Chippy has become obsessed with his garden plot and ignoring
all his friends. Spitfire and myself, Merry, have been bored hanging around the
Woodpile. I overheard Mom planning a trip to tour the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Eagle
which was participating in Sail Portsmouth 2019 event. It sounded like the
perfect adventure. We packed our bags along with lots of snacks and stowed away
in Mom’s purse.
We didn’t count on the fact security was really tight and
there was a bag check for all visitors. We were “discovered”. After explaining
our situation, the Coast Guard personal admired our initiative and adventurous
spirit. (I also think it helped when we offered to write about our experiences
on Chippy’s famous blog.)
The Eagle is a 295 foot long three masted tall ship. It was
built in 1936 for the German Navy and acquired by the U.S. at the end of WWII as war
reparations. It takes a permanent crew of 57 to run the ship. The Coast Guard uses
the ship for training cadets enrolled in its Officer Candidate
School.
Various signs throughout the tour promoted the values of
the Coast Guard and were aimed at recruiting new candidates. Spitfire and
myself decided to join the Coast Guard. It sounded like a lot more fun than
hanging around the Woodpile listening to Chippy drone on for hours about the
best way to care for squash plants.
This block and tackle matches my own wood tone.
Here is an example of how these block and tackles are
used.
Hmmm, they don’t seem to have any critter size life rings
onboard.
It takes a lot of crewmen to steer the boat. I wonder if
they have a minimum height requirement?
We have to learn what? What all these ropes do.
… and raise these heavy sails
… by pulling on these ropes thicker than our bodies
We decided to make a quick exit through the port holes.
As we were going AWOL, we came across this futuristic craft
called the Ghost. The manufacturer was looking for some test pilots. We offered
to work for #50 of sunflower seeds per day ($28) and were hired on the spot.
No comments:
Post a Comment