A siren started going off at 5:40 AM which was to be the USCG version of reveille....this time for real. The moans of complaint came from my bunkmates as I pointed out it was five minutes earlier than we were told. This time we really did scramble as we figured out how to get dressed in the small space. Mike noticed the bunk rules state that no one is to lie in their bunk during the day. Considering some of the late shifts I have scheduled, they can throw me in the brig if they're serious. An announcement came on at 06:00 to tell us that breakfast is being served in the galley and "reveille-reveille-reveille". They then run through a series of alarm tests and later on do a time sync check so everyone can get their watches in sync with the ships time.
I got dressed twice as I forgot to put on some of my warmer clothes. I grabbed my toiletries and headed to the men’s WC. As I passed the massive line for breakfast, I figured I might actually be able to get to an empty sink since most everyone is trying to get breakfast. Ok so past the galley on the right (port going back), up the stairs through fire control and take the door and the WC is on the right. Only a couple guys were there so it was easy to get ready.
I dropped my stuff off in my bunk, pulled back my hair and went for breakfast. There was no line when I arrived but there was also very little hot chow left. I didn't mind as I tend to eat lite on a new voyage. Some eggs and bacon were good enough with some cranberry juice. I sat next to some Eagle crew and related the bad nights sleep. I stowed my plates which in itself is interesting. You have to go back up the stairs to the galley, take the starboard side door to the weather deck and outside there was a small open door to put your dirty plates in to the crew working at the time to clean them.
I went back to the meal area and hung out with everyone else who was still hanging around. Based on what we were told the night before, our muster was at 07:55 either at our mast for fair weather parade or in our bunk, or for a foul weather parade a rep from each berth was to go to the meal area to represent the group.
Since the crew was meeting in the meal area at 07:30, we were kicked out and waited patiently in our berth for the 07:55 muster announcement. There was some confusion here as we were told to muster with our mast station but when we got to the deck, the main crew occupied the area around the main mast and there was no crew around the fore or the mizzen. Despite the snow and wind, they didn't announce a foul weather parade so we were technically where we were told to be. I was alone and watched the morning ceremony respectfully before returning to the Mess deck for the navigation brief.
The navigation brief was interesting as they had an OC walk the Captain through todays expected navigation points with extreme detail. At the end of the briefing, they did a risk assessment and the officers asked the OC's to rate the risk of each section from 1 to 10. One being no risk and ten being heavy risk. They stress even a rating of ten would not stop us from going, just make us more aware of what we need to watch out for on each section. They rated "Supervision", "Planning", "Team Selection", "Team Fitness", "Environment" and "Event Complexity/Equipment Status". The initial score was a 26. Next they do a "Throw Down" where other crew members can add to the risks. Because of the bad weather and new crew concerns, this brought our risk assessment up to 30. Thirty is considered in the "Amber" range that is moderate risk; consider adopting procedures to minimize risk. There were some navigation markers we would need to use a combination of GPS and radar to find since visibility was limited. The Captain made the decision that today we would only travel about 1.5 hours into the bay and anchor by Fishers Island for the night. There would be no sailing today but when we weigh anchor tomorrow morning, we would hopefully be doing so under sail.
After the briefing, they announced the stores truck had arrived and asked all available crew to assist in the loading. I now understand why...they claim there was around $40,000 worth of supplies to load. All free crew form a line to the supply truck all the way down to storage. With the wind and snow, the passing of supplies seemed to never end. They called all civilians to the Mess deck and I had to temporarily abandon my spot in line. I didn't plan it, but the break was a nice relief.
Here the Captain gave a welcome talk to us (TSA - Tall Ships America), NOAA and military (ROTC from Yale) crew. An announced most of our names. He of course called me “Emily” instead of Emile which is why I originally took the nickname of “Max”. I used this as a running joke when people asked my name I’d sometimes reply, “Max, or you can call me Emily like the Captain does or Emile...or just shit-head…”.
The first mate then had us pass in our medical paperwork, waiver of liability and check to pay for our food to Chief Willard. The Chief then gave another MA talk to the ones who missed it the night before. While they did that, I geared up and joined the line again to help load the stores. Everyone’s arms were pretty sore to the point where a small box even seemed heavy now. It was funny to be passing some heavy boxes and almost fly back when they handed you a large box of crackers that was deceptively light.
The crew headed to their quarters to wait for lunch. We were called by watches so people due on watch went first and then they called us by mast. Being on mizzen, my group was called last. I ate light again though I enjoyed the burger. By the time I got to the salad and fruit area, they were out of forks so I just got some fruit and a drink. Sitting at this time was easy as people came and went quickly. I headed back to my bunk.
At noon, they range eight bells and ran through a series of alarm tests. They also announced that dress for departure would be foul weather gear. At this point I jotted down some more notes for my journal and waited for my shift to begin for departure.
Around 13:00 I pulled on my warm foul weather gear and headed for the mizzen. When I got to the mizzen area, there were groups of crew hanging around waiting for orders. I took the opportunity to take some photo's and a Yale ROTC crew member I met earlier snapped some action shots of me for posterity.
At about 13:20, the Captain announced that we’d wait until the tide at around 14:00 to see if we get a better weather window. If we don't, then we'll have to wait to leave in the morning. So we all headed back to our berths, pulled off our foul weather gear and headed to the Mess deck to wait. I sat down alone and was soon joined by Orion, Calen and Steve. Calen was diligently working on modifying one of his old shirts into a face mask to make it easier to be on deck in the wind and snow. I brought a face mask, I just need to find out where in all my gear that I buried it. Orion studied the old Eagle Seamanship Manual left in our berths small library and I handed my iPhone to Steve so he could study the pin diagrams I snapped photos of. Since Orion, Calen and myself are on the mizzen, we debated if there were two or three sails. The diagrams we have even on the newest manual only showed two but we were clearly looking at a picture that had three. Guess we'll find out whenever we finally get to see it up close.
Around 14:20, the Captain announced that as the Weather Channel predicted, the weather cleared enough for us to depart. Everyone either headed back on deck or to their berths to gear back up. I pulled my warm weather gear back on and headed to the mizzen area to see if I could lend a hand.
The first site that struck me was the five crewmen manning the steering. As was described to me later, a Master Helmsman would guide the ship out of port with a Pilot. The Master Helmsman was only allowed one degree of deviation from any course set so he needed the extra men on the helm to make corrections quickly. Unlike the Friendship of Salem, they steered completely with traditional steering while the Friendship could put a steel weight into a hydraulic system that would allow the Captain or helmsman to steer carefully without the traditional steering.
There was a large push boat pushing on the port aft side and a very large tug pushing on the port forward. Because the heavy winds were pushing the Eagle away from the dock, the tugs would push and take the pressure off the lines so we could remove them safely. Most of the mizzen crew worked the aft starboard dock line but I took too long getting my gear on so I waited to see if I could help with anything else. Eventually the Captain called to each group to remove their line (remove line 3 etc.) and the Eagle slowly reversed out of our dock into the harbor.
Despite the clouds and wind, our visibility was pretty clear as it had stopped snowing. A crewman was struggling to set the identification flags in the heavy wind so I jumped in and helped untangle them. The Eagle came about slowly with some help from the push boats and we made our way out of the harbor upon our prescribed course.
In our original published schedule, Saturday was supposed to be a training day where we did our "up and over" qualification so we could go aloft anytime sail stations were called. But the weather, late arrival of stores and crew and late departure time killed any hope of that happening today. At least we were out of port and might have a chance to sail tomorrow.
In our original published schedule, Saturday was supposed to be a training day where we did our "up and over" qualification so we could go aloft anytime sail stations were called. But the weather, late arrival of stores and crew and late departure time killed any hope of that happening today. At least we were out of port and might have a chance to sail tomorrow.
I headed down to the Mess deck and waited with everyone else to get to our anchorage at Fisher Island. The time of travel from our Navigation brief estimated we would be there in about 1.5 hours. Mike, Orion and Calen wanted to see them let the anchor go. We went back and forth to the fore a few times before the anchor crew was in position. Unfortunately they had a snag with the starboard anchor chain. During the brief they had mentioned that it was being worked on and the captain wanted to test the starboard anchor when we arrived. Now they were hitting parts of the chain with a medium sized pick. Eventually we heard something shift and an anchor crewman threw down the chain lock. They announced to the bridge they were ready to go.
The bridge had to reset our position to get back to the anchorage so it was a few minutes before they pulled off the chain lock and let loose the brake. Per the Nav-plan, the anchor crew was to let out 6 "shot" which are pre-measured lengths of the anchor chain. The anchor chain initially flew out fast and rust from the chain sprayed the immediate area. The separate sections are marked in white and multiple crewmen held up their hands and held up a finger every time a white length went by. I had set my iPhone to start taking video as soon as they let the chain go but right when I hit record, my battery finally died. So much for that idea...The anchor chain initially went down quick but soon stopped and only moved in slight bursts as the ship slowly started to drift in the water. After 5 shots went by, the bridge signaled that it was enough and a member of the anchor team turned a “T” bar which engaged the anchor chain brake. There was a high pitched squeal of metal scraping and the crewman struggled to turn the brake harder when another crewman pulled him out of the area in case something snapped. The ship stopped without incident so we all dispersed.
The bridge had to reset our position to get back to the anchorage so it was a few minutes before they pulled off the chain lock and let loose the brake. Per the Nav-plan, the anchor crew was to let out 6 "shot" which are pre-measured lengths of the anchor chain. The anchor chain initially flew out fast and rust from the chain sprayed the immediate area. The separate sections are marked in white and multiple crewmen held up their hands and held up a finger every time a white length went by. I had set my iPhone to start taking video as soon as they let the chain go but right when I hit record, my battery finally died. So much for that idea...The anchor chain initially went down quick but soon stopped and only moved in slight bursts as the ship slowly started to drift in the water. After 5 shots went by, the bridge signaled that it was enough and a member of the anchor team turned a “T” bar which engaged the anchor chain brake. There was a high pitched squeal of metal scraping and the crewman struggled to turn the brake harder when another crewman pulled him out of the area in case something snapped. The ship stopped without incident so we all dispersed.
After dinner they held a weather briefing that goes over the expected weather for the next week and how it will effect our course, travel time and daily programs and how the POD is set for us to move all ships clock ahead an hour.
Day Three:
http://emaxadventure.weebly.com/1/post/2013/05/-day-three-saturday.html