through the royals from dawn until after nightfall, often striking royals and sometimes topgallants before midnight. The sun peeked through the clouds for the first time in ten days yesterday, so spirits are lifting. It is great to be far out at sea, cruising at a good clip with a following breeze. So far, I have seen this huge sailing ship dip her bowsprit and take some serious rolls while charging through the seas at nearly fifteen knots under sail power alone, and that is a sight to remember.
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n 7 May 2011, the USCG Cutter
Eagle(WIX-327), a 75-year-old three-
masted barque, pulled away from her pier in New London, Connecticut, and set a course for Ireland, more than 3,000 miles away. To get there, Eagle is powered by three sources, each as vital as the next: a 1,000-horsepower diesel engine, 23 sails carried on three masts, and a whole lot of muscle. This was the start of the US Coast Guard Academy's annual summer training cruise, where the entire rising sophomore class (or third class cadets) will spend six weeks onboard, half the class at a time, for a cruise that includes a transAdantic crossing and shorter passages between European ports and Iceland before heading home. I joined them for the first leg across the Atlantic to get a first-hand look at the training and experience they get aboard Eagle, and to get a chance to go back to sea myself after a long stint ashore. In addition to the 122 third class cadets, Eagle put to sea with twenty-two first class cadets, Eagle's regular crew of fifty-six (both enlisted and officers assigned for two- or three-year
The bowsprit takes a plunge in a heavy sea. feet of sails, Eagle needs a big crew to set and
billets), nineteen TAD (temporary additional duty) officers-three of whom are CG reservists, and four guests for a total of 223 souls aboard. The third class cadets would sign off en masse in London and be replaced by the other half of their class, who would sail the ship back to the United States. Eagle is celebrating her 75th anniversary this year. To commemorate her years of service, the Coast Guard and her crew sailed her back to the German shipyard where she was built (see story on Eagle's history in Sea History 135, Summer 2011). In addition, from Waterford, the ship would also visit London and Reykjavik, Iceland, before heading back to the US via the Canadian Mari times. If many hands make light work, then sai ling in Eagle should be a cakewalk, but with six miles of rigging and 22,300 square
strike square sails in all weather. 1hat's an ideal set-up for a training ship, where there are more than enough people onboard to accomplish the basic tasks, and then some. The Eagle is the only square-rigged sailing vessel in US government service that regularly puts to sea for the trainingoffuture military officers. Using traditional sail for this purpose isn't new to the Coast Guard. The initial CG Academy (then the US Revenue Cutter Service) was en ti rely aboard ship on the topsail schooner Dobbin, which began her career as a training ship in 1876. The leadership recognized that the Revenue Cutter Service demanded skills specific to its mission, distinct from the Merchant Marine and the Navy. Today, the types of vessels have evolved, as has the role of the Coast Guard, but the reality of specialized
Eagle needs plenty ofhands to sail her, and during cadets cruises manpower is never an issue.
SEA HISTORY 136, AUTUMN 2011
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