Carrying the Age of Sail Forward in the Barqu by Captain Daniel D. Moreland oday the modern sailing school ship is typically an auxiliary-powered sailing ship operated by a charitable organization whose mission is devoted to an academic or therapeutic program under sail, either at sea or on coasrwise passages. Her program uses the structure and environmem of the sailing ship to organize and lend themes to that structure and educational agenda. The goal, of course, is a focused educational forum, and not necessarily one of strictly maritime education. Experiential education, leadersh ip training, personal growth, high school or college credit, yo uth-at-risk, adj udi cated youth, science and oceanography as well as professional maritime development are often the focus of school ships. These ships are typ icall y fine vessels producing often impressive results. In comrast to the modern sailing school ship, the sail training ship of yore was quite different. Originally these ships were owned and operated by commercial shipping compan ies to train their appremi ces, who hoped to become steam-ship officers. These ships were devoted to the infusion of practical maritime arts and leadership, discipline, and organizational skills as required of the accomplished professional seafarer in the course of ocean voyaging. It wasn't so much that seamen were "trained to sail" but that they we re "trained in sai l," o r "under sail ," as the phrase might have it. Toward the end of the age of sail, several steamship companies established their own cargo-carryi ng sailing ships for the purpose of training their future officers. The four-masted barque Port Jackson comes to mind, but there sailed quite a few others. These sailing ships were commonly typical cargo ships of the period with the addition of extra quarters for their apprentices. Proudly maintained, these vessels served as showp ieces for their steam ship compan ies. Cargo was king, however, so they had to pay their own way-often just barely. U ntil the mid- 1950s, a few European seafaring nations still required their merchant officer candidates acquire a portion of their sea-time under large-tonnage sail. In time, especially during the socializatio n of education in the 1920s and 30s, many gove rnments took over the ro le of education, particularly maritime.
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For example, in 1931 Denmark built the full-rigger Danmark as a merchant marine school ship whi ch sti ll sa ils in that role today. During this time, many other maritime nations comm issio ned school ships for naval training as well, this time without cargo and usually with significant academic and often ambassado rial roles, including most of the great classic sailing ships we see at rail ship events today. These sailing ships became boot camps and colleges at sea. Those "trained in sail" were valued as problem solvers and, perhaps more sign ifican tly, problem preventers. They learned the wind and sea in a way not avail able to the denizens of covered and heated pilot houses with a voice tube to the engine-room to call for increased or reduced RPMs depending on the weather. Sailing ship crew, from the captain to the cabin boy, we re the engineers (and stokers, wipers and plumbers) of the sa iling ship. Th e rig and the sails were their engine, and they had to keep it go ing with canvas, rwine, wood, wire, bits of steel and iron, plus their wits, determination, and know-how. They had to plan and think way ahead. These sailing-ship
Captain Arthur Kimberley making Picton Castle's first suit ofsails. Kimberley sailed as a young man on the ship Abraham Rydberg, a cargo-carrying sailing ship. Later, as owner and Captain of the brigantine Romance for 23 years, Kimberley and his wife Gloria made two circumnavigations and numerous voyages to the South Pacific in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s with paying apprentices-Dan Moreland was Mate on Romance's first circumnavigation.
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seafarers not only had to make do with what they had at hand, but they had to succeed. The alternative was unthinkable. These characteristics are desirable in any position of leadership. These traits in a leader or team member save time, money, property and, most of all , lives. Not on ly were professional sailors trained in this manner. Many yo ung m en (and some women) ran off to sea in commercial sail , never intending to make a life of it. They sailed fo r many reasons, but we might lump the motivations under adventure. Their lives were richer for their experiences at sea. If they wrote of their adventures, as did Richard Henry D ana, H erman Melville, Alan Villiers, and even a yo ung Irving Johnson, then our lives ashore were made richer as well. As the age of sail wound down and berths on sailing ships dwindled, opportunities to sail cropped up in new capacities. A number of ships and enterprises developed to rake yo ung people to sea under canvas. The full-rigger Joseph Conrad, barquentine Cap Pilar, and schooner Wanderbird all made deep-sea passages with yo un g apprentices in the 1920s and 30s. Most famo us of all was the schooner Yankee under the visionary and enormously capable Captai n Irving Johnson and his wife Exy. After WWII the Johnsons
SEA I-I IS TORY I09, WINTER 2004-2005