Quiet Seas

[dmiller]

Shrouded in a veil of smoke from its cannons the tall ship Pride of Baltimore II, followed by the U.S. Brig Niagara, sails through the ship canal into the Duluth Harbor Thursday afternoon for the Duluth Maritime Festival. [CLINT AUSTIN/NEWS TRIBUNE]

It was a purty neat sight!!! Had one of the clients at the group home out for a walk on the Lake Walk here in town yesterday afternoon, and saw all this happening out on Lake Superior. The masts on that first ship were so tall, they almost didn't fit under the aerial lift bridge we have here as the (main) entrance to the Duluth harbor.

Here's a pic of the bridge at night. The masts of the tall ships were taller than the freighter you see in the foreground in this next pic. The center span of the bridge raises, and the tall ships came entering from the other side of that center span (opposite from where you see the freighter here).

[dmiller]

With cannons’ roar, a trio of tall ships, their white sails billowing in the wind, glided into Duluth Harbor Thursday afternoon to the delight of the thousands of people who gathered to watch.

The ships, including replicas of 1812 war ships, passed through the Aerial Lift Bridge beginning about 4 p.m., followed by an armada of smaller boats that later milled around as the big ships docked along Harbor Drive.

It was the first time in decades that many tall ships had sailed into the harbor at one time, harkening back to the mid- to late-1800s when sailing vessels moved cargo on the Great Lakes. The ships are here for this weekend’s Duluth Maritime Festival and will be open for public tours today through Sunday.

Quoted from the Duluth News Tribune

Video of it here ----->>> http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/video/ind...&app=duluth

Edited August 2, 2008 by dmiller

[mstar1]

Cool!

I was lucky enough to work on the 9th floor of the Boston waterfront in 1992 when they had the Tall Ships celebration come to Boston as part of the 500th anniversary of Columbus discovery of America.

At that time it was the largest gathering of Tall Ships and it was absolutely breathtaking to watch them coming into the harbor under full sail.

If anyone anywhere has the opportunity to see anything like this--GO!

its wellworth it

Here's the Krusenstern, which I got to tour when it was docked...

Edited August 2, 2008 by mstar1

[Linda Z]

Thanks for sharing those, David.

I love seeing the tall ships under full sail. I've seen them several times in Cleveland and several more at Put-in-Bay, Ohio, a small town on a little island near the location where the Battle of Lake Erie took place, September 10, 1813. The first time I saw them was at Put-in-Bay, during the commemoration of the 175th anniversary of that battle.

One of the greatest events that weekend was the "laying of the wreaths" ceremony, which was done to honor the men who died in that battle. My friends and I boarded a day-cruise boat that followed the Niagara about an hour out into the lake for the ceremony. We watched in fascination and awe as the sailors scrambled up the masts and raised the sails. One by one, huge expanses of canvas unfurled and caught the wind. What a majestic sight!

The ceremony was so moving. Descendants of men who had fought in the battle threw floral wreaths from the deck of the Niagara out onto the water at the spot where the battle happened. Unforgettable.

Here's a great pic of the Niagara when she was in Cleveland a couple years ago:

[Kit Sober]

Thanks. So lovely!

(being Landlocked in Reno, and pretty much never travel any more, I may never see such a sight, so the pictures are memorable.

[Watered Garden]

Thanks so much for posting those pictures.

Since I was a child, one of the things I want to do before I die is tour the USS Constitution. We learned the poem about her in middle school or so:

Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!

Long has it waved on high,

And many an eye has danced to see

That banner in the sky;

Beneath it rung the battle shout,

And burst the cannon's roar; --

The meteor of the ocean air

Shall sweep the clouds no more.

Her deck, once red with heroes' blood,

Where knelt the vanquished foe,

When winds were hurrying o'er the flood,

And waves were white below,

No more shall feel the victor's tread,

Or know the conquered knee; --

The harpies of the shore shall pluck

The eagle of the sea!

Oh, better that her shattered hulk

Should sink beneath the wave;

Her thunders shook the mighty deep,

And there should be her grave;

Nail to the mast her holy flag,

Set every threadbare sail,

And give her to the god of storms,

The lightning and the gale!

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Originally her timbers were palmetto wood from South Carolina. Cannon just bounced off it. She was commissioned in 1797 by President George Washington.

It was decided to tear her down and Holmes wrote that poem and then schoolchildren sent in pennies and she was saved. Today she is docked in Boston as a Ship of State. She is still as I recall considered an active warship of the United States Navy.

She is from a better time than this.

WG

[mstar1]

Here ya go WG

Old Ironsides

The USS Constitution

WEBSITE

Edited August 3, 2008 by mstar1

[krys]

I would really love to sail one of those for a while. [sigh]

[anotherDan]

magnificent!

If y'all haven't seen it, rent the DVD "Master and Commander" with Russel Crowe

And/or read the "Hornblower" series by C. S. Forester (but forget the PBS miniseries)

Dana's non-fiction Two Years Before the Mast is a treasure.... early California on a tall ship, just before the crowds came in after the discovery of gold in '49. And heartbreaking. Dana Point is named after him.

[dmiller]

A fella I know on another board (living in the United Kingdom), posted this, in response to what I've said here.

Looks like the REAL deal is happening over *across the pond*! ;) :blink: :)

We're actually hosting the Tall Ships Race (again) in a few weeks time WindyMiller.

It's a spectacular site to be sure!

http://www.falmouthtallships.co.uk/fts_ships.php

http://www.tallshipsraces.com/funchal500/vesseldata.html

I'm hoping to get my telescopic mast up on a large enough vessel to compensate the sway at the top of the mast to get some decent aerial shots at the event, unfortunately my own boat is a little too small to put the mast up to full height.

Hopefully I'll get some great aerial images of the event.

It's on in just over 4 weeks time.

I'll keep you posted.

There's so many sailing events going on at this time of the year here, it's hard to keep up with all of them.

[Linda Z]

David, do you think you could convince your Brit friend to share some of those photos with us??? Prettttty please???

[dmiller]

Linda --- click the first link, or the second. Both show live links to pics of many ships. Give it a try, eh?? ;)

[Combination]

It took me a good while to notice that there are two ships in that initial picture. :blink:

Edited August 5, 2008 by Combination