The Voyage of a Lifetime

(from April 2006)

By JOE ORCHULLI II

Staff Reporter

 

 

The H.M.S. Bounty was hauled out of the water at Sample’s Shipyard (now Boothbay Harbor Shipyard) having work done to her hull and was a spectacle for many summer tourists that season.

I inquired and met Captain Robin Walbridge who informed me that in order to join the crew for the next sail, one would have to live aboard the ship in dry dock and work on her for $50 a week.

I was very interested but circumstances did not allow me to join at that time.

This past summer, I inquired again and began interviewing with the H.M.S. Bounty Executive Director Margaret Ramsey.

During the process, I had also visited Boothbay Harbor again in 2005 while on my east coast concert tour (www.myspace.com/joeyomusic.) While visiting my friends at the Boothbay Register, I was offered an assignment to do a feature story on Monhegan Island.

Shortly after, I was offered a full-time position at this newspaper.

After a lot of prayers, some good counsel and reasoning, I reluctantly released my grip from the dream and decided to move north, letting the Bounty opportunity slip by me once more as she sailed to St. Petersburg, Florida less 170 pounds.

After a wonderful five months at the paper, I was covering a story at Boothbay Harbor Shipyard and learned that Bounty had changed her course and was returning to Boothbay Harbor.

With great excitement and enthusiasm, I composed an email to Margaret Ramsey and after all of the details were ironed out, I was to sail on Bounty after all.

The Journey Begins

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My good friends Diane and Brian Howe drove me to Portland on Friday, March 31, and after purchasing a new camera and having dinner, I was dropped off at the bus station where I got my ride to New York City, sleeping peacefully all of the way listening to the new David Gilmour CD in headphones.

The bus arrived in the Big Apple at 5:30 a.m. on April 1. No fooling!

From the Port Authority, I literally dragged my many belongings to the subway where I got on a train to the Long Island Railroad terminal where a very kind, Italian immigrant man hoisted my large duffle bag onto his shoulders and helped me along my way.

From there, I took a train to Ronkonkoma where I relaxed in the warm, morning sun for an hour and a half awaiting the only train of the day to Greenport, Long Island, the homeport of the Bounty.

Favor continued to light my path as conductor Eric Martin of Centerreach, New York, invited me to join him in the engine car and catch a windshield view of the whole train ride that ended an hour and half later, just steps away from the Bounty.

As a continued act of kindness, Eric offered to help carry my luggage, gaining him a well-deserved tour of the ship. He said, "This is going to be an awesome experience!" I answered, "Yes, it is!"

After asking permission to step aboard, I was first greeted by third mate Trevor Tingle of Austin, Texas who graciously showed me to my cabin. To my amazement, I was to stay in Captain Bligh’s quarters. A double bed with a dresser complete with a nautical blanket and fish net hanging from the ceiling. It was like a time capsule with hewn wooden beams transporting me back into the 18th Century.

(Later in the week, I moved to an even nicer single bed cabin to make room for a visiting couple.)

It was Sunday when I arrived in Greenport and the crew was off for the day either sightseeing or just relaxing on the ship.

A very interesting mix of people, the crew consisted of 18 people ranging from 20-year-old Shane James, a classical concert pianist from Fairbanks, Alaska, to Elizabeth Giddens, former senior editor of Harper’s Magazine in New York City, who left her job to join the crew.

Greenport is a beautiful waterfront town in northeast Long Island and is the home of Preston’s, "One of America’s Oldest Ship’s Chandleries," along with many shops, a glass enclosed carousel and an outdoor ice skating rink that is erected each year. There is also a Camera Obscura. A must see.

Aboard the ship there are six stateroom cabins on the ’tween deck with the Great Cabin aft where a couple of the crew sleep in the window berths. The rest of the crew sleeps in the lower deck.

Also on the ’tween deck, there are three, adjustable wooden hanging tables, suspended by rope with benches that are used for both work and mealtime for the crew.

Work below deck includes sail mending, repairing rigging and block cleaning.

At work in the galley, ship’s cook Ralph McCutchen formerly from Limerick, Maine, prepared three squares a day for the hardworking crew including everything from sausage, egg and cheese muffins for breakfast, grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for lunch and his special recipes for pan blackened, Sushi grade tuna steaks and Caribbean Chicken for dinner. Mmm...Mmm!

As the ship left Greenport the following morning, deck hand Evan Rickett, born in Maryland, made a heroic leap onto a dolphin piling releasing one of the dock lines that became entangled while the 412-ton ship was pulling away.

Once the line was released, Rickett leaped back aboard, grabbing the rigging, pulling himself safely onto the ship.

We then set sail in fair winds heading up the coast past wondrous seascapes, lighthouses and islands along the coast of Rhode Island and Gloucester, Massachusetts. I spied a lone albatross gliding across the waves.

As the weather began to stir, we anchored that evening off of Cuttyhunk Island to duck out of an approaching storm.

As part of the night watch, I had my turn coming on deck checking our position with land lights and blinking buoys with binoculars and a compass as "the wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound."*

In joining the crew, I became part of their three-watch system where different groups of crew members took turns on deck at the helm, forward watch, boat check and cleaning the heads and showers. There were also work parties where we spent time doing necessary repairs and down rigging the ship in preparation for the haul out once we arrived at Boothbay Harbor Shipyard.

In the evening, the crew would gather on the ’tween deck where John "Shing" Fredricks of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania would play his guitar, percussion and harmonica leading the crew in sea shanties. There was plenty of fun and dancing.

The next morning we headed toward Cape Cod Canal where I got to man the helm from Wood’s Hole to the entrance of the canal where I was replaced by the lovely Monet Davis, of Johnson City, Tennessee.

Chef Ralph asked me what I wanted on my pizza as he prepared custom orders for the whole crew.

The food was absolutely delicious after a morning of hard work and I took my plate on deck as we passed through the remainder of the Cape Cod Canal under gray skies with just a few drops of rain.

That night brought eight-foot seas and a great amount of turbulence causing the ship to "corkscrew" which kept me confined to my quarters in an ill state for the rest of the evening. I found that when not feeling well on a ship, lying down does wonders! The ship rocked and creaked with the sound of water washing the sides of the hull, lulling me to sleep. She is quite seaworthy and I had no worries though there was a call for "all hands on deck" in the midst of the storm.

I felt renewed the next day and I had my first turn at going aloft to furl sails under the instruction of First Mate Rebecca Anderson of Scranton Pennsylvania, a former missionary teacher in Newark, New Jersey who left her job to sail on the ship.

Wearing a safety harness, I climbed the ratlines some 50 feet above the deck as the boat listed side to side with winds at about 20 knots. What a view!

Second Mate Caleb Twombly of Groveland, Massachusetts taught me how to take a GPS reading and transpose it to our position using a chart and calipers. He also helped me to make a Turkshead bracelet after I tried and failed everyday until our last night on the water.

The hopeful romantic that I am, I launched a message in a bottle near Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse and am patiently awaiting a response.

We arrived in Portland on Wednesday, April 5, at 1:10 p.m., welcomed by a light snow soon after we stepped ashore.

I returned to Boothbay Harbor for a meeting the next day and that evening where I was pleasantly serenaded by the Windham Chamber Singers who performed a concert hosted by Lincoln Arts, then returned to Portland the following morning and joined the crew, donning our navy coats and watch caps to check out the town.

We looked like sailors from another era walking the streets of Old Port in search of treasures, fun and a meal ashore. We visited China Sea Trading Company on Fore Street where I acquired my hat and sailor’s tools, an amazing shop for any nautical antique buff. Some of the crew had bicycles aboard and went exploring.

Driving to Portland by car and coming into port on a replica 18th century square-rigged tall ship are two entirely different experiences. We were treated like celebrities everywhere that we went.

Speaking of celebrities, some of the crew shared their photo albums of the filming of the upcoming Walt Disney major motion picture "Pirates of the Caribbean II-Dead Man’s Chest" which was filmed using the ship (which will be called Edinburgh in the film) in 2004 in St. Vincent.

Many of the crew were dressed in period clothing and were used as extras in the films starring Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom, the first of which is scheduled to appear this summer. It is said that crewmember Brian Harvey of Davisburg, Michigan, was even dressed as a double for Bloom! (I saw the picture. It was pretty convincing!)

After an excellent time in Portland and awaiting the right tide, we set sail for Boothbay Harbor, joined by a fortunate group of people who came aboard for the half-day trip.

The sun shone brightly as we made our way up the coast for the final leg of our voyage. Mt. Washington reflected the morning sun off in the distance as the atmosphere sparkled with light.

The weather was wonderful as the shores of Southport came into view. We passed Cuckolds Lighthouse and Ram Island, slipping into Boothbay Harbor unnoticed until gunner Joe Clausing of Mequon, Wisconsin, fired cannons announcing our arrival, beckoning a group of townspeople to greet us at Signal Point Marina a week after my adventure began.

It is a voyage that I will not soon forget. Sometimes I still have to grab a hold of my desk because I am sure that I am still moving.