Moonlight glinted off the rolling waves of Lake Superior and cast its soft glow on the mahogany rails and coiled ropes on deck. The wooden hull rumbled and creaked as it broke through water, a soundtrack punctuated by the occasional snap of a sail. It was 2:30 in the morning, and I was at the helm steering the majestic tall ship the Pride of Baltimore II through dark waters. The task filled me with wonder — and just a touch of fear.
Wind slapped at my face, feeling like a gale. Muscles in my arms ached from keeping a firm grip on the handles of the 5-foot-wide wheel. The ship, a faithful reproduction of a 19th-century Baltimore clipper topsail schooner, listed to port. The sense of duty weighed on me as I considered not only its size (100 feet long) and the height of its sails (107 feet) but also the 17 other people on board. Fortunately, I was not alone at my task.
On hand was second mate Will McLean, who was the officer on watch and a member of the paid crew — as opposed to the handful of us who'd paid for the privilege of helping sail this slice of American naval history. He stepped out of the rear cabin, where the ship's charts are kept, and told me to change course. I repeated his instructions — "changing course to 2-7-0" — and began turning the wheel. To my surprise, the ship dipped farther to port. I gave McLean a concerned look; he just smiled and told me to keep turning.
There was no gale, and no danger to the ship. I was exhilarated.
Who would have thought that a landlubber like me, whose only real experience with sailing ships was through books and a vivid imagination, would find himself standing watch, raising sails, climbing the mast and coiling the lines of a tall ship?
The sailing trip my wife and I took last July across Lake Superior — from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, to Duluth during its Tall Ships Festival — began last January when I discovered a buried e-mail from an old contact at the Pride of Baltimore II. The subject line said, "Come aboard." Until then, I hadn't known it was possible to join the crew.
At the ship's website, www.pride2.org, my wife and I filled out application forms for guest crew and were later interviewed via phone by the captain, who assured us that this would be no cruise, but a working vacation. As guest crew members who would pay $500 apiece for the five-day trip, we would not be required to perform tasks that made us uncomfortable, such as climbing the rigging, but we would stand watch, help keep the galley clean, raise sails and perform other tasks necessary for the smooth running of a traditional wooden sailing vessel.
The deal sounded good to us — and we passed muster with the captain — so last July, my wife and I drove to Duluth and hopped a bus for a 10-hour ride to Sault Ste. Marie. We spent one night in a hotel before heading to the port, where we checked out two other tall ships at the dock (as guest crew, we had VIP armbands that gave us access) and then boarded the Pride II.
