Why do we go windjamming?
To provide a bit of adventure and a lot of fun.
To preserve perishable skills
To pass along what little we have learned of what our sailing predecessors forgot
To share the art and fabric of working sail in our small but beautiful corner of the oceans |
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Between snow plowing and shoveling, the first five weeks of the new year have sped by. The crew and I finished up the firewood before snowstorm #4, eight cord of stovewood for pies in 2012 and 2013.
The big chunks that defied splitting went home for the fireplace.
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A record number of you have signed up for sailing with us in warmer weather. Keep up the good work! | | |
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Cruise News
This is a bit of a shaggy dog story, so bear with me. My friend of 25 years, Capt. Dan Morland, is on his fifth around-the-world cruise in the barque Picton Castle. Here's a picture of her I took from the American Eagle in July 2009.
Well, last winter I ran across this print in a Rockland antique shop. The Cornwallis was in the Australian trade from England, and in the return leg of her voyage in 1875, the captain decided to visit remote Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific.
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The Cornwallis hove to in order to let off the pilot. |
His apprentices rowed him ashore while he left the Cornwallis in the hands of the mate. A sudden change of weather drove her ashore, a total loss, leaving Pitcairn with 28 unscheduled guests. As luck would have it, an American vessel stopped at Pitcairn a day later and took the shipwrecked company to New York.
Today if you visit Pitcairn Island, you can dive on the wreck of the Cornwallis. Pitcairn, the retreat of the HMS Bounty mutineers, is a tiny island with a current population of 55, visited by supply boat only a few times a year.
Anyway, back to the story: once I'd figured out what had happened to the Cornwallis, I contacted Dan Morland asking if he planned to visit Pitcairn on his next cruise. When he said yes, I asked him if he would drop something off for me. So, the print of the Cornwallis should have reached Pitcairn Island by now.
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| Crews News
Most of last year's crew are planning to be aboard this season -- me, too! Gerard is already here at the shipyard finishing up winter painting and is signed up for a captain's course next month. All the small boats, deckboxes, and skylights are ready for summer. Rachael and Nola plan on getting the galley stove going again in May and sailing all season. Johnnie Spencer who was on quite a bit in 2009 will be here in April for the year.
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Nola, Rachael, and the old man |
And thank goodness Shary and her dog Guinness are here in the office keeping things running smoothly. 13 years for Shary, 6 for Guinness.
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Ralph's Food Shot | |
Focaccia, green salad, and baked salmon under the mango chutney
photo courtesy of Ralph Smith
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| Bowsprit
The tree felled in December came back from the mill as a very nice square timber 15 inches square, 39 feet long, weighing about 2300 pounds.
Now it's in the tugboat building, tapered and ready to be 8-sided, rounded, sanded and varnished a lot.
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Postcards
Capt. Morland sent this very familiar postcard from Bali. The American Eagle gets around, if only by mail.
And this card came just before Christmas from Nepal, which is where Kelly (2008 & 2010 crew) is on a Habitat for Humanity project with our friend Joan.
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As for me and exotic far away places, I'm going to ...
NEW YORK CITY.
I'll be helping staff the Maine Tourism booth at the New York Times Travel Show on Saturday, February 26th. Stop by if you're in town and enter the drawing for a free schooner cruise of your choice.
Captain John Foss, Schooner American Eagle |
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