Monday September 28th
A sad day as we lost several of our crew and began our trip back to the states, the end of our voyage. We woke up early and got straight to work getting the ship ready for sea and the yards cockbilled to get through the locke. Too many bags were piled up in the tweens as Ed, Sarah, Nelly, Carpenter Mitch, Sonny Robin, and several crew we had to turn away due to government visa problems.
The pilot came on board and the captain told us it was time to go. We all gathered midships and everyone hugged each other and said their goodbyes. The pilot was waiting for us but he said “wow, I guess its good they all get along so well”. The captain had to intervene to make our goodbyes short. We got the docklines off and began heading out of the harbor. We gathered on the stern to shout and wave to our shipmates on land and they at us. That really was a touching moment, to be leaving behind men and women we had worked, slept, ate, played with; people we trusted with our lives daily. There is a saying that spending a week at sea with someone is like spending a year with them on land, I believe it.
We motored out and I was sent forward to get the headrig ready to set with Scottie and Gabe. We worked away and when I came on deck I happily learned that I was on A watch with Amber, Mike, Freya (Our new Canadian shipmate) and Jim (a salty old Irish tallship sailor), and Caleb our mate. I think this will be a good watch.
We began our rotation and I worked on the forward area of the ship getting all the lines organized and ready to go. We motored west up Galway Bay with a 25 knot breeze right on our nose. Our watch went by fairly quickly and I went below to update my journal.
We don’t know where we are going. We may sail straight to Florida spending about 40 days at sea. I sure hope to god we stop somewhere along the way to help us keep our sanity. There is talk of the Azores or the Canaries, anything will do. In any case I am just happy to be sailing back to warmer waters.
There is, however, something romantic about sailing with only a destination in mind, no schedule. We will go where and however fast the winds take us, just like it was done for hundreds of years. I think this will make the time easier to pass, more of an experience and less of a transit.
Tuesday September 29th
As usual with the 12-4 watch schedule which gives you time to sleep at 6pm I had trouble getting to sleep. So I got an hour of sleep before my watch and went through it tired. It always takes a couple days to get adjusted. I felt in the roll of the ship that we had set staysails and I was dismayed to see someone had set the dumbsail, awkward to use an very difficult to furl. I hope we abide by the rule of the dumbsail, you set it you furl it.
I started on bow watch and man was it a cold night! I swear my eyelashes were cold. Thankfully I got to nap in the galley from the time I finished boatchecks through my idle position. I ended the watch on the helm, which was steering extremely easy. At the same place near the blinding lighthouse we passed on the way North, we had dolphins at night in the phosphorescence. I would correct the helm, then watch the glowing torpedo wake like streaks streak underneath and around the ship. I even saw a school of fish scatter, sending sparks of light in all directions.
I went to my warm sleeping bag and passed right out. We woke at 8am for our work party, had breakfast, and got to work. To begin with we set the main and fore topsails and topgallants. After that I messed around with our radio antenna and then replaced a few of our old blocks with freshly serviced ones. I finished just a little into my lunch, scarfed down some chili, and then went on watch.
This time I started on the helm and enjoyed sailing past the same towering, rocky islands we rounded last week. We did two man overboard drills today for capstan. I was hoping we would hear where we are heading, but when pressed the captain said it all depended on the weather and listed about 5 different places we might stop at, or non at all. We were all happy they were warm and sunny places.
Shortly into my bow watch we had to strike and furl all the square sails this took a little while and when Mike and I were furling the fore topgallant by ourselves some dolphins came to play. I really enjoyed watching them in the clear water from my vantage point. We are forecasted to have light to no winds for the next week. I am a-ok with some calm conditions for a while after our last transit.
I write this next section from several days ahead because this night I felt a little funny, got out of my bunk and didn’t return for the next 7 hours. Some sort of flu bug went around some of the ship starting with Adam and I. Couldn’t keep down water let along food. So I spent the night under a table next to the heads curled up in ball of misery.
Wednesday September 30th
Retreated to my bunk sometime in the early morning and spent the day tossing and turning in my bunk. Christine very kindly checked on me a couple of times and brought me water. In the afternoon my cabinmate Zack told me that we were crossing paths with our friends on the _______, a Canadian ship who had sailed with us in the Atlantic Challenge. They were on their way to Dublin and as we met head to head we fired a cannon to which their 50 students cheered wildly.
We sent over our boat with a few letters (like they used to do back in the day) as well as some of our dinner. I only made it on deck as long as the salute then went back to my refuge. In the evening I was able to keep down water and some crackers. It seems that during the night the other two mates as well as our new 4th mate were stricken as well so for one watch we just hove to and drifted. The captain had to stand watch to get us underway in the morning.
Thursday October 1st
Slept well during the night and woke up at noon feeling well enough to putter through watch. In any case I figured being out of my bunk and in some fresh air would do me good. So I stood watch under the new 4th mate Sam who rotates around covering the mates night watches. Being the old bosun I was excited to have another person on board who knew much about the ship.
However, on my idle position as I laid on the navigation hatch in misery he came up to me and said “I know you’re miserable, but I don’t like it when people lay down on my watch.” He quickly retreated as I gave him the dirtiest, most venomous look I have ever given any human being. I walked up to him and asked him if I was allowed to be miserable at a 90 degree angle during his watch, to which he replied yes.
To clarify, though I still think the rule is stupid, I bear no grudge; the guy is a good sailor if not a thoughtful human being. In the evening a big headache came on and I didn’t sleep. I stood night watch with a still ill Caleb and he let me go to sleep early as my last position was an idle.
Friday October 2nd
I slept through work party yet again and I woke up feeling so much better! My headache was gone and though my stomach is still not well it is much better. I ate a small lunch, but ate all of it and got on watch. I started on the helm and got stuck on the helm as we did several tacks for practice. Hopefully the exercise will have helped.
We made one tack and couldn’t quite make the ship so we wore. After over 2 hours on the helm I went on bow watch got situated to start watching some dolphins and we were called up to tack some more. So into it we went. Running back and forth hauling and casting lines. There is a reason these ships used to sail with 3 times as many men. We made another good tack, lost the second and wore again.
After that was all done I went below and pumped the bilges. When I came back on deck the sun which had been coming in and out of the clouds had broken into a wide patch of sky. I spread out on deck and soaked up the precious minutes of sun. For the last several days we have been off gps so we were all happy to get our position fixed with sun sights.
The captain said today the conditions are still fair for the Azores so we will continue to make for the islands.
Saturday October 3rd
Slept as best I could until my watch, which was a struggle to stand. I was exhausted and now my sinus infection was acting up. By the end of my watch I was seeing things out of the corners of my eyes and hearing things. After we got off I told Caleb I needed to rest and so I spent all of Saturday sleeping, laying in my bunk, and pumping myself full of water and vitamins. More of the crew has since gotten the bug. We are still sailing most of the time, but have now entered fog banks.
Sunday October 4th
Feeling better and better I have been able to sleep more which helps a lot. I woke at 8am this morning and for the first time in near a week felt more good than anything else. I ate a full breakfast and came up on deck to listen to some music before my watch. The sails had been struck during the night but the breeze was back so C watch was setting sails again. So I helped them get all the squares set again and reveled in having enough strength to haul on a line and have it mean something.
I ate a full lunch for the first time since getting sick. We went on watch and had a pleasant time with the sun shining through thin points in the fog for over half the watch. I was so inspired I got Cassie to cut my hair again. Optimistically, I had her cut it nice and short for the warm weather I hope we get.
When I was on the helm Jim called out from bow watch, a black rounded fin was sitting on the surface on our portside. It was certainly not one of the many dolphins we have been seeing lately. I heard some say shark but the way the fin flopped about and the shape I saw in the water makes me pretty sure it was a large ray close to the surface. In any case it was very cool to see.
We dog the watches today and have no work party and A watch gets the short end of the stick this time so we will be back on deck for our new 8-12 watch this evening. I have been very happy with how lucky we have been with the breeze for the most part we have had it fairly regular. We’ve been sailing Southwest ever since we cleared the southwest tip of Ireland and on a sharp port tack for most of it. The breeze could easily veer and ruin our line for the Azores, but it has held nicely.
I really love this ship on a beam reach. She just leans over and powers up like a freight train rolling over blue hills. She has been steering so sweetly, too. As much as many things have become ordinary to me sailing on this ship, when she is under full sail heeling over and tearing along I am well aware of her beauty.
The 8-12 went pretty well. Some of the crew were watching movies so I chose a couple of positions that kept me below for a bit. Slowly it has been getting warmer day by day and I only have a few layers on and it is too warm for my deck boots. The moon is near full, waning now I believe, and beautiful as it comes in and out of the clouds.
Monday October 5th
Awoken for breakfast at 7am. I never used to eat eggs, I had a strange taste aversion to them. Recently, however, I just cannot allow myself to pass up the protein, so I have become an egg eater. I have reached a state of indifference about their taste and today for breakfast I had eggs and ham. So much wonderful protein.
What a beautiful watch we had this morning. When we came on deck all the sails had been struck during the night and we were motoring into the wind. During the first hour the breeze veered more to the west and we set sail on a starboard tack. As we were setting sail we could see a little rain squall coming in and we were just on the edge of it.
I have never seen anything like it before. A bright, huge, colorful rainbow directly to windward of me and bearing down upon the ship. I watched as the rainbow raced down upon us and broke on the ship. I got hit by a rainbow. The rain came down heavily, we all scrambled for our foulies, and continued to set sail.
The rest of our watch we kept seeing very distinguished rainbows as little bits of rain drifted around us. Mostly with sun the clouds slid around us and everything was vibrantly colorful. Today everyone loved their jobs.
We were setting the main royal and the sheets would not run. I looked up and said “Uh guys, the sail is still gasketed”. We all laughed and I got sent aloft to loose it. I can’t remember the last time I was aloft in a t-shirt. I loosed the sail and lingered a minute to enjoy the view. Dan spotted a loose earing lashing on the starboard main topgallant so on my way down I went to relash it. Zack came up to learn how to do it, but there wasn’t much room for teaching clutching the end of a yard, sail luffing and yard trying to shake me off. I got it tied and we laid below.
As we were beginning our descent Zack commented on the view and I agreed it was stunning. He replied that he loves his job. Following his remark the ship gave a big lurch and he grabbed on tightly saying “I’m gonna die” with a laugh. I thought the moment was very emblematic.
We got below, set, trimmed, and hoisted the royal; and I went on the helm. Amber on bow watch shouted whales to port and we all strained our eyes out to see when a giant rubbery back surfaced not 50 ft off the port bow. Many people gathered on deck as a pod of 3 (we think wright) whales surfaced so close you could almost feel the mist from their spout. They moved farther away after a half dozen close surfacings and then followed parallel to us for another 10 minutes.
A minute later the main royal was struck by those that ordered me to set it…
After watch cookie had an incredible lunch of fish chowder and sandwich wraps for us. That man is a true chef. At capstan we had an outdoor misc stuff auction. I bought back my sweater which I had been looking for forever… don’t get me started on that. I also bought a nice mug, a fleece, and a history book, all for a quarter. The hot item was a fan a passenger left behind. When it gets hot soon, that would be nice. So Jessie and I combined out quarters and bid on it. A passenger started to bid against us. Firstly passengers are not supposed to big on a crew auction, secondly he has what some might call a paying job, so he obviously outbid our combined funds. There were many raised eyebrows at him and dirty looks. I am waiting for my chance at petty revenge.
For work party I went aloft to mause shackles on the new maintopgallant halyard. After that I learned how to splice grommets and made a few. After work party I asked to have some food set aside for me and went to sleep until my watch. We got lucky and have found our watch taking place during both sunrise and sunset, so we got to enjoy a nice sunset with mountainous clouds. A lovely near full harvest moon rose shortly thereafter and gave us quit a bright night despite the passing clouds.
The wind died down to a wisp and it was difficult to keep course on the helm. When I was on navigation idle I kept throwing items overboard to gauge our speed, we call it throwing a Dutchman. Twice I threw and could not find them at the other end of the ship. So I got a big piece of white cardboard and threw it. Well, it solved my mystery, we were in fact not going slow, but going backwards. We braced a bit and changed course and got our speed up to 1.3 knots. Flying!
It was a nice night, cool, but really not that cold.
Tuesday October 6th
Woke up at 7am. Biscuits and gravy for breakfast, delicious if not healthy. Rain squalls during the night so I put on my foulies and took helm for the first rotation. No rain and as the darkness faded 
We got some sun and had a nice low key watch, only bracing around once and setting the headsails. For work party I taught Freya how to patch serve and so we did on the main and fore masts. When that was done we tarred our work on the fore mast but decided we didn’t have enough time for the main. So we went below to clean up. Dan complained we had enough time, which we didn’t, so I held fast and he assigned us some blocks to take apart for servicing. While taking using the knife on my leatherman it slipped and folded down upon my right pointer knuckle, cutting it nicely. I bled all over the deck and went to the medical supplies.
Freya came to help and fuss over me and Christine was soon there in mothering mode. We cleaned it and put on a pressure bandage. I seem to always have some sort of injury going, always. Life isn’t normal if there isn’t just one little thing. Right across the top of the middle knuckle, this sucker is going to take a while to heal.
Slept like a rock until watch. Sam was our mate for the night and he was in ADD mode so we set the dumbsail, braced the ship, and did a number of little adjustments. I am able to get along pretty well normally with my finger. We had a very muted pastel sunset and another incredible harvest moonrise. We had a good breeze and cruised along at 6 knots all night.
Watch went by pretty slowly and uneventfully.
Wednesday October 7th
Woke for watch and had a light breakfast. More squalls in the night and so I got my foulies ready. As I came through the nav station I noticed the main engines were on, the breeze had slackened and we were motoring. If we are motoring, keeping the ship at a steady speed, then we must be trying to get someplace by a certain time, otherwise we wouldn’t waste the fuel. We’re going to the Azores! I chatted with Bill later in the watch and he confirmed it, we are aiming to arrive Friday morning.
The moon hung in the west and the sun rose in a golden splash. Still just so many heavy cumulous clouds. During watch I counted five rainbows and we only ever got rained on once a little. There was even one bright full rainbow with the moon under its arch, so beautiful. The sun was mostly out and by the end of watch I was in a t-shirt.
During our watch a swell from the northwest has been coming in and the ship is rolling terribly. Lunch was eaten hunkered down over my plate, one arm around my plate with its hands holding my mug and my other hand with a utensil. As I write this I can’t stay put in my bunk and slide all around.
At the capstan we got the official word we are heading to the Azores, San Miguel to be specific. We should be there sometime Friday. The mayor has apparently arranged for us to get a bus tour of the island, which should be cool. One of the ways we can afford to stay here is that we are doing a daysail on Saturday for a bunch of Azorean seascouts. This should be interesting.
For work party we end over ended the main topsail sheets, switching the ends so the same spots would not chafe and wear out. While we did this we also replaced any of the blocks we freed. I hung in my harness and undid a guide block for the sheet while Gabe undid the bitter end of the sheet. Once that was done I went and undid the other sheet on the starboard side.
So, sitting on the course brace I lashed the clew of the sail to the yard so I could take tension off the sheet. All the while the yard is shaking from the sail luffing some and going up and down as the ship rolls. The clew block jangle threateningly near my head. I caught Amber’s eye as she hung in a bosun’s chair at my level 30 ft away. We both gripped tight as the ship rolled and laughed with each other.
I untied the sheet from the yardarm, which was tied with one of the more creative “knots” I have ever seen. It took my marlin spike and a lot of elbow grease to get the damn thing undone. I took off the old sheet block and attached the new one. Gabe came over to do the find work since my finger made it a little awkward. I spent the rest of work party doing little things here in there in the rig.
After work party, with the sun warming the deck, many of us gathered on the foredeck for a tanning session. I laid out on the deck in just a pair of shorts for the first time since we left Bermuda, man did that feel good. I laid out until clouds covered the sun then listened to music on the quarter deck until dinner. After dinner I slept soundly until watch.
We came on deck as a little squall passed, so I went to put on my foul weather gear and officially changed out my coat to my warm weather jacket, that was very satisfying. Tonight we had our most brilliant sunset yet, vibrant colors with clouds adding depth and texture. Many of us on deck just stopped what we were doing and watched it set.
On the helm for the second hour I had yet another brilliant harvest moonrise. Tonight, however, tall clouds to the east masked its light for a bit and so we got some wonderful stars, I even caught one surprisingly bright shooting star.
When I was on navigation idle I noticed the ship slow down and one of the engines cut out. I went back to the helm and saw Caleb and Mike hanging over the stern. I went to have a look and saw a 3 inch thick nylon mooring line dangling from our starboard prop swaying in the wake like a giant squid tentacle. Like a modern sea monster we had been struck and could not turn the starboard prop. It was decided that we would continue under the port engine alone and deal with it in tomorrow’s light.
The rest of watch went uneventfully in lovely weather.
Thursday October 8th
The air conditioning is working in aft crew again, so well at the moment that I was nearly cold in my sleeping bag during the night. This will be great when we get farther south. Dragged myself out of my bunk, ate breakfast, and got on watch. As the sun rose (beautifully) Caleb sharpened his dive knife and got himself ready to go, Gabe got on his wetsuit as well to help out. The captain took over our watch and I went to the stern window to watch over our men in the water. They cut and pulled out all sorts of line from the props that we had accumulated in our harbors across the North Atlantic.
Eventually they got the main offender, defeated it you might say. We hauled it out of the water and on to deck so that no other vessels would have our luck. As we got the sucker on to deck, which turned out to be 15 feet long, I noticed a crab scuttle 
around one of the coils. The line had been in the water for some time and was now host to all sorts of marine life. We found several small crabs that must have landed on the line as larvae and grown up on the line. There were small muscles as well as numerous other larval animals. I had quite a good time checking out all the animal life it held and playing with the crabs.
The wind had died during the night, come foul during the morning, and now is building as we motor for out destination. The Captain thinks we will be able to see the island by sunset and we plan to anchor out during the night. The rest of watch was uneventful and rather enjoyable in the sun.
Work party was spent 
furling every sail to make the ship look pretty and get everything cleaned up and ready to go for the seascouts. About that time we spotted the island ahead of us, faint in the distance. I slept until my watch and came up on deck to the sunset.
Friday October 9th
Woke up for watch and felt the ship at anchor rocking slowly. Came on deck to a beautiful sunrise. Freya as the newest 
I volunteered to go on shore to catch the ship’s docklines. The captain was concerned as a wind was blowing us off the dock and toward the yacht club. So Mitch and I went on shore, caught the lines and helped get the ship settled down. We made it to the Azores and the first thing I did was put on shorts and sun block.
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