By Andrea Durán
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
“Use the palm of your hand to cover your ears!” shouts a deckhand aboard the 109 foot-long Tall Ship.
BOOM.
An explosion bursts off the port side, straight from a replica of a 19th-century cannon. The smoke blurs the sunshine for a moment, transporting the passengers on deck 200 years into the past.
After spending a year and a half on dry land nearly forgotten, the Pride of Baltimore II returned to the Inner Harbor on Thursday, March 28.
The Pride of Baltimore, a replica of a 19th century Baltimore clipper ship, had once sailed throughout Europe, the Caribbean, Mexican Gulf and Nova Scotia. However a $200,000 budget shortfall prevented the Pride from sailing during the 2018 season.
This year, with a $500,000 appropriation in state funds, the Pride will sail the Chesapeake Bay, the Great Lakes and beyond. The remainder of the ship’s $1.25 million budget will be funded by grants and private donors, Williams said.
“It was so sad when we had to put her away because of lack of funds,” Williams said. “I think people forgot about the Pride and when I became chairman it was something I really wanted to do––get her out on the harbor again.”
A sunny morning was no better day for the Pride to return to its home port, despite a chill in the air. Although the temperature was a comfortable 65 degrees, winds rushed across the deck and filled the enormous, billowing sails. Hats, ear muffs, gloves, and ski jackets were encouraged.
“It’s an exciting time for all of us,” Captain Jan Miles said, smiling, his eyes hidden behind sunglasses. “I’m just happy she’s back on the water and back in the harbor.”
Crew members scurried back and forth along the deck, pulling lines, tying knots and adjusting the rig. Everything on a topsail schooner has to be done precisely. As every order is shouted out, crew members repeat it loudly to make sure everyone understands what to do.
“It definitely took me a while to get the hang of it,” said crew member Jennifer Roberts. Roberts trained for six months to be a crewmember on the Pride and now knows only “some stuff.”
The crew lives on the Pride for months at a time for each season. An average day consists of early mornings and vigorous workouts as they work the rig with small breaks in between. After a day deck tours or guest sails, the crew sits in the salon below deck for the occasional card game.
Below the busy deck, a gentle bossanova played softly in the ship’s galley as the Pride’s chef, Philip Keenan, 67, made sandwiches of pumpernickel bread, ham, spinach and cheese.
Polished wooden floors gleam in the ship’s lamplight and reflect the morning sunlight streaming in from the hatch. The close quarters in the ship’s salon resembles the booth of a diner, but with a raised wooden lip all around the edge of the table.
“We have these guard rails everywhere for the newbies, and when they’re getting used to it, it’s like a human pinball machine in here,” Keenan said, laughing.
“We get used to it pretty quickly though!” Dinnie Jay, a crewmember, said defensively, as she swept the floor with a small broom.
Back above deck, Jay’s co-workers were hard at work bringing the sails back in. The Pride had docked. This time, it is not on land and it is not indefinitely.
On June 3, the Pride of Baltimore II will set sail and head for the Great Lakes, continuing its mission to represent Baltimore in the maritime throughout the country and throughout the seven seas.