One Week Behind the Mast or Boutons and the Sea Pt. 1

"You were in the Navy? What ship?" I served in the U.S. Navy, largely a maritime service, for five and a half years and had never been to sea which over the years has become a source of slight personal embarassment. After talking with Erin, we both decided it was time to remedy the situation by spending a week aboard a dual-masted schooner out of Boston to finally get this lubber some sea legs. The above pic shows the Westward which is a fine ship and brought us safely out to sea and back under the fine command of Captain Flansberg. (I hope I'm spelling his name correctly!)

Here is our captain, holding the chart, guiding us out into the harbor where we moored for the first evening. The captain was amazing, and we thoroughly enjoyed talking to him and hearing about his endlessly fascinating sea, and land, stories throughout the week. It was obvious the crew loved serving under him by how happily they went about their duties. The captain also had a great sense of humor and quite a nice singing voice as he entertained us with some sea chantys on our last evening aboard. To the right of him is 1st Mate Paolino who was equally wonderful and we learned quite a bit about the sailing life from hearing about his personal experiences.

According to the film "Captains Courageous", passengers are a "Jonah" (bad luck) aboard a proper sailing vessel so we were quickly to put to work as deckhands. Even as green as we were just coming aboard, all the teachers were giving a duty section and stood watches at the lookout, helm (me at the wheel above), running messages fore and aft, and doing boat checks at regular intervals. Depending on whether we were in port or at sea, the watches were on a 24-hour rotation and that included mid-watches. Standing at the helm was a lot of fun because you had to keep the ship on course by the compass in front of you and was challenging at times in strong winds. The downside was that nobody can speak to you while you are at the wheel and it's kind of lonely.

A cold sea and hot summer temperatures in New England creates a good thick fog. This ship coming out of the mist gave us a good scare, but it was anchored and no threat to us at all. Still, Mr. Pao sat up on the bowsprit sounding his conch shell (our foghorn was out) to warn any other vessels hiding out there.

After a fogbound trip through the Cape Cod Canal, we finally hit port in New Bedford, Mass to visit this former whaling town and to see the Whaling Museum. The above pic is of the Seamen's Bethel where sailiors go to pray for a safe voyage. It's also the chapel that Herman Melville prayed in before he went on his five-year whaling voyage in prepration for writing "Moby Dick." You can see the pew he sat in when you head inside.

This bow-shaped pulpit is inside the Seamen's Bethel and was built by popular demand after the Gregory Peck film version of "Moby Dick" had many tourists asking where it was. Melville included mention of the pulpit in his novel; however, it was his own invention and is a recent addition to the chapel.

This whale skeleton hangs from the ceiling of the New Bedford Whaling Museum. While the displays inside are wonderful and do great justice to the practice and history of whaling, we were quite sad after considering how many of these wonderful creatures were killed in the process.

(Above Picture) This is scrimshaw, or carved whale bones, that sailors used to make on long whaling voyages to pass the time. Some of them are quite beautiful but then you are reminded of the cost of this artwork in lost whales.

This is a shot of our big night out together in New Bedford at Freestone's. From left and clockwise: Dave, Eric, Kevin, Dr. Glenn, Liz, Patty, Lisa, Chris, Chip, and Erin. You really could not find a more fantastic group of people to be out to sea with for a week. We hope to keep in touch with everyone.

Our captain and the crew came out to the same restaurant to have dinner so we surprised them with a round of "Apple Jack" (apple juice) and Teddy Grahams off the salty sailor menu (kid's menu.) Life at sea is dangerous and little bear-shaped graham crackers and jungle-themed mug might mean the difference between life and death out there.

What do sailors do when they hit shore? Drink and get tattoos. Liz, one of our program coordinators, had the brilliant idea to bring pirate-themed stick-on tatoos and they were a huge hit with the crew. Pictured with me is Dave who turned out to be a fellow Floridian and a librarian at my old rival school, Berkeley Prep. Dave is a hoot, and Erin absolutely loved having him as a watchmate. We'll be catching up with Dave in September when we come home for Erin's high school reunion.