Denis Sullivan arrives; Volunteers provide Support.

Tuesday, the 1st of April, the Schooner Denis Sullivan, Captain Chris Flansburg, 14 days out of St. Croix, arrived in port with a student crew of Ashley Hall students, and tied up to Spirit of South Carolina.  

"Bos'un With a Donut"
 (notice a more firm grip on the donut
 than the glass.)

On our deck to receive her and take lines were four of us Volunteers;   Dave Brennan, Nate Mack, Me, and Maritime Center Dockmaster, Chris.   We had been tracking  the schooner for over a week on her passage north. Weather delayed her off the Bahamas for a day.

Denis Sullivan is a representation of the typical 19th Century Great Lakes Cargo Schooners. She was conceived and built in Milwaukee, WI by a combination of professional shipwrights and over 1000 volunteers, and launched in 2000. In 2022 she was purchased by World Ocean Classrooms to replace their schooner Roseway, now in shipyard in Mystic for a major restoration effort.

Click here for more on
 Denis Sullivan

The "rafting up" operation went flawlessly, Volunteers rigged up our gangway's "drawbridge" extension to accomodate disembarking students shouldering backpacks and seabags. Throngs of excited parents, classmates, and friends filled the dock, as the 20 young women single-filed up the gangway with their seabags. As the crowds thinned,   Denis Sullivan's crew transitioned to doubling up their docklines, securing the deck, and going below to clean up. The original plan had been that they would cast off and redock at the fuel dock, which, of course had no gangway,, and return to our side Wednesday to host their reception for Ashley Hall students and parents. 

Bos'un Bryan reunites with Capt Flansburg
of Denis Sullivan;
once Master of Spirit of South Carolina

However, with favorable weather conditions predicted, and sufficient fenders stuffed between the two similar-sized ships, Capt Flansburg and Bryan agreed for Denis Sullivan to remain rafted up the duration of their 3-day stay in port, allowing crew and visitors more accessibility to the dock, via our gangway.  

With advice from Volunteers to the crew for best dive bars and burger joints nearby frequented by mariners (Big John's and Big Gun) They hurried into their civvies, grabbed dirty laundry, and scattered out to East Bay Street and beyond. 

After weathering some rough weather late Tuesday into Wednesday afternoon, The planned parent reception aboard Denis Sullivan went-ahead as scheduled;  Four Volunteers, came aboard to man the gangway, and bulwarks, assisting guests young and old across from the docks, over our rail and onto the deck of Denis Sullivan, where their celebration of their seafaring achievement was recognized. Ashly Hall's Head of School, and their Director of Studies Abroad, were greeted by the Executive Director of World Ocean Studies, parent of Denis Sullivan.

               

Nate, Bryan, and Dave, take a rest after taking
 and tightening up all lines from Denis Sullivan

While Volunteer's primary job was safety of guests, we did get opportunities to casually introduce them to Spirit South Carolina, for many, the first time they knew of it's existence. Yes, there was volunteer recruiting going on too, and a few Ashly Hall students expressed great interest in joining the volunteer crew.  

The other ulterior motive: From 2007 -2012, Spirit of South Carolina hosted several groups of Ashley Hall students, for days to weeks. It was a successful program cut short by the Schooner's bankruptcy. It never recovered.  The School however has recently expressed interest in renewing that relationship. If so, it will not likely take shape for another year.

Today, the day after the reception, Walter Barton, and Bos'n Bryan helped Denis Sullivan cast off lines and see them off to Savannah, GA, and Thunderbolt Shipyard, the same from whence sailed Spirit of South Carolina just over a year ago. They will undergo some maintenance before sailing north to Boston for the summer.