At 0900 the Crew from Merchant Ship
Friendship came aboard. The group was composed of
eight staff from Salem Maritime National Historic
Site, four Shipwright Volunteers, and twenty
Volunteer Crewmembers. The group has varying
levels of skills, experience, and exposure, and
are aboard Ernestina to learn those things
they will soon need to help build and sail
Friendship.Friendship is
a partially completed replica of a Salem East
Indiaman, the
original being built in 1797: 100’ LWL,
170’ LOA, 350 T displacement, full rigged
ship. Now berthed alongside Central Wharf in
Salem, MA, Friendship’s rigging and
structure are under construction. New additions
include the chan'ls, chainplate, windlass and
Mizzen lower rigging. The bowsprit, dolphin
striker, and main lower rigging will soon be
aboard.
The goal of today’s
program is to build the skills and experience of
Friendship’s staff and volunteer crew. The
volunteers have been working for
over two years on various projects related to
Friendship’s construction and operation
under the guidance and leadership of Jeremy
Bumagin.
Painting, sanding, splicing,
stitching, tending mooring lines,
etc…They’ve done it. On average the
twenty-five active volunteers put in ten or more
hours each per month, that’s a total of 3000
hours a year. In the near future they will be
assisting with work aloft, setting standing
rigging, rattling down, and other various tasks.
To do this, they will need many of the same
skills used in handling a ship and her lines
under sail. So here they are to learn said
skills.
The day began with a smooth
departure from The State Fish Pier, Gloucester,
with a moderate northerly breeze. Once into the
outer harbor, we set a reefed main, fore, jumbo,
and later the jib. Once sail was set and the deck
put back in order, lines coiled and faked, the
crew split into watches for a rotation through
five educational stations: coiling and faking,
line handling, sail setting and striking, ship
structures and terminology, and fairleads/making
fast. At noon, with three stations rotated
through, lunch was rung up, and the breeze began
to diminish.
By 1330, lunch is long
finished, and we are well into the fourth
station. Soon we will move into the fifth, then
it will be a series of tacks back to Gloucester,
to the NW, a challenge due to the now light
breeze and significant seas. Once again in the
outer harbor, sail will be struck, the ME powered
up to bring us back alongside the state fish
pier.
Now tied alongside the State
Fish Pier, we would like to thank Jeremy for
bringing together another wonderful opportunity.
We look forward to more collaborations in the
future.
Wind: light N'ly
Visibility: Good
Captain: Amanda
Madeira
Program Coordinators: Crista Mellican
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