college students. b

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b

b

CLEARWATER sails the Hud

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dson River on a gorgeous October day

Mark your calendars for mid-June, when the Spirit of Bermuda and the century-year old Tabor Boy gam up in New Bedford for a celebration of maritime traditions and sail training. The gathering will take place during the week prior to the start of the 2015 Marion to Bermuda Cruising Yacht Race.

Both vessels will be docked at State Pier in New Bedford beginning Monday, June 15 through Thursday, June 18. During their stay, students from local schools, community boating programs, and yacht club junior sailors will be invited to visit both vessels to tour and hear about their programs.

The 20th annual Marion to Bermuda Race starts in Buzzards Bay on Friday, June 19.

The Spirit of Bermuda will compete in the race with young people on board getting their first taste of offshore voyaging and racing. The Maine-built three-master is owned and operated by the Bermuda Sloop Foundation, whose mandate is to offer a five-day voyage for all middle school students in Bermuda. Following their initiation on board the Spirit of Bermuda, select youth are invited to participate in summer follow-up voyages and youth development races like the Marion to Bermuda. During the week at New Bedford, visitors to the schooner will have an opportunity to meet these young Bermudians.

At 100 years old, the schooner Tabor Boy has been focused on sail training for youth for decades through Tabor Academy in Marion, MA. Today, Tabor Boy is a Coast Guard-inspected and certified Sailing School Vessel that has sailed between Maine and the Caribbean Sea, including a 1993 voyage through the Panama Canal.

H Half Moon, a full-scale replica of the Dutch ship of exploration that Henry Hudson sailed in 1609, will be leaving her home of 25 years this spring and traveling to a new base in the Netherlands.

The original Half Moon was among the first European ships to explore the Delaware and Hudson Rivers. The replica was built in Albany, NY as a traveling museum that conducts education programs about the unique history of the Dutch settlements in North America.

She has sailed as far as Lake Michigan and North Carolina, although most of her time has been spent on the Hudson River and nearby coastal waters, from the Delaware to the Connecticut.

Several months ago, the New Netherlands Museum announced that the lack of a home port for the Half Moon made it difficult to achieve its educational mission, and that it had accepted an offer from the Westfries Museum in the city of Hoorn to host the vessel.

Current plans call for Half Moon to leave Verplanck, NY in March and head down river to New York City. She will then travel to Boston to participate in a feature film. Mike Abegg will skipper the ship.

Half Moon will rendezvous with a transatlantic transport vessel in Rhode Island, which will transport it to the Netherlands by the end of April.

A statement from the New Netherlands Museum denied that the primary reason for the change was financial.

“Our museum needs a home port in which to achieve our educational mission ... The City of Hoorn offers our museum an authentic 17th-century home port in which to develop worldwide interest in the voyages of the Half Moon. Research suggests that Half Moon was an active participant in the commodity trade for several years, with MarlinspikeMagazine.com

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Hoorn as a likely home port for the original Halve Maen. As such, our museum ship is not … ‘going to Hoorn’ but ‘returning to Hoorn.’

“Our museum is not donating the ship to the city of Hoorn, but loaning the Half Moon to the award-winning Westfries Museum where it will be available to a new and worldwide public.”

Half Moon is expected to arrive at Hoorn in late May, with the American ambassador in attendance. This summer, she will participate in ceremonies marking the 400th anniversary of the Dutch expedition to Cape Horn and in tall ship festivities in Amsterdam.

H The Spirit of South Carolina — rescued from circling Yankee sharks by local businessmen Michael Bennett and Tommy Baker — has a new partner and a new lease on life.

She’s expected to be re-certified this May and to be running programs shortly thereafter.

Coast Guard Sector Charleston performed a preliminary inspection in February. A follow-up inspection must still be passed, as well as underway drills with the working crew, Coast Guard Lt. Cameron Cooper told the Charleston Post and Gazette. But “the vessel itself is on track to get a Certificate of Inspection.”

The schooner, which languished for several years until being sold at auction last summer, is now working with the Lowcountry Maritime Society.

“We’re going to do what we intended to do from the beginning. It’s going to be a school ship,” volunteer leader Reg Brown told the newspaper.

The schooner will also reportedly offer adult team-

building programs, although the emphasis will be on education.

The Spirit of South Carolina hosted 9,500 students between 2007 and 2010, but rarely strayed far from home after she was nearly struck by lightning off Block Island and a subsequent inspection showed significant borer damage to her planking.

The damage was repaired, but bank debt incurred by the work and during construction could not be serviced during the recession. The schooner was laid up, offered for sale, and finally ended up on the auction block last June.

The Spirit of South Carolina is modeled after the Frances Elizabeth, a vessel built in Charleston in 1879 that served pilots in the city’s harbor for 25 years. She is 90 feet on deck and has berths for 30 crew and passengers.

H According to The Day newspaper, the troubled schooner Amistad will not sail actively this season.

Instead, Amistad will be docked at the Custom House Pier in New London, CT, where she will be on hand for maritime festivals and participate in educational programs.

The schooner and her four-person crew, led by Captain Christopher Flansburg, have spent the winter at Mystic Seaport “addressing a host of necessary and labor-intensive projects, such as servicing the rigging and sails, resealing deck seams and repairing toilets, the generator and main engine bilge.”

However, Amistad ’s contract with the Seaport expires in April. Although Amistad enjoys free dockage at her home port of New Haven, her slip at Long Wharf Pier has silted in, and the schooner sits in the mud at low tide.

Last issue we reported that Ivan’s Stress-Free Bar in White Bay on Jost Van Dyke was in the process of being rebuilt and expanded. We’re happy to report that the work is complete — bigger and better than ever, with a rooftop deck and tire swing (left). Sadly, the Shell Man has been relegated to the back lot, and the shell-studded decor has not yet been fully re-installed. Meanwhile, on the other side of the bay, a new bar named Gertrude’s (right) has opened to take some of the overflow from the famous Soggy Dollar, which still packs them in. — MR 36

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“Fortunately … the City of New London has offered dockage at the Custom House Pier in its harbor, in exchange for the ship’s presence at key maritime festivals during the upcoming ‘Connecticut Coast Guard Summer’ celebrating the 225th anniversary of the United States Coast Guard,” court-appointed receiver Katherine Sacks wrote in a report to the Superior Court.

Sacks said the schooner is not sailing this season because she does not have the funding to hire a full crew and has capital needs that may be difficult to meet this year.

New London has agreed to provide free dockage from late April to November and “has further offered to consider hosting the S/V Amistad for a longer duration, if necessary and desirable,” according to Sacks.

There are eight festivals in New London and Groton, including Sailfest, that Amistad is expected to attend. The first festival is the In Water Boat Show on June 20-21.

The memorandum of understanding between the City and Sacks states that Sacks hopes Amistad will be transferred out of receivership to a new nonprofit entity sometime after June. An advisory committee has been established to help Sacks come up with models for a successor organization to the defunct Amistad America. The group met for the first time on February 18.

The Superior Court must authorize any transfer of Amistad to a new operator.

H The Picton Castle Bosun School will be held once again in Lunenburg this summer, from August 12 to September 23.

Captain Daniel Moreland, master of the world voyaging Picton Castle for the past 20 years and six global circumnavigations, set up the first Bosun School back in 2007. Its purpose is to pass on traditional seamanship skills in all manner of boat and ship’s work to aspiring professional mariners, in a more concentrated manner than is readily possible at sea, where the requirements of the ship and watch standing necessarily compete with the learning objective.

Applications are accepted from people of any age or nationality who demonstrate a serious interest in building a career at sea. Some relevant prior experience is necessary — time in sailing ships, motor vessels, boat building or related fields, but the main criteria is simply a strong desire to get good at traditional bosun skills.

Students will send topmasts of a square rigged sailing ship up and down, send down and cross yards, and bend and send down square sail. They will learn the use of tackles, including overhauling blocks. Hand marlinspike seamanship skills are taught: ropework, rope splicing and seizings, wire splicing, worming, parcelling and serving. Students get the opportunity to learn caulking in heavy plank and light plank and learn skills in boat building and rebuilding at the Lunenburg Dory Shop.

Cost is $3,000 USD, which includes room, board, instruction and course materials. A discounted rate is available for Picton Castle trainee sailors.

Danger! Here comes Jessica Smith of the St. Thomas-based charter yacht Sandcastle with a tray of her Lime-n-Coconut blender drinks. The taste is light, reminscent of key-lime pie, but they pack a punch!

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Lime-n-Coconut

8 oz dark rum, 4 oz creme de coco, 4 oz frozen limeade, and a whole lot of ice!

Blended, serves 4.

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For more info, visit: picton-castle.com/bosun-school H Mayflower II, the full-scale reproduction of the ship which carried the Pilgrims to Massachusetts in 1620, continues to undergo a long-term restoration at Mystic Seaport.

The multi-year phased restoration is intended to restore the ship to her original state when she first arrived at Plymouth in 1957 prior to 2020 — the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ arrival.

Mayflower II will be available for Seaport visitors to view in the shipyard. She is expected to return to Plymouth in late May. H Last summer, the schooner Virginia cut short her summer sailing programs and returned to Hampton Roads to be laid up. Her Board of Directors announced that “revenue

from current operations and other sources has proven inadequate to support her current operating model... Accordingly, the sale of the vessel appears the most prudent decision.”

The vessel, however, has not been offered for public sale and no updates have been issued since that July announcement.

Executive Director Will King of the Virginia Maritime Heritage Foundation says that despite some back-channel activity, the schooner’s situation has not changed, and that listing the schooner for sale “is still an option.”

A small group of dedicated volunteers are caring for the schooner while she lies idle, pumping the bilges and shoveling snow. King said that they will move on to varnishing as soon as the weather allows. b Do you have news for Boats, Bars & Beaches? Send it to us at marlinspike1812@gmail.com

for Schooner HIGHLANDER SEA Two-masted schooner, formerly a yacht and a sail-training vessel. 1924, oak on oak. Located Gloucester, MA. Asking $2,000,000.

Schooner VICTORY CHIMES Three-masted schooner in the Maine Windjammer trade. 1900, oak on oak. Located Camden, ME. COI for 50.

Asking $1,200,000.

Schooner HERITAGE Two-masted schooner in the Maine Windjammer trade. 1983, oak on oak. Located Rockland, ME. COI for 30 overnight. Asking $995,000.

PROVIDENCE

Sloop PROVIDENCE Replica of Revolutionary War sloop, travels to tall-ship events and appears in films. 1976, fiberglass. Located Newport, RI. 59 GRT. COI for 40 daysails. Asked $780,000 before blowing off her jackstands in a storm earlier this winter.

Schooner AMERICAN EAGLE Bald-headed schooner in the Maine Windjammer trade. 1930, oak on oak. Located Rockland, ME. COI for 56 daysails, 28 overnight. Asking $750,000.

Schooner UNICORN Topsail schooner, currently a sail-training ship. 1947, steel. Located Lunenburg, NS. COI 12 daysails, 6 overnight.

Asking $495,000.

Schooner PIRATES LADY Bald-headed two-masted schooner running sunset sails and Boy Scout trips. 1984, steel. Located Marathon, FL. 40 GRT. COI for 28 daysails. Asking $249,999.

Schooner VIRGINIA Two-masted schooner built for sail training. Laminated white oak frames with wana planking. 98 GRT. Located Norfolk, VA. No price available.

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Sandy Cay lies just to the southeast of Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands. As its name implies, Sandy Cay is home to some powdery white sand and not much else. There are no structures on the 14-acre island, which was donated by Laurance Rockefeller to the BVI National Parks Trust back in 2008.

The island can be challenging to land on when the surf is up, and you wouldn’t want to approach it from windward. But landing on the leeward side is easy in settled weather, and several moorings have been installed.

The 200 yards of beach are picture perfect, and command a sweeping view from Jost Van Dyke across to Pillsbury Sound and over to Tortola. Inland, a wellpacked trail runs the breadth of the island through the vegetation.

Sadly, even here in the heart of paradise, trash can be found packed into the roots of the vegetation. Our guess was that it comes from the drinking and dining mecca of Cane Garden Bay, on Tortola, which lies just a mile or two directly upwind. — MR Post a photo of your favorite beach to our facebook page, or e-mail us at marlinspike1812@gmail.com

The Friends of Windjammer Days in Boothbay Harbor, Maine would like to thank the following schooners for helping make a spectacular 2014 event:

Alert, American Eagle, Bowdoin, Eastwind, Heritage, Lazy Jack and Sherman Zwicker

The dates for 2015 are June 21-27, with the windjammers arriving for a clambake on Cabbage Island on Tuesday the 23rd and the Parade of Sail into Boothbay Harbor on the 24th. Interested in joining us for 2015? Visit our website:

www.windjammerdays.org or email windjammerdays@gmail.com MarlinspikeMagazine.com

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PIONEER Continued from page 23

IRVING JOHNSON Continued from page 19

ing out on the Wavertree restoration, ended up getting my license, and started working as a relief captain on Pioneer in 2006.

All the while, I had been the full-time director of volunteers and had coordinated the volunteer program for Wavertree. Plus I had a full-time job during all that time!

most organizations, LAMI would love it if you had a spare million you’d like to donate, but we still operate two amazing, fun-to-sail brigantines, and we’re managing to give underserved youth an incomparable forum in which to discover that they are capable of greatness.

Probably 95% of the faces have changed. The crew that saved the day in Oxnard, those who saw us through the repair and the difficult, hectic months of 2005... they’ve moved on to other endeavors. We’re still in touch. We visit, go to one another’s weddings, and ooh and ahh over baby pictures. Many of us still sail. I wish I had room to mention all their names. I hope they realized they are remembered with great love and appreciation.

The captains, too, have gone. Mike McLaughlin retired last year. Steve Peckham left LAMI in June 2007.

He and his wife Carol drive Crowley tugs that serve the Port of Los Angeles. We often wave in passing in the harbor, and grab the occasional meal.

José continued his stewardship of the brigantines’ rigs until this December, when he and his wife moved to Maine.

His loss is an indescribable one for LAMI, but an incredible gain for USS Constitution, his new employer.

José and Steve are two of the best mentors I’ve ever had. They taught me lessons through sail training and marlinspike seamanship that I didn’t even understand I needed to learn. Those lessons — confidence, self-reliance, selfworth, solid work ethic, taking satisfaction in a job well done to name but a few — serve me in everything I do.

They’ve served me in every boat I’ve crewed, and in every endeavor I undertake, including my current occupation as LAMI’s volunteer coordinator and director of crew training.

MS: What are the paid positions on the schooner?

RD: Relief captain, relief mate, and relief deckhand.

When those three are running the boat, there’s a need for a fourth person who would be a volunteer deckhand.

MS: And how many active volunteers are there?

RD: Really active? Let’s say 30.

We’ve had good turnouts all winter.

Saturdays are our big day. Right now [early March] we’re refurbishing blocks, varnishing various pieces we’ve carried off the boat — hatch covers, pinrails, deckbox covLINDA BEAL ers. There’s no cover on board, so all that Nelson Chin has been carried inside. Our spars are on Peking right now, but soon we’ll carry them down to the pier and start working on them.

MS: When will the sailing season start?

RD: We’ll start education programs in the middle of April. We’re still solidifying our public sail and charter schedule, but Memorial Day weekend we’ll start kicking into high gear, and we’ll go right through October.

MS: Will you have any involvement with this summer’s Tall Ships Challenge?

RD: No. We’re hopefully going to do another trip in early May to Port Jefferson; they have a festival there that we participated in last year and had a really good time.

We’ll be going to Haverstraw, which is up the Hudson, in September. We do school programs for the town every year. It’s a nice chance to get out of the city, see some greenery, and talk to some new people. Those trips are real boosters for volunteer morale. We love those trips. b

What lesson can we take from the Irving Johnson grounding? I believe it’s simple: there is no “just.” We’re just going into LA Harbor. We’re just on a day sail...

Ninety nine times out of a hundred, it is just a day sail... but that hundredth time is ever-looming, and we must prepare for it always.

LAMI was fortunate that day in Oxnard. Our crew was well-trained, competent, and decisive. They were nearly in a safe harbor when the unthinkable shattered their afternoon. They met the challenge with good habits and got everyone off the vessel safely.

It’s easy to become complacent. We’re all guilty of it.

If you keep the basics consistent and strive for quality work, when the day stops being ordinary, you and your shipmates are more likely to live through it.

And finally, what was the greatest blessing of the grounding? Beyond the rigging knowledge and personal growth, beyond the lessons in smart sailing practices... are the wonderful friendships. The bonds forged in 2005 endure; they are lasting and true. Those relationships — the sort that are remarkably common in our line of work — are the greatest blessing there is. b

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CAPTAIN / RELIEF CAPTAIN CAPTAIN Sloop Clearwater From early April through mid-November, the Clearwater sails from New York Harbor to Rensselaer with a crew providing environmental education programs to school children, young people, and adults. The start date for the position is any time from March 2015 through the end of the sailing season.

Please see the full job description at: http://www.clearwater.org/about/job-opportunities/ CAPTAIN Lady Washington, Hawaiian Chieftain www.historicalseaport.org Requires a 100-ton Near Coastal Masters license with a sail or auxiliary sail endorsement. Experience on traditional vessels preferred. Monthly stipend, health insurance after 90 days, room and board.

To apply, e-mail a cover letter, resume, and contact information for three references to: Roxie Underwood, runderwood@historicalseaport.org NIGHT CAPTAIN Schooner Summer Wind www.americansailingtours.com Requires an OUPV license. The Night Captain is responsible for two night sails each day. We pay $60 per trip for the Night Captain position plus tips.

Each member of the crew must belong to our random drug testing program. We cover all drug testing fees.

To apply, e-mail a cover letter, resume, and contact information for three references to: Captain Tom Kirwan, tom@americansailingtours.com RELIEF CAPTAIN Gundalow Piscataqua Requires a 100-ton Inland Master’s license with sail endorsement, along with captain experience. Local knowledge and experience with educational programming under sail is preferred. The relief captain is expected to sail one to two days a week, although flexibility is a plus.

Please apply by mail or email with cover letter and resumé. Seasonal.

Apply by mail or email to Capt. Matt Glenn (603) 433-9505 captain@gundalow.org

MATE / BOSUN / ENGINEER ENGINEER Lady Washington, Hawaiian Chieftain www.historicalseaport.org Requires knowledge of diesel engines, generators, electrical, hydraulic, and shipboard systems required. Engineers license is not required. Monthly stipend, health insurance after 90 days, room and board.

To apply, e-mail a cover letter, resume, and contact information for three references to: Roxie Underwood, runderwood@historicalseaport.org MATE Lady Washington / Hawaiian Chieftain www.historicalseaport.org Requires a 100-ton near coastal Masters with a sail or auxiliary sail endorsement. Experience on traditional vessels preferred. Monthly stipend, health insurance after 90 days, room and board.

To apply, e-mail a cover letter, resume, and contact information for three references to: Roxie Underwood, runderwood@historicalseaport.org MATE Schooner Brilliant Begins in October 2015. Brilliant travels New England waters carrying adult

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guests during the spring and fall and teenagers during her summer youth sail training programs. A USCG license, first aid training, and shipboard skills such as painting and cooking are helpful, but not necessary. This position is a full-time, year-round role broken into six months of maintenance and six months of sailing. Full benefits including paid vacation are available.

To apply: submit a Mystic Seaport application (mysticseaport.org), resume, and cover letter to human.resources@mysticseaport.org OR to Mystic Seaport PO Box 6000 Mystic, CT 06355 Attn: Human Resources. An EOE. THIRD MATE / ENGINEER Schooner Lettie Howard This position will begin in April 2015. Minimum qualifications include the ability to stand a navigational watch, and coordinate trainees sail handling maneuvers, vessel maintenance, and education programs. Knowledge of diesel engines, plumbing and electrical systems are required. Watch leading experience a plus. A sincere desire to work with youth is a must. Applicants need one or more years of supervisory experience on traditional-rigged sailing vessels.

Reply to Colin Graham at cgraham@seany.org FIRST MATE / SECOND MATE / ENGINEER / BOSUN / COOK Sloop Clearwater Clearwater is currently accepting applications for all deck positions for the Fall 2015 season (July 15-Nov 30). You will be working with a crew of 10-18 delivering Clearwater’s education program to 4th-12th graders as well as occasional programs for adults. Applicants with prior educational/sailing experience are preferred. Applicants should have strong communication skills, an active interest in education and an ability to work/live in a close knit community. Crew members work a five-day-on, two-day-off schedule.

All crew are required to pass a pre-employment drug test and background check. Compensation includes room and board.

Please see the full job description at: http://www.clearwater.org/about/job-opportunities/ FIRST MATE / SECOND MATE / ENGINEER / COOK SSV Oliver Hazard Perry All applicants will meet STCW requirements for their particular license or document, valid TWIC card & US Passport. Pay is commensurate with experience. Crew are not permitted to consume alcohol during programs or smoke aboard the vessel at any times, and must be willing to undergo a criminal background check and drug-testing.

Apply by email cover letter and resume to: info@ohpri.org or Crew Hiring, OHPRI, Inc., 29 Touro Street, Newport, RI 02840 FIRST MATE / COOK / ED & MARKETING INTERNS Schooner Inland Seas Inland Seas Education Association (ISEA) is hiring for 2015.

To apply for any of these positions, or to find out more, please email us at isea@schoolship.org.

BOSUN / EDUCATOR, STEWARD Lady Washington, Hawaiian Chieftain www.historicalseaport.org Knowledge of traditional and modern vessel maintenance required. Ability to track multiple projects, organize and train work crews is essential. We offer a monthly stipend, health insurance after 90 days, room and board.

To apply, e-mail a cover letter, resume, and contact information for three references to: Roxie Underwood, runderwood@historicalseaport.org EDUCATOR / DECKHAND Schooner AJ Meerwald Bayshorecenter.org Present education stations on board and onshore in addition to participating in shipboard maintenance and vessel operations. The position requires environmental education experience, a degree in natural resources or equivalent experience, strong environmental ethic, plenty of stamina, flexibil-

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ity, and a positive attitude. Boat experience is a plus. Positions for a two- to three-month period with positions starting in April, June and August.

Contact: jbriggs@bayshorecenter.org

DECKHAND EDUCATOR / DECKHAND / COOK / ED. COORD. Schooner Roseway Tall ship sailing experience and STCW preferred but crew members will be fully trained once aboard. Must be willing to undergo a USCG drug test as well as a criminal background check if requested. Room and board provided on the ship.

Visit www.worldoceanschool.org for applications and information.

ABLE SEAMAN U.S. Brig Niagara Currently accepting applicants for the 2015 sailing season. Successful applicants will possess AB-Sail or higher Merchant Mariner’s Credentials and significant prior experience on traditional rigged sailing vessels. Compensation above industry standard.

Apply by resume and cover letter to Captain William Sabatini: captain@flagshipniagara.org DECKHAND / INTERN / ORDINARY SEAMAN / ASST COOK U.S. Brig Niagara Successful applicants will possess entry-level or higher Merchant Mariner’s Credentials and prior experience on traditional rigged sailing vessels.

Compensation above industry standard. Asst. Cook responsible for general food prep and for periodically preparing meals on the Cook’s days off.

Compensation above industry standard.

Apply by resume and cover letter to Captain William Sabatini: captain@flagshipniagara.org DECKHAND Schooner Aquidneck Experience aboard traditionally-rigged vessels is preferred, but not required. Experience in the day sail industry is a plus. Friendly, positive attitudes and the ability to make casual conversation with guests is essential.

Good pay, excellent tips and a fun work environment. These are not liveaboard positions. We prefer deckhands who can commit to our entire season from early May-early November. To apply, please complete our online application available in the Employment section of sightsailing.com.

DECKHAND Schooner Pioneer Operations include school programs, charters and public day sails in New York Harbor, as well possible travel to ports in Long Island Sound and on the Hudson River. The position begins in early March and ends in late October. The Deckhand is responsible for assisting with the day-to-day operation and maintenance of the schooner, supporting Pioneer’s educational mission and acting as volunteer coordinator. Ability to work with volunteers is critical as Pioneer relies heavily on volunteer participation for her operation and maintenance. Experience on tall ships is strongly desired.

Deckhands work a 5-day week. All crew are required to pass a pre-employment drug test. This is not a live-aboard position.

Apply by email to Captain Richard Dorfman email: rdorfman@seany.org DECKHAND / INTERN Brigantines Exy Johnson, Irving Johnson www.LAMITopsail.org Positions available April-October 2015. Some square rig experience preferred. Must be a team player, have good people skills, and relate to kids as well. First Aid/CPR certification a plus.

Please e-mail resume with cover letter and references to: bigben@lamitopsail.org

COOK COOK Schooner American Eagle Cooking on two- to eleven-day trips from Rockland, Maine, May into October. Applicants need not have restaurant experience but should be comfortable cooking on a wood stove for groups of 20 to 30, meal planning and shopping, sailing experience. Salaried on cruises, hourly pay before and

after the season, laundry included. No food budget; should have driver’s license and references. info@schooneramericaneagle.com COOK Schooner Isaac H. Evans Live-aboard position. April and May preparing the boat for the season, and June through early October sailing. The cook is responsible for all galley operations from menu planning to purchasing, stowing, preparation and presentation. The cook also has on-deck responsibilities. All meals are prepared on a wood-burning stove with no electrical food processing devices.

Room and board included with weekly salary and tips.

Call (877) 238-1325 for more information or provide cover letter, resume, and photo via email: evans@midcoast.com.

COOK Schooner Zodiac Mid-April through October. Trips range from dinner sails to a 12-day voyage. Room and board provided. Pay is per diem and varies by experience.

The cook must be able to prepare a range of food as the trips range from school groups to upscale wine and seafood tours.

Visit schoonerzodiac.com for applications and more info or call (206) 7197622. E-mail resumes and applications to: bob@schoonerzodiac.com.

COOK Lady Washington, Hawaiian Chieftain www.historicalseaport.org Knowledge of vessel maintenance required. Ability to track multiple projects, organize and train work crews is essential.

To apply, e-mail a cover letter, resume, and contact information for three references to: Roxie Underwood, runderwood@historicalseaport.org COOK Schooner Lettie Howard Position will begin in April 2015. Duties include preparing three meals a day for five crew and up to 13 students for overnight programs, provisioning, menu planning, and working in traditional galley with propane stove and refrigerated ice box.

Reply to Colin Graham at cgraham@seany.org GALLEY COORDINATOR Schooner AJ Meerwald Bayshorecenter.org Responsible for three vegetarian meals daily for 8-12 crew as well as occasional special events and/or light catering for up to 41 passengers. The cook will purchase provisions, manage a galley budget, and oversee galley upkeep.

Position runs March 30 thru late Oct/early Nov 2015.

Contact: jbriggs@bayshorecenter.org

OTHER POSITIONS EDUCATION PROGRAM DIRECTOR Maritime Gloucester The Education Director will inspire students and visitors to value marine science, maritime heritage and environmental stewardship through handson education and experiences. The Education Director will have a B.S. in a related field. Advanced degree a plus. Minimum 10 years experience in informal marine science/maritime education with at least 5 years in a leadership/management position including responsibility for financial management.

This is a full-time, exempt position. Please submit cover letter, salary requirements and resumes to info@maritimegloucester.org. Include “Director of Education” in the Subject line.

VESSEL MAINTENANCE PRO Historic Gloucester Marine Railways, a full service boatyard in America’s oldest fishing port, seeks vessel maintenance professional with experience around various materials (metals, wood, fiberglass), and expertise in at least one material. Leadership qualities important, hoisting license and/or welding skills a plus. Our customer base is broadly commercial and facility maintenance is included in the work. Attention to environmental issues imperative.

To apply, email resume to railways@verizon.net b Got a job opportunity you’d like us to include in our next issue? E-mail us at marlinspike1812@gmail.com

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I got this tattoo at Rabid Hands Tattoos up here in Ballard, WA, a northern burb of Seattle. The artist was Jerad Sheely and taken from a picture I gave him. I am a big fan of the old-style black and grey tattoos. I have been on the Lady Washington as deckhand and a short stint as purser since last June, off and on. Was on steady since November until the middle of February. The artist has saved the artwork for anybody interested! I have added several others, but this one is my favorite.

— Pierre Rose

This is my schooner, the Fame of Salem. It was important to me that the schooner be accurately depicted, so after looking around a bit I started searching for an artist who does realistic work from photos. Luke Palan is a traveling artist who was at the Boston Tattoo Company in Somerville this winter and he was definitely the right guy for this job. Luke worked from a photo I had taken back in 2004. Luke’s on facebook and instagram and at lukepalantattoo.com.

— Mike Rutstein

I grew up at the South Jersey shore across from a bayfront restaurant that had a fleet of commercial trawlers and party fishing boats. The owner, Capt. Chris Montagna, taught me to knot and splice at the age of 10. He also gifted me my first marlinspike. It was a plain spike that got lost overboard during a particularly rough day hauling in mackerel and yellowtail flounder. I was heartbroken over losing that spike.

I spent a few years on offshore racing yachts. Attended a couple of Annapolis Race Weeks. I then settled into a career as a firefighter. We also performed water rescue, and my marlinspike skills became an asset to our fire department. I purchased a Curry fixed-blade knife and marlinspike set. That set was on me throughout my entire 25+ years on the department. I taught several of my brother firefighters how to knot and splice, and it was during those years that I taught myself how to make monkey fists, turks heads, senates, lanyards, and mats.

On retirement I gifted my Curry set to one of my brothers, and bought myself a new set from Myerchin (pictured) and one of their titanium folders which became my work knife — I now work in the HVAC business. Just recently I ordered the Generation 2 Captain’s folder with G10 handle (also pictured), to be my everyday carry knife.

I still spend as much time as I can on and around boats, and I’m still making rope art for a variety of customers. — Anthony M. Migliaccio 46

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JEN BUTTERY

Momentum

Somebody said once that sailors, on land, only ever really find the farming life tolerable.

I don't know how many of us actually succeed at growing things and living the wholesome country life, but I do know how many of us end up sticking with what we know.

A few months at the shipyard, or boat-sitting, or helping out on some new giant rebuild project, and another season is underway.

That's because there is a momentum to working on tall ships that makes us want to stick with it. The clear hierarchy gives goals, the paradoxical freedom gives dreams, as well as the true desire to get there — to be that person you look up to, if you can. And that momentum carries us into funny

positions on land, sometimes: being a 31-year-old, minuteof-stature lady with a 200-ton captain's license working as a well-paid but grimy laborer at a shipyard in Maine, for example. Actually, a season around the uniquely gruff, foulmouthed, pony-tailed, and warm-hearted Tony, for those who know him, would do us all some good, even if it turns out that you can actually sprain your back lifting heavy boattype stuff. Just don't tell him that, please. I can just imagine the well-deserved, Boston-accented, “How the *&%# did you do THAT, girl?! Geez!”

Maybe it was a lack of creativity which brought me up to Maine for the winter. The desire to be on land for the sea-

son, to feel the snow and biting air again, like those winters back in Russia years ago. But, since I'm a tall ship sailor and sentimental to the last, I guess, there was a need not to leave it all behind completely — to be in a place that might just seem familiar, with wandering-type people and those a little happier on the edge. It seemed almost like my duty to give Maine a chance, after spending a decade sailing about in a noncommittal fashion. Sparse population, old-timey music, harsh climate, high unemployment? Sounds perfect!

And so, following the counter-current to the edge of New England, I found that the simple things in life could still surprise me. Even while Pico pup and I hunkered down under the drifts and firewood with all the Mainers, the

It seemed almost like my duty to give Maine a chance, after spending a decade sailing about in a noncommittal fashion.

Sparse population, old-timey music, harsh climate, high unemployment? Sounds perfect!

blessings we had missed while we were off sailing came back to us quickly. Saying, “OK, see you next week,” at the end of a music session, finding the friend of a new friend has sailed with your good friend, and that other good friend too, wow!

Learning the joys of home brew (and the importance of timing batches for optimum continuity of supply), attempting things like sauerkraut (too sauer maybe? Not sauer enough?) and real friendships, multiple dates, bigger projects, investments, oh boy. Suddenly, a different momentum is taking place.

A momentum which makes me smile — because even as I make a new kind of worklist, the kind with things like “new roof” and “convince porcupine to move out of basement” on it, I can still see some of the boats I might hopefully work on over the hillside. But I keep my old list out, as well: what to do to prepare my own little boat for her voyage north in the spring.

The days get warmer and longer now, and soon it'll be time to bring her home, too. b An interview with Jen Buttery about her solo crossing of the Atlantic on the 32-foot ketch Paikea appeared in Marlinspike #1.

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