Yokohama Fenders Corraled, but not tamed.

 I've you've been following this thread over the past few posts, you know how Volunteers have been puzzling over, experimenting at, and making several attempts at restoring the three huge rubber Yokohama fenders to their purpose, protecting the wooden  schooner from slamming against the vertical pilings of the fixed face dock where she's been docked since  before 2014.  

The Yokohama's became a problem a little over a year ago, when high winds, and pressure, snapped in two places the telephone pole on which the three fenders were "strung', and arranged across the pilings.  Subsequent attempts to restring with combinations of rope and chain have partially failed, leaving the large fender-barrels stuck uselessly under the docks or trying to float free of the docks with each outgoing tide.  

The problem is complex because these floating barrels, no longer restricted by a linear "pole" axis, must be controlled individually.  Their restraining lines must be slack enough to allow the fenders to stay in position at low tide.  At high tide, those taunt lines slacken by 3-4 feet, sufficient for the barrel to float with the tide or wind, more than five feet off position, exposing the piling or worse. Any breeze on the 180 degree spectrum north-east-south will push the hull against the dock, preventing any manual pushing, dragging, pulling the fenders back into proper position. Lastly, the situation is exacerbated by the lack of full-time crew to resolve the whole thing. Instead, volunteers,  available only on a Saturday morning, rarely with more than 4 mustering at a time, are stymied by the other conditions not cooperating. 

This last two weeks were most critical, because one Yokahoma had come totally loose from any tether, being held under the dock only by the schooner's hull and and easterly breeze. Subsequently, the washers rusted out. They were installed to fasten a chain's link to the telephone pole section, in turn stuffed into one end of a Yokohama fender.  Subsequently, poles as well as fenders were loosely bouncing around under the dock, awaiting only for a westerly breeze to blow the hull off the dock, freeing the mess to drift merrily out into the harbor. 

So, two Saturday mornings of a few volunteers, armed with handy-billy tackles, boat poles, and loose ropes salvaged from the rope locker, were able to restrict that Yokohama fender and pole mess from getting out into the harbor.  Tuesday, Bryan brought out a reel of electrician Fish tape, pulled a messenger line thru the free-floating Yokohama, then bridled it to the dock. Another rope, looped over the end of  the of the telephone pole/snag, and cleated to the dock further locked any thing from floating free. 

With  favorable tide, weather, winds, and  five volunteer hands, to launch the small boat to ease the hull off the dock, others can push the Yokohama's back onto their poles, pull the chain thru the Yokohama's with the messenger line, and restring the whole bunch into a working arrangement.  Today, Saturday, none of those conditions came together, so we'll stay tuned to the next chance.

Stay tuned. 

All Glory is Fleeting

  I was so proud.  The six of us volunteers who, last Saturday the 16th, using some creativity, three handy-billy's. various lengths of rope, took advantage of a westerly breeze and slack tide to align the three yokohama's up against their pilings on the dock face, rather than hiding behind them. We all understood however, that the arrangement was iffy. We had no way for restraining parts of the collection; one yokohoma and an unconstrained telephone pole segment, from floating free at the next high tide and westerly breeze.   

Sometime between then and last Friday, those conditions came to pass, probably several times-enough to allow our carefully positioned arrangement to float free and resume their useless positions under the dock.

Such was the situation I found when I came aboard this last Saturday morning in a pretty good driving rain.  In a further complication. The unusually high king tide, raised the schooner's caprail a good 10 inches higher than the dock benches, stretching the capability of our gangway falls to hold the gangway off the cap rail.  With the later arrival on board of Volunteer Hugh Sheldon, the two of us hauled another four feet of boat falls out of the already stretched configuration, to lift the gangway free of the deteriorating sword matte, that had long ago lost its protective capability.  We three additional lines over the free floating telephone pole to arrest its floating away tendency. 

So, until our schooner can leave the dock and motor off to her 10-year Shipyard appointment, we are consigned to hoping for another favorable combination of wind, tide, and volunteer availability to try again.  

And so, we watch the weather. and check our emails, or texts, for an alert to come down for help down at the Maritime Center to wrangle these d)*&^~! yokohama's back into position, for good. And I think I"ve found the answer.. electrician's Fish Tape.

Yeah Baby! Volunteers Tackle the Yokohoma Mess and Bring Order and Harmony to Dockside

I guess, that to understand why this is a big deal you have to have been on deck over  the past year, since that incident in heavy weather where the telephone pole snapped.  The Pole  normally strings three Yokohama fenders- huge hard rubber cylinders-, separated by several car tires. The whole arrangement wasintended to float in front of our face dock's vertical pilings, protecting the schooner's hull from pounding against the vertical pilings. Well,  in an unexpectedly powerful squall, which saw 75 knot winds pass thru, , the yokohama's all slipped out of place. The telephone pole bent around a piling and snapped, separating the whole system into two independent, useless floating hazards.   Since that time several attempts, some temporarily successful, have been made to reposition  Yokohama's against the pilings. always thwarted by the slack and tensions called by rising and falling tides.  

While Tony and David unlay strands
 to begin their long splice, Bryan, Lance and Maxwell
 discuss the difference between sailor and roping palms.

Our latest attempt, this previous Saturday, was no more successful. We needed a morning with Westerly breezes and low current/slack tide. And those conditions weren't present.  So today, Volunteers mustered at the usual time, a total of six of us, Walter Barton, Tony Marchesani, David Ried, Lance Halderson, and Maxwell Dale, along with his friend, Ashley, and me, Bryan. We started by reinflating the small boat in anticipation of Nick Swarts showing up to do some coxwain work.

 Next, Tony, and David gathered tools and began laying out the starboard boat falls, to turn in a long splice where a fathom of line had unlaid and frayed. Maxwell, and Ashley teamed up with Bryan to empty out then hose down and wipe the yeti cooler. Ashley produced a bowl of ice from the freezer to cool the just filled orange water jug. Between the two of them they should be each due for a 50 Volunteer Hour pin.

Walter, Tony, and Lance work
the aft Yokohama up to the gap
between the hull in the piling, as Bryan,
 out of picture, takes turns
 off the port side Quarter bit,
 to ease the stern further off the dock. 

It was less than an hour into our projects when Bryan looked out over the dock lines and noticed that the schooner was riding at least seven feet away from the dock. All the Yokohama fenders were floating out, away from the dock wall. Bryan immediately mustered all idle hands with boat hooks, fathoms of rope, and handy billy tackles, to the starboard rail, and over the next three hours,  orchestrated a series of attempts to pull, poke, twist, pry, and push the errant Yokohama's and their floating telephone poles partly connecting them into a more stable configuration of resting against their three pilings, as originally designed.  The final phase including easing the stern quarter line, allowing the stern to float outward four feet, enabling the aft-most Yokohama to float into it's desired position.  With Handy-billy's and boat hooks, the stern was pulled back into it's position next to the dock.                                                                                                                              

          

  Just in time to get below for quick final sign-off's of their reenlistment paperwork  and disembarking as a looming dark squall line crossed the harbor from the east. 

All Yokohamas' nicely centered on their pilings, for now. 

 

US Navy Sailor Volunteers Link their future to a Maritime Heritage

 Here's the picture: Four United States Navy Sailors,, more specifically, Petty Officers ETN 2d Class Lance Halderman, Maxwell Dale, Alexander Molaison, and Nolan Clunan, all (Nuclear)Electronics Technicians, have day jobs, as Instructors at the Naval Weapons School up the Cooper River.  But on their own free time, they are deckhands aboard a wooden traditionally rigged 19th Century replica Pilot Schooner.

I get it,, I"m a retired US Army soldier, and I still like to mess around in History, Military and otherwise, and period fire arms, black powder muzzleloaders. These guys like to mess around in ships their great-grandfathers would've crewed. Actually me too, but never mind. 

Boatswain Bryan Oliver (LTC USA, Ret)
administers the reenlistment oath to 
US Navy Petty Officers Alexander Molaison,
 Maxwell Dale, Lance Halderman,
 and Nolan Clunan

These four took it to a new level when they requested permission to conduct their first Reenlistment Ceremony on the deck of SSV Spirit of South Carolina, and offered me the honor of administering their Reenlistment Oath. 

Any servicemember of the Armed Forces can choose, within reason and professional protocol, the location /scenario of their ceremony wherein they are promising anew, four or six years of Service to the Nation. They may also request who will administer their oath, as long as it is a Commissioned Officer of the United States Armed Forces, Active duty or Retired.

All Professions, and the military professions in particular, are defined by values, principles, knowledge, experience, standards accumulated over centuries. The maritime professions are founded on values and principles that can be lumped under the label of Seamanship, as relevant today as they were centuries ago in the age of Sailing Ships and Galleys. 

It's official. 

These four sailors chose to recognize that link to their professional history by marking this  significant occasion in their careers, and I was especially honored to be part of it.

Saturday Morning's Long Splicing Demo frustrated by Priority to work the Dock -fender situation.

Saturday, the 9th was to be a straight-forward maintenance projects day. Tony Marchesani had been practicing his long-splice technique in preparation to demonstrate a master class in long-splicing a worn our section of our starboard bow falls line. 

All that was set aside when, the day before, Dock Master, Jeff Davis called Bos'un Bryan to point out the deteriorating situation of the wayward Yokohoma fenders on the face dock. The three oversized hard rubber cylinders were intended to be positioned between the schooners hull and the vertical pilings supporting the face dock. Over a year ago, they had long since shifted off the pilings after the telephone pole that strung the three together, had snapped. 

An attempt by past Captain Bobby Nobles to rest the line of fenders ultimately failed, and now the string of loose yokohoma's were floating uselessly under the dock, protecting nothing. As Jeff pointed out, the resiulting wear of a telephone pole remnant,rubbing against the piling, was weakening the structure. 

And so, Four of us, this Saturday shifted our focus from long splices and cooler cleanups to seeking a solution to the fender problem.  For the rest of the morning, Bryan Oliver, Tony Marchesani, Ken Fonville and David Ried, made several different attempts,, using different methods, from different angles, using boat hooks and handy-billy's, to align fenders with poles, adjust existing chains, all to no avail. 

Tony and Lance team up to force a ball fender
 into position on the face dock.

The prime obstacle was inadequate space to maneuver the 4 ft x 5 ft yokohama fenders out of their positions under the dock. Easterly breezes and ebbing tide was forcing the ship's hull up against the dock, robbing us of needed maneuver space.  Until the wind shifted, and tide eased, or a powerful motorized push boat could get the schooner off the dock, or the schooner departed the dock for shipyard, we'd be unable to solve the problem.  The crew rearranged as possible, available ball fenders to force between the schooner's hull and pilings.

Breaking the sense of Stagnation while waiting for Spirit's Shipyard and beyond.

 I think it was Thomas Paine that wrote, "These are the times that try men's souls".. whadya know! I was right, actually,, just googled it. more significantly, they were the first words of his series of pamphlets "The American Crisis" in 1776, written to inspire and encourage the Continental Army. 

I can't help but feel a similarity to what we volunteers for Spirit of South Carolina are facing.  Of course, we are not trying to birth a new nation - only save a wooden traditionally rigged schooner. Still, the situation feels stark.  Since the departure of our last Captain, there are: No programs, no shipyard, no perceivable operating budget, no crew, and most unsettling,, no communication from, well, anyone up the chain. The last message in February alluded to plans being made.  Nothing else since. It appears to be, just us.  So, appearances are just that, appearances.  This week, I'll be taking extra efforts to identify what's ground truth.

Volunteer Bos'un Bryan Oliver building a picture
 for his student tour group of this schooner
 hiding enslaved African Americans
  in their escape to New Bedford

  In the meantime I'm exploring organizing a volunteer cadre of tour guides, with a specific mission; engaging  in conversation, the people who routinely walk down the dock;

•  offer them teasers of  information they likely had never known before, 
• offering a deck tour, 
• while telling a story or two, based on Spirit's historical role as a 19th century pilot schooner, 
• or more broadly,  ships of her class and the part they played in the sea-borne Underground Railroad from the early thru mid 19th century. 

Volunteer, Carin Bloom; Educator,
Historian, Reenactor,
 and former deckhand on Delaware's Tall Ship, 
Kalmar Nykel is helping organize
 our knowledge material into easy-to-digest
 Tour-guide sound bites.

Our Donations Box sits ready, beneath the saloon table, to be hoisted up onto the dock and made easily visible to visitors, when pointed out by our deckhand/tour guide at end of the tour.

  That's part of the purpose of Spirit of South Carolina, and its something we volunteers are capable of continuing, while we weather these other uncertainties.  Look for SignUP opportunities on our SignUP Genius web site. 

Link to Volunteers SignUP Genius

There will be some sessions of orientation and familiarization with our source material, Some walk thru's, and then going out and doing it! 

This can't be a one-person show.  If you love this schooner and want to honor all the things she stands for, then this should be an easy step. 

Bryan describing for an impromptu group invited aboard,
 the competitive world of 19th century Bar Pilots

Captain Heath Hackett using charts as visuals
 to lead his student tour thru the difficulties
 of ships getting into and out of this harbor
 before the Jetties were constructed.

Bryan with group of young racing sailors,
 getting a hand's-on lesson
 in 19th century seamanship.

Two Volunteers-Two Significant Accomplishments.

 Today, the 19th was another steamer on the water, according to Walter Barton and Tony Marchesani; temperature in the mid 90's with humidity seeming to share the same number, and no breeze to ease the slow poaching.  The two volunteers  mustered this morning to tackle two projects what had proved troublesome to complete, or resolve. Both projects involved ship's hardware that, while not highly visible or glamourous are critical to the safe and proper operation of our schooner. 

Portable Trash Pump:  This is a critical back up to the ship's bilge pumping system. Its a small lawnmower engine configured with impellers and souped up hardiness  to survive a marine environment. It sucks water out of the bilge with one fat flex hose, and throws it overside thru another flex hose. For years, crewmembers, including myself pulled this contraption out of it's locker behind the main mast, assembled it, and tested it. In the process they rebuilt the carburetor, replaced plugs, took apart and put back together everything. The engine would fire up, just fine, the suction appeared just to meet sufficient vacuum power, but nothing was coming out the exhaust hose pipe.  Tony Marchesani, with some help, and an exploded diagram he downloaded, tracked the issue to beyond the impeller.  Suspecting something else, he returned to the pile of gear piled into the lazarette and discerned another length of hose, somewhat similar to the one currently installed as the exhaust conduit.. He replaced it with the one found in the lazarette, and the bilge water gushed thru it.. I'm still waiting for him to share the secret, it being in the hose apparently, but he's gone no further.  

The Inflatable Rescue Boat/Tender/Pushboat:   This multi purpose water craft is also critical to the schooner's operation. It's our Man-overboard retriever, our tugboat and side thruster for docking and undocking, and while at anchor, a water taxi for getting groceries on board from shore, or more important, getting sailors ashore for well- earned liberty. Walter meanwhile staring down at the four rubber patches terraced upon each other for eight inche around the bulb-shaped aft end of the inflatable rescue boat, was heard to mutter at the patch job  "Nows it's personal!", or something like that. After carefully applying each subsequent patch to block a residual leak still seaping from under the edge of the previously sealed patch. a leak -smaller than before, persisted.  This time, in addition to the fifth patch applied terraced over the fourth, he examined the intake valve for inflating the pontoon. It appeared to be slightly clogged.. A quick blowing out, brushing off, reinflation of the pontoon, and ,, waited, waited,,, no further bubbling thru the soap film. We may have peace at last, thanks to lots of perserverence. 

While the Bos'n is away... Well, things keep going just fine

 
Last Saturday's Volunteer Day on the 12th was typical July Summer,, Hot, humid and breezeless, the kind of day in which to get things over with early. Nevertheless Volunteers mustered on board to do what needed to be done. Meanwhile your scribe wasn't much better off, just in a different spot, He,(that would be me) was, and still is-as of this writing somewhere on the Chesapeake delivering a sailboat. And back in Charleston, judging from the accomplishments on deck  made in that morning, I wasn't even missed. 

Four stalwart Volunteers mustered on deck; Walter Barton, Ken Fonville, Tony Marchesani, and David Reid. They went right to work, As always, the Forecastle needed pumping, as usual. Tony climbed into the engine room to  charge up the pump. David and Ken remained on deck to check the stream of water being emitted. They saw seawater then bilge water go out discharge. The bilge pumped out well, volunteers getting some  learning experience looking down into the darkness of the bilge. The Deck was surprisingly clean from an early morning downpour, so they set aside the plan to do a deck wash.  

David and Walter worked on the push boat's persistent slow leak, adding another patch- the fourth patch overlapping earlier ones. Maybe this one will be the charm. According to Walter after working the first three Patches, "its personal."
Ken and Walter lifted out the trash pump from its locker on the deck onto the  fixed dock and connected intake and exhaust hoses. The pump started and ran well but created no suction-  priming water made it to discharge hose but nothing else. The crew moved the whole rig across to the floating dock to see if lower suction lift (it was low tide so much suction needed from the higher fixed dock to water) would help, NO such luck. Tony was last seen online bringing up the pump's exploded view. His Engineer-mind now hardwired to isolate the cause.

Volunteers July 4 Annual Muster and Society Social Draws a Crowd.

 

Every year since the Volunteer program was resurrected in 2019,  Volunteers gathered on deck, the evening of July 4, along with family members, bringing their own appetizers and beverages, to celebrate our Volunteer Contributions and enjoy the City of Charleston's Fireworks display over the Aircraft Carrier Yorktown. 

As the day approached this year,  the atmosphere was understandably tentative. After all, for the past six months, Volunteers had maintained the Schooner in a "Standby" status, waiting for a signal that she would finally be dispatched to a shipyard for her 10-Year haulout. This year, Bryan remembered he had a source of funding with which to sweeten the pot.  In a second email, Bryan added that Home Team Barbeque would be supplying a BBQ buffet, and beverages were included.  The responses measurably perked up, such that, by Wednesday, the deadline to RSVP, 12 Volunteers with another 31 of their guests, had signed up. 

Volunteers and Guests  aboard for a July 4 Celebration

Lance Halderman, Maxwell Dale, and their friends, Ashley, and Kyra, came two hours early to help set up retrieving serving containers, utensils, and glasses. The schooner also welcomed a small crew from Baker Motors,, led by Simona Kerpidyova, Assistant to Tommy Baker. 

But before that could really start, the volunteers needed to complete two sailor jobs, down-rigging and storm-furling the large awning, which was no longer providing shade in the afternoon. With the awning furled and out of the way, Volunteers could now tend the boat falls to raise up, then swing over the side and "hip" the small boat on the port rail. That action freed up a large area of deck for visitors on board to set up chairs.  Compliments to Ashley and Kyra who supported their guys in hauling on the forward and aft boat falls, tailing lines, forcing the heavy small boat out over the rail and easing her into position. 

With traditional Maritime music floating over the ship, Walter  Barton and wife Amanda brought out two serving tables. Bryan picked up all the food and drink from Home Team, and Harris Teeter, where Amanda then took charge in setting up the serving line.  Walter filled the huge Yeti with ice and a large assortment of beverages.   By 1900 hrs, the deck was full of people, seated in the chairs they brought, or along the lockers and cabin tops, filling glasses and gazing at the layout. Amanda opened the buffet line, and a line immediately formed.  Time to shift from traditional maritime tunes to American Patriotic.

As plates emptied, refilled, and re-emptied, Bryan passed the word along that he would like to address the crowd, and offer a few toasts, before the fireworks started.  Meanwhile a large crowd of the public had gradually gathered on the dock for advantageous views, looking out over our deck and the expected show across the harbor.

At 2045, fifteeen minutes before the scheduled performance, Bryan Called out for a "Muster Midships" the traditional call for all hands to gather in the center of the ship.  Bryan offered a message that recalled the significance of Spirit of South Carolina's existence, some tidbits of history, and restatement of her hoped for operations going forward post Shipyard. Finally, he offered three toasts.. to the United States,, the Armed Forces and Veterans here.. Lance Halderman, representing the US Navy, offered his own toast to the Navy's sailors.   At that, the fireworks commenced a truly extraordinary show that had to last 45 minutes before culminating in one large illumination. 

Check out the video reel that Walter Barton created.. now on Facebook.

July 4 Celebration aboard Spirit of South Carolina

A special thanks to all the same volunteers, and others, Carin Bloom and husband who helped secure the deck afterwards, start the dish and cutlery washing, wrap leftovers, and cart the full garbage containers all the way back to the dumpster. It was almost midnight when the final items were cleaned and put away or disposed.                                                                                                                        

Saturday morning brought the same stalwarts aboard who had helped clean and secure the evening before. Hugh Sheldon, a welcome addition to the Volunteer Crew was welcomed aboard and immediately stepped into some hands-on deckhand work. By end of morning, he had already checked off five deckhand skills.  They tied up some loose ends, including hauling the smallboat up and swinging her over onto the deck setting her firmly in her chocks and lashing down the gripes.. 

Their reward was a break from maintenance and clean up, in order to get an introduction into the Schooner's Bloom six-knot challenge, with the help of chief instigator, Carin. Bryan and Carin teamed up to lead a hands on session, first introducing the six knots composing the challenge, then for starters, zeroing in on the practical, historical, and wondrous aspects of the traditional bowline.  By noon, and mustering off time, the group was well into the knots intricacies. Their next introduction would be up to them. Next week, on their own. Are you ready to join in?

Summer Volunteer Daze; Stuff happens-We fix it. Short Crews still making a difference.

 Ahh, summer vacation! Everywhere, everyone shifts routines to include just getting away, or just kicking back, and sorta, in a sense, virtually getting away.  Even if its from your year-round fun stuff, like schooner stuff (okay, I"m a little prejudiced here), there's still good, in just getting. away. from. it. In fact I'm about to get away from it myself, for the next 3 weeks, seriously away-helping a sailing buddy deliver his sloop from Newport down to Yorktown VA, then link up with darling daughter for our annual father-daughter Newport Folk Festival weekend, interspersed with small reunions with other Tall Ship Sailors in the area. 

And so

these past few Saturday Volunteer Days aboard Spirit of South Carolina have been understandably, well, sparse. And I won't lie, it brings a bit of frustration. As is the point of crewing aboard a traditionally rigged wooden sailing vessel, virtually nothing can be accomplished by one person alone. Everything requires shipmates to work together, synchronized. These ships are purposely designed with that in mind. It translates to;  eight hands to launch and retrieve the rescue boat; seven hands to cast off lines and push the ship off the dock; five hands to send over the gangway.. I won't mention raising sail.

Therefore,

Our Maintenance Punch List (the to-do list I revise for each Saturday) must necessarily restrict itself to projects that can be advanced by one or two deckhands. Yes,, it's hot.. damn hot!, but the awning rigged over mid--ships makes the deck more than bearable.  This past Saturday, on the 28th, three of us, myself, Tony Marchesani, just returned from the Chesapeake, and Walter Barton faced the work of triaging the list to work we could advance between the three of us.  On this date the situation of "important and urgent" as a priority, wrote the list for us. Tony found the first one.

On boarding the gangway and looking back from the deck, Tony noticed a critical situation.  The gangway rails, in the last king tide accentuated by swells,  tilted beyond their limited arc, pressing and deforming the wood rails on the dock, and forcing out three lag bolts, securing the gangway base to the dock. Basically the gangway base holding the dock-end of the gangway was attached to the dock by only one serviceable lag bolt. Tony made this his individual project.

Tony confirming the depth for driving a
new lag screw supporting the gangway.

It took about a half-hour of prep just gathering the tools,,  a socket set, power drills, assorted bits,, searching the schooners collection of stainless steel lag bolts for three viable replacements, running extension cords from below decks. Once set up, Tony made fairly quick work of it,  tapping out and removing broken screws, pre-drilling three clean holes, and driving in three replacement lag bolts, all of course while hanging over the edge of the dock, under the gangway. 

Bryan tackled the next "important and urgent task", the repair of the step-up railed platform that enabled boarders to step up from the dock onto the gangway to embark/disembark the schooner. It had been deformed by pressure from the gangway rails, stripping out lag screws all over the frame. The job was simple enough, more tedious than anything. Bryan started by searching the three possible lockers to located and stage his corded power drills/drivers, extension cords,, replacement 4 inch lag wood screws. All set up, Bryan releveled each brace and rail in the platform, then drove the four-inch hex-head screws into new fresh wood for improved boat. Additionally, Bryan down-rigged the sliding handrail that designer Danny Johnson had created to bridge the gap between gangway rail and dock platform. That would go home with him to mill out and extend the sliding slot to fit the new platform with the gangway. 

Walter with using a ball peen hammer
as lever to twist down
 the compression of his glued joint.

Walter's project was a continuation of an individual task he'd started three weeks prior;  the refinishing of the top half of the mainsail gaff spar, which was suffering significant varnish peeling and beginnings of UV damage.  In the past two weekends, Walter and other volunteer shipmates had sanded to wood the entire top-half of the 22 foot douglas fir spar stretched out on the deck just forward of the cockpit.  Once sanded, they started wiping on a coat of Interlux Schooner Varnish diluted with two parts of paint thinner, penetrate and seal the wood. The following week, was three more coats of the thinned varnish until it stopped absorbing and formed a hard satin sheen.  In between coats, Walter took on the task of repairing the schooner's iconic folding cane chair, originally  fished from the harbor in Bermuda. The cross member had pulled out.  Coating both surfaces with Tite Bond III, Walter applied a double eye-spliced rope "tourniquet" to tighten the two legs together. 

 Now, on this Saturday, Walter scuffed the surface, tacked it down, started the first coat of undiluted Schooner Varnish, daubing on gobs of varnish with a sponge brush then dry brushing it back over the previous band finely feathering it into the earlier band. In the hot sun and steady breeze, the first and two successive coats "kicked" such that Walter was able to boast the application of one then two successive hot coats of gloss varnish by quitting time.

The New Possible? New Purpose for Spirit of South Carolina in Charleston's Maritime Heritage

 It started as just another chance to go Sailing

Today I was editing some old video footage from 18 years ago. Me and four other fellas, all sailors of some sort were together delivering a Hunter-31 sloop from New London, Connecticut, down the eastern coast to Charleston-12 days, four days off-shore-off-soundings, and then into the Intra-Coastal Waterway at Norfolk for the rest of the passage.  

2007-coming ashore-The crew
and me on the Battery

The video footage had it's cringe-worthy moments as the 5 of us, 12 days out, wooted, backslapped, pointed at dolphins, and wildly celebrated as we passed under the Ben Sawyer Bridge and out into to the harbor towards the Ashley Marina and the sloop's new home.  It was my first time setting foot in Charleston, and it just now occurred to me-I came  sea. 

For next 8 years, living in St. Louis, I returned to Charleston once, or twice a year to go sailing, with my old Army buddy, the Hunter's skipper. My wife, Jane came along too, not to sail, she won't do that-my fault- long story. But our attraction to the area grew, just like everyone else from "off", the charm of the city, the culture, big water,long beaches, wide porches, slow living,, and the history.  

So, after 8 years of visits, we talked ourself into moving here, Mount Pleasant to be more exact. In the first six months, I quit/retired from my second career, enthusiastically explored the low-country from Hilton Head to Georgetown, soaking up historical lore, diving into the seafood, the breweries, pretty much wallowing in it. And I also sought out the schooner, SSV Spirit of South Carolina. She was the solution to a sixth-grade childhood fantasy that never died.

Something about Traditionally Rigged Wooden Sailing Ships

During my next 10 years  as deckhand, to now, I spent countless hours digging into the schooners' history, how did she came about,? Why was she built in the first place? Why does she look like she does?  What happened to her that led to her bankruptcy? What about all those other tall ships out there, why do they exist? How do they do it? I mean, be successful?

 Thanks, if you're still with me.  I'm getting to the point.

While aboard Spirit and also aboard four other schooners with their crews, I spent time in other ports up and down the coast. I noticed the extent to how "Maritime Heritage" defines those places. By that I mean, how has the inheritance of their history and their connection to the sea influenced how they see themselves; thru their art, commerce, language, festivals and tourism, stories, folklore, jokes, music.  Oh, and tall ships. They seem to be interwoven thru all of it. 

Gone to Look for Charleston's Maritime Heritage

Back in Charleston, on deck, I've got the best view of the Harbor, all 360 degrees of past, present, and future. I can't help but make comparisons. Charleston is as rich in history, and a connection to the sea, as any port on the east coast,  and low country so large that there's a saying, I think it's gullah-geechee "so much water here down south that the ocean comes out of the rivers' mouth."[listen to the Shovel and Rope song:  "Stono River Blues"].  Plus. we had pirates. All of that underpins what this area is today.  But the thing is,, at most of it appears to be a secret.  It's just not visible, or understood. The curation of the City's heritage is merit-worthy, but its all focused landward. The success of the new International African American Museum is a gem, but it too, appears to be almost totally focused landward.

The College of Charleston's "Carolina, Low Country and the Atlantic World" began a collaboration with Spirit of South Carolina in 2019 before COVID-19 forced a virtual shut-down of the student involvement.  That collaboration would've been the first Maritime Heritage-oriented initiative of any sizable scope. I"m currently reaching out again to that entity.

In the meantime, I've discovered a new thread of heretofore untold stories. "The Seaborne Underground Railroad".  The euphemism is pretty clear.  For 100 years there was a heavily used route for escaped African-American slaves northward by sea,  a large part of it, thru Charleston. Two recent books document the stories.
They relate a scale of movement at least as great as the better known Underground Railroad and the heroic characters involved such as Harriet Tubman, and  William Still. "Sailing to Freedom", published in 2021, has been discussed in a previous blog entry.  "Freedom Ship" published only months ago documents highly personal accounts up and down the coast ,not only slaves escaping, but  the horror of free African American sailors being "blackbirded" in southern ports, the practice of kidnapping legally free black sailors and selling them into slavery. Suffice to say that the stories that make up the Seaborne Underground railway are equally inspiring, and  heartbreaking.  And they are stories of our own city, our sea port, and ancestors. 

Spirit of South Carolina should be a Living-active-experience of Charleston's Maritime Heritage

As Volunteers we have an opportunity to fill a huge vacuum. No one else is doing this. We have capability of telling these stories, using the deck of Spirit of South Carolina as the platform, to reinforce them thru demonstrating and hands-on experience of the life aboard and skills that operated such vessels while. It takes only our time, to learn the stories, and pass them on to visitors who come aboard, or maybe just dockside, maybe just a 10-minute overview, or a half-hour hands-on reenactment of sorts.   Carin Bloom, instigator of the Bloom Six-Knot Challenge, and Historian-reenactor is helping to organize the Stories and the material.

And this isn't the only topic on Charleston's Maritime Heritage.. Look for  "Charleston Pilots, and Development of the Harbor", coming soon.

This doesn't have to wait for shipyard or Certificate of inspection. The time can be a four-hour shift, morning or afternoon, on dock or on deck. 15-minute to 1/2 hour tours depending on depth and experience to explore, and the mentioning of a donation to the schooner.   

And it should be a welcome diversion from maintenance.  

Look for Signup opportunities.  Be prepared for some self-study. The materials are available at this blog. See right side column of Resources and other Materials for Book links and downloadable Talking points as they are posted.                                                                           

Schooners and Maritime Literature

 Thanks to Ken Fonville who stepped aboard Saturday afternoon the 13th,  to pump the Forecastle bilge after no one else had signed up. Bryan Oliver showed up the previous Wednesday afternoon ostensibly to evaluate the effects of the week's rains, before he departed for St. Louis and Father's Day.  Good thing too. It seems that the slippery overhand knots he used to lash the rolled up awning along it's guy line, had loosened, leaving the unraveling awning flapping in the breeze, not very shipshape,, so lesson learned,, "highwayman's cutaway".

So, without much else than that to relate, it's a worthy moment to share a couple of very worthy books..

If you're following this blog you've likely a more than passing fancy of the world of "Tall Ships".. I sure do.. like since 6th grade.  But even if you're not at my extreme end of the spectrum, if you have a curiosity for more insight into that world, the mariners who sail them today, and in recent past, the trainees, student's who crew them. What's the attraction? What are they really like?  Why do they still exist? What's their justification? Aren't they risky? Why take that risk?

Well, I found the most articulate, literate, inspiring answers to those questions, and more, in a book, ironically, about Tall Ships that sank.

Daniel S. Parrott, late Captain of the topsail schooner(-Baltimore Clipper-Privateer) "SSV Pride of Baltimore II", wrote this book, published waaayyy back in 2003. It's an unvarnished amazingly detailed historical record of the sinking of five Traditionally Rigged Sailing Ships, from 1957 to 1995. One of them, "Albatross" was dramatized in the feature movie, "White Squall".  He vividly re-creates each final voyage and then explores the roles played by ship stability, structural integrity, ship-handling, weather, human error, and standards of risk in tragedies at sea. Finally, the lessons-learned. 

Available on Amazon Books
 and other resellers

My personal copy is stained with yellow highlighting page by page of memorable quote-worthy perspectives.  Capt Parrott's amazingly detailed analysis is well written, with a style alternately gripping, and poetic...means it's a page-turner. 

My copy will be on board in the Saloon library for a limited time, should any of you care to peruse. You'll be getting excerpts anyway,, like this one.. If you're a sailor, you'll take a deep breath:

"There are moments all sailors store in a sort of communal emotional archive bound up with the physical sensations of sailing. There is the alarm when one first feels wind fill a sail.  The boat beneath comes suddenly alive with heeling and speed, as if one were astride an unpredictable beast. Even on a pond left by a retreating glacier, the ecstasy of acceleration and the fear of capsize co-mingle in an instant of triumph and panic. Then there is the storm, often anticipated with gusto by the neophyte and less so by the seasoned sailor. In a building sea and a rising wind the bow lifts and smashes into a curled wave, pounding downward with a violence of purpose that buckles the knee and sends torrents of green water aft and into your seaboots.  If one is possessed of a constitution disinclined to feed a perfectly good dinner to the fish at such moments, the jarring exuberance suggests that this is life as it should be lived: rigorous, exhilarating, bare-knuckled.

There is also a catalog of more sublime moments that weave rapture with achievement: sunsets followed by the green flash, plotting a passable celestial fix, quiet anchorages, crossing an ocean, island landfalls, trade-wind passages, and dolphins lunging under the bow mere inches from the surging stem as the ship muscles through the seas with athletic vitality. And then there comes a moment, perhaps aloft beyond the sight of land, beneath the stars as night relieves twilight. Out on the footrope one feels at once solitary yet in communion with the vast splendor of sea and sky and creation, alone in thought, yet part of a community of shipmates as an organ is to a body. You pause with a fistful of canvas and glance back at the rail of phosphorescence roiled to life by the turbulence of the keel scribing its way across miles of latitude and longitude like the blade of an ice skate traversing a small round pond..

..These ships always did transport more than cargo. Whatever ostensible purpose they served in the past, sailing ships are vehicles of human experience and dreams, and not only for sailors...  We cling to them through art, literature, museums or by actually going to sea.."

It goes on.. 

Coming UP:  Stories of the Seaborne Underground Railroad. and how vessels like Spirit of South Carolina played a part.

Steamy Saturday and another check'-offed the Maintenance Punch List.

 This Saturday, 7 June, was sunny, hot, humid, breezeless,, what else can I say describe the situation four of us volunteers faced as we mustered together at 0900 onto the deck in the brilliant sunlight. The good thing was, we had a specific job to do, to keep us focused away from this sultry morning.  Ken Fonville took on the task of posting the National Colors on the transom, then hoisting the Palmetto Flag and Tall Ship's America courtesy flag up the mainmast. It was the resurrection of a maritime tradition we had allowed to lapse for several months.. Now onlookers knew that Spirit of South Carolina was indeed alive. Lance Halderman rinsed out the igloo water jug then filled it over a big chunk of ice Bryan Oliver  had picked up at Harris Teeter on the way down. Walter Barton and Bryan teamed up to lower the gang way a reasonable amount to make disembarking and reembarking manageable. The last task, and most critical, was to rig up the deck awning over midships.  Actually only the port side could be rigged, due to the starboard gangway setup. Already half rigged up, it was an easy four minute drill to unroll the awning from its lashing, hoist up the lifts and belay on the sheer pole, tie off the apron line extending between the shrouds, then tensioning the come-along strap on the main shroud.. Voila! Shade!  

Next came our focus single project.  The prior week, Lance and Tim Kolb had completed sanding the boat hooks, now waiting for linseed oil. and had started grinding off old peeling varnish  on the main gaff. Unfortunately, the sticky-backed sanding disks, the only ones left in the locker would not adhere to the hook and loop style orbital sanding pad, and they could complete only two square feet before muster off at lunch.  

Now Nick Swarts and Lance went below to bring out two orbital sanders, a handful of assorted sanding disks,  extension cords.  With everything powered up. Lance and Nick started grinding way at the old, blackened and flaking layers of varnish.  Meanwhile, Ken and Bryan conducted their own search for any remaining remnants of thinner, and varnish left over from previous projects.  The heat and absence of any breeze made the open deck oppressive, so crew took regular breaks filling up bottles from the ice water igloo, and stretching out under the awning.  

Ken Fonville securing the thinner after mixing up
 a pint of thinned varnish for the first three coats.
Nick is starting at the aft end.

Now onto the home stretch, Ken mixes up a diluted mixture of thinner and varnish while Bryan, Lance and Nick use the remaining thinner to tack down the surface of the gaff, taking off all sawdust  and sanding debris. Bryan and Ken stretch out a drop cloth under the gaff.  Once tacked down, Lance and Nick with clean rags, soaked in the thinned varnish start on opposite ends to apply it down the length.  

Bryan and Lance starting from opposite ends
 of the main gaff,  wipe on successive coats
 of thinned down varnish for sealant.

The thinned varnish soaks in quickly, and dries as fast, allowing for applying a second coat.  Meanwhile, everyone else starts securing tools, hardware, rags,  and deletris to trash cans.  As Bryan laid down the third coat to set in the sun, remaining crew disembarked. Next week, maybe one more thinned coat, then the varnish, full steam. 

The gaff will be saved.. ;-)

We Happy Few This Weekend.. and it Worked.

 [This entry published a week late,, have mercy on the editor] This past Saturday the 31st of May disrupted the normal rhythm of Volunteer effort with the annual Salute to Veteran's Regatta, hosted by the Charleston Offshore Racing Association, and sponsored by Blackbaud. Over 130 competitors in over 35 sailing vessels of all sized competed. 

At least six current or past Volunteers participated, including myself.  There would have been more, I'm certain, if our Navy contingent had been better informed.  As it was, Volunteers, Lance Halderman, and Tim Kolb, and I believe David Reid, all mustered Saturday morning on deck.  While the Punchlist was full, it turns out a shortage of tools and materials frustrated some of the effort. Nevertheless, Lance and Tim finished sanding the three boat hook staffs-now waiting  for the linseed oil now on order.  

The Gangway configured at High Tide, just clears the cap rail.
No worries, one can simply step across from the dock
 to the rail, or we set two aluminum "gangplanks across."

We also adjusted and set marking twine in the starboard bow and stern falls - to mark point around the belaying pin that will keep the gangway sufficiently high to clear the schooner's cap rail at high tide. Of course, the low tide situation results in the gangway resting a full seven to eight feet above the deck. In the days when the schooner had a liveaboard crew, someone was always responsible for adjusting the gangway twice per day to insure it's accessibility.  

Emma pauses in making the bow falls fast
to expose the position of the black marker twine
 at the belaying pin, marking the correct length
 for the bow falls.

In an unusual arrangement that turned out just dad-burned pleasant, Volunteers Benji Norman, Emma Etheredge, and Kevin Mirise, making his first appearance, mustered on board on Sunday afternoon, 4PM, and stayed for over three hours. The weather was mild, seas were calm perfect on deck, and the late Sunday afternoon vibe..perfect for a Scavenger Hunt. But first, Benji and Emma, tested their memories from their first time last week, and took charge of handling the bow and stern falls for the gangway, carefully taking lines off, controlling strain, safely easing and hauling, finally taking the line back to the pin, making fast, coiling and hanging.  

Bryan then explained to the three, the significance of "The Scavenger Hunt". The object is: given a list of tools, hardware, and consumables, and a map of below-decks and on-deck,   find the location of each of the objects by their location. The second part of the exercise involved an illustration of the mainsail rigging, and the Head rig, with numbered points designating a part of the sail, rigging, or spars. Objective, match the numbers with the name of the object.  

Both these exercises were aimed at accelerating  the familiarization of new deckhand volunteers with where things are, and what things are called-the two most challenging memory tasks of any new person coming aboard such vessel. 

The Six Knot Challenge; from left..
 Round Turn and 2 half-hitches,
  Bowline,
Figure-eight Stopper,
Highwayman's Cutaway,
 Sheetbend,
Slippery Reef Knot

 The last segment of the evening was devoted to introducing the Bloom Knot Challenge. Bryan arranged six ropes of a fathom's length (six feet) along the fife rail, and explained, then demonstrated the six most common knots  used aboard the schooner.  The Challenge is to complete all six knots within 30 seconds.  Kevin, having a bit of a background already in the "arts" gave it a go, and on first try, without trying,  came within 25 seconds of hitting the 30 second mark. His could very well be the next name to go on the plaque in the schooner's saloon.  Unless Nick shows up.

2 h

Dismasting of the Mexican Sail Training Barque Cuauhtemoc

 

Here's the latest link produced on YouTube by Sal Mercogliano- a maritime historian at Campbell University and former Merchant Mariner. He's highly recommended by a number of us for his depth in Casualty Analysis. He's been following this via a number of YouTube entries as this situation unfolded.  

  breaks down a vSal Mercogliano's Latest Analysis of the Cuauhtemoc's dismastingideo showing the entire voyage of the Mexican Navy sail training ship om the South Stre

et Seaport to its allision with the Brooklyn Bridge and was the Controllable Pitch Propeller system the root cause?

Publicity.. You take it where you can get it.

With no budget, no one on Spirit of South Carolina's team performing in a role as Marketing-publicist-Business Developer-"mouthpiece" or whatever,, the publicity, visibility, brand, of our schooner is built on, well, just us volunteers, really. We tell her story, invite walk-ups aboard for a tour, somehow manage to throw the schooner's name into conversations we are having with who'ever might be interested. 

Every once in a while, an opportunity drops on us. In this case a request for a magazine photo shoot.  If you've been aboard since 2020, there has been two. Given the  readership, and chance to be on a cover.. well, it's a big deal.  Free publicity. 

Last month, Ken Fonville greeted Photographer Mark Staff and his team on board to set up a special shoot for a feature article in the  Summer edition of  "Charleston Women".  The magazine is Charleston Women is a lifestyle magazine that focuses on the needs and desires of women who are business leaders, daughters, mothers, grandmothers, neighbors, wives, sisters and much more.  Mark had earlier coordinated coming on board, with Bryan Oliver, who would be out of town. So Ken stepped up to host the event, whatever that might be .

Ken was probably set back momentarily at what happened next.  Mark's work is a serious production. The shoot showcased nine women. According to Ken's recollection, an entire ensemble climbed down the gangway and began stalking the deck  first to identify their "set", then looking for the best angles to compose their shots, lighting equipment, bringing aboard the "Talent", in this case, nine Charleston women business leaders/entrepreneurs, make-up-wardrobe, and of course.. catering.  

The results were pretty impressive, given the deck was largely stripped of rigging. No matter,, his staging crew gathered up loose gear and arranged it in places that would create an effect.  The results of his work are in the cover  below.  You can access the digital magazine at:

read.charlestonwomen.com/charleston-women/summer2025/6/#zoom=true

New Volunteers on the way to filling in gaps left by some of our stalwarts..

We didn't get chance to bid Fair Winds to Nick Swarts, who recently signed on to the Denis Sullivan's crew for the passage to Boston,, I understand they departed Thunderbolt Shipyard on Saturday. Bittersweet, losing a volunteer like that, but it's also a Good thing, for the reputation of  Spirit's Volunteer Crew.  We train deckhands.  . I'll have him try to keep us posted.  Nick had been helping them out on occasion during their shipyard period out there.  

This past Saturday, the 24th, two new Volunteers, Benji, Norman, and Emma Etheridge mustered aboard along with Ken Fonville, and David Reid. They were all on time.  Bos'n Bryan was not.  It took him longer than expected to ghost across the Wando from Remley point, and down-river in his Beetle Cat, "Sean-O". finally docking at 0930.  Actually he confessed to a particularly disorganized up-rigging process on the catboat's trailer before even launching. After all it had been several months since she was in the water. .. of which very little seeped into her bilges during the passages, less than a quart after six months in stocks,, a testament to solid planking and caulking.

While Bryan was working his way down-channel, Ken led Benji and Emma thru an on-deck orientation. Shortly afterwards Ken disembarked to shift over to the final intensifying coordination of  the Salute to Veteran's Regatta. 

Bryan segued the orientation from history of the vessel, and what her intended mission has always been,  into an introduction and practice in safe line handling. In the course of conversation about what Spirit of South Carolina does, Benji and Emma's core professional competence in Marketing came up.  It's an essential component that's been absent from Spirit South Carolina for the past three years.  Given current absence of any visible activity in that area, there's a void that needs filling. 

Five of us was a decent number by which to make some progress, but not enough to launch the RIB rescue boat.With that in the water we can inspect the hull, maneuver the hull away from the yokohama's and possibly reset them for good.  Provide some Coxwain skills training to those interested..  Then there's Dory, that needs some exercise.  

Can we get six next week? or later, after Memorial Day? Hope so.