OPERATION SAIL 2000 OFFICIAL PORT CITIES, PART IV
OpSail & the Renaissance of Norfolk n the mo rni ngof2August 1975 the C ity of Norfolk was changed fo rever when a tall and stately lady came to call. It was not a typical August day in Vi rginia. T he temperature was mi ld, a gentle breeze bl ew out of the southwest and a slight mist hu ng over the waters of the mouth of C hesapeake Bay. Word had go ne out about the romantic lady who was coming by sea, and hun dreds had gathered to greet her. Sai ling yach ts, skip jacks, dead rises, power boats, and small craft milled about in the sub tle mist that con nected the sky to the horizon. Expectancy was palpable. It was 7:00AM. T he sun was struggling to penetrate the mist. An d then a tiny, whi te speck appeared on the horizon. As if the news had been broadcast, all the greeting boats ceased milling and pointed their bows into the east. T he whi te speck began to ass ume a for m, and all atte ntion was focused on it. She was the Christian Radich from No rway, fl yi ng all canvas, with smart, proud cadets lining the gu nwales. The boats gath-
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by Tim Jones ered around her, and the saluting battery of Fort Monroe blas ted 2 1 guns as she sailed down the Elizabeth River to down town Norfolk-where sh e had nowhere to dock on city-ow ned p roperty. T hus, she docked at NOAA (Nati onal Oceanic and AtmosphericAdmin istration) around the corner fro m the southern downtown waterfront. T hi rtee n thousand people crossed her gangway in one-and-a-half days, and the renaissa nce of Norfo lk was about to begin . It was also the begin ning of a lasting relationship with OpSail. Two years befo re, Frank Braynard, a fo under ofOpSail, had invited No rfolk to be an "ourpo rt" of OpSail '76. W ith out hesitation the answer was yes. But there was nowhere on the downtown No rfo lk waterfront to dock a shi p. T he C ity's Bicentennial Commiss ion had dismissed the co ncept of tall ships as "p ie- in- the-sky." As a member of the marketin g department of the C ity of Norfolk, it became my miss ion to make No rfo lk a major playe r in the Bicentenn ial tall ship extravaganza. T his was fac ilitated by the ass istance of a re-
The history ofthe Port ofNorfolk has been punctuated by a series of rapid advances and sudden declines, both states often resulting from war. Established in 1682 to serve as a governmental and commercial center for the widely dispersed tobacco plantations in the Hampton Roads area, Norfolk was a trading center, particularly for West Indies traffic, exporting turpentine, cheese, corn, lumber and other products. In a city devastated by destruction in the Revolutionary War and occupation in the Civil War, N orfolk's inhabitants rebuilt quickly after both conflicts and regained the city 's place as a world trading and shipbuilding center. The Hampton Roads area has always been closely tied to the US Navy because of its strategic location and local shipyards that took advantage of regional building supplies, including the Navy Yard in Portsmouth. Norfolk's modern role as the home of the world's largest
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spected communi ty leader and member of the State Bice ntenni al Co mmiss io n. He said: "We'll get the State involved ." An d so we did. The Governor hosted a lu ncheo n on USS Kennedy for mayo rs and representatives of all cities in the H ampton Roads area, and OpSail Virginia became reality. W e in Norfolk were working with a ratinfes ted riprap waterfront-wareh ouses and marine comm erce having long since va nished . T he land between the street and water's edge was covered with gravel, serving as a parking lot and beco ming a muddy field when it rained. Our premier berth was fo ur feet deep wh en we started dredging. We took it down to 22 feet, bringing arti fac ts, includin g Revo lm ionary War cannon, up from the muck. Immediately it began to sil t back in. W e we ren't sure that th e bulkhead and adjoining pavement wo uldn 't collapse. In planning a system of berths, we needed a collective name and an individual name for each berth. So, since on 1 January 1776- 200 years earli er- British Lord Dunmore shelled No rfo lk to the ground,
Navy base began when, soon after the US entered World War l the Federal Government p urchased 474 acres of landfor the base. D uring both world wars the city's p opulation, shipbuilding and p ort activity all increased dramatically, and the presence of the Navy helped the region get through the D epression. However, even as tourism increased and inland businesses grew, the industrial waterfront was gradually abandoned. In the 1970s, due in part to the visit of sail training ships in 1976, the city recognized the value ofits maritime heritage and began to rebuild the waterfront as it also restored historic buildings and downtown shopping districts. Today, the US Navy continues to be a powerfulpresence in the area (below, left), butp eople once again come down to the waterfront to look out to sea (below, at Watrside Park) and welcome the vessels-modern and historic-that fill the harbor with activity (oppositepage). (Photos courtesy OpSail N orfolk 2 000)
SEA HISTORY 86, AUTUMN 1998