OPERATION SAIL 2000 OFFICIAL PORT CITIES, PART V
Baltinlore: A Renaissance City by John Barnard with William Macintosh
T
al l ships, historic and beautiful Chesapeake Bay, the Bay Bridge, th e Francis Scott Key Bridge, Fort McHen ry, Fells Point and Baltimore's famous Inner H arbor- these are the vistas as one enters Baltimore by land or sea. Baltimore, 12 mi les up the broad Patapsco River, opening on Chesapeake Bay, is just north of the state capital of Annapolis. The nation's capita!, Washington DC, is a mere 40 minutes away by automobile, enhancing the ambassadorial and diplomatic importance of tall ship visits, especially those of a nation's sail training ships. Many of the tall ships are making a return trip to familiar waters, eager to reexperience the camaraderie, the excitement, the on-going renaissance th at is Baltimore.
A Rich History The colony of Maryland was founded by
E nglish settlers in 1634. In 1729, a town named Baltimore was established on the Patapsco Ri ve r as a to bacco shipping port. The city was named after the Irish baro ny of Bal ti mo re, seat of the Calvert family, who established the colony. Rapid and sustained commercial growth fo ll owed throughout the 1700s and 1800s, as the ac tivity of the port steadily built the city and, in turn , the colony. Baltimore shipbuilding grew, too, with fas t, rakish schoo ners and topsail schooners being built in the city and counti es . Popularl y know n as "Baltimore clippers," these ships carried valuabl e cargos, both legal and illegal, all ove r the world. During the W ar of 18 12, they exchanged cargo for cannons and went forth as privateers to raid British merchant shipping. T hey so hindered the enemy that the British moved to attack Bal tim ore in
Baltimore's fam ous I nner H arbor is full of history, with vibrant museums, the renowned N ational Aquarium at Baltimore, grand hotels, waterside restaurants, a large and growing number of unique entertainment attractions, and, of special importance, highly ac-
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18 14, but Fort McHen ry held firm , as did so me 15, 000 defenders entrenched north and east o f the city. Inspired by th e successfu l defe nse, an obse rver named Francis Scott Key composed a poem ti tled "T he Star Span gled Bann er. " Afte r the wa r, the city's growth in size and wealth co ntinued , slowed only tempora rily by the C ivil War. Maryland was occu pied by Federal troo ps soon afte r the outbreal< of the co nfli ct, and so it didn 't secede from the U nio n, despite strong leanin gs to d o so . Baltim ore, a city with largely Sou th ern sym pathies, was occupied by U nion troops early in the war and, along with Annapolis, was under martial law fo r the duration of the wa r. W h en peace cam e, Bal ti more prospered . Comme rce and banking we re the city's specialty, but ind ustry expa nded in th e late
claimed docking facilities that permit ships to dock downtown, right next to the financial and entertainment districts. In 1996, visitors crowded the harbor's piers to admire Argentina's beautifulfu ll rigger Libertad .
SEA HISTORY 88, SPRING 1999