Month: July 2009

I just received all of Jessica Blazewicz’s log entries –

June 28, 2009

Day 1- aboard Spirit of Massachusetts

The day began as the students began to show up at the dock. At first it was awkward, and everyone was nervous. Within the hour however, everyone had found at least one person with whom they could relate.

Skepticism of the weather did little to damper the excitement that lay before everyone. Proudly the crew boarded the vessel, their new home, and thus the voyage began.

The first thing to do was to go over the basics of the running and caring of the ship. Before even leaving the dock, an hour or so was spent with a tour, explaining and socializing. As soon as the basics were established it was finally time to leave. As parents waved and yelled their farewells, we looked not back, but forward.

With everyone sorted into shifts, it was quite easy to manage the ship. Even though a fog covered the sea, and the chill of the wind cooled us, we were all very happy. As we got farther and farther from the shore the waves grew bigger. Never did they reach any height to worry about; a few of the crew had already begun to feel the butterflies.

As the day flew by, everyone began to ease into the ways of the ship. Many members of the crew were surprised to realize that balance on land, meant nothing over water. After a “funaucational” lesson, we were all delighted by cook Sarah Renée’s delicious lunch, of corn chowder, BLT’s, and PBJ sandwiches.

Later we decided to head to Stellwagen Bank where we were sure we would see some whales, or porpoises. Unfortunately when we arrived, we were disappointed to find nothing but crashing waves, and seaweed clumps.

Disappointed, we decided to head for land and turned the ship directly toward Nahant Bay, where we planned to anchor for the night. After all of the ships chores and tasks were done, everyone sat down to a hearty dinner of lasagna, salad, and absolutely delicious French Bread.

After lowering the anchor right outside of the harbor, we lowered the sails, in preparation of night. But the crews work was far from over, and as the sun set and people fell asleep, someone always had to watch the boat.

Captain Madeira organized all the children, and some of the adults, into anchor watches, one hour for every three people. As the crew slept the anchor watch checked the boat, watched her, and got the bearings to make sure the Spirit of Massachusetts had not pulled her anchor.

Most everyone slept soundly, after a very full day. It had been a pleasant and successful day, and everyone was excited for the next.

June 29, 2009

Day 2- aboard the Spirit of Massachusetts

When the crew woke upon day two of our voyage, and everyone was disappointed by the arrival of rain. The morning began, with the tedious job of lifting the 500 lb anchor. The rain washed down on us, and everyone on deck was ordered to wear the big but effective raingear.

The first breakfast was defiantly a good one, made by cook Sarah Renée.

This simple but good pancakes could easily have many condiments added such has honey, jelly, syrup, and butter. Also in this breakfast were some hearty sausages, and cheesy eggs.

Soon the Captain realized that the wind was not very strong at all, and soon we had a plan to motor the ship as near as we could to Georges Island, so we could have a little time ashore. When we got to shore, by Zodiac, we were met by a park ranger, named Ray. He gave us a tour of Fort Warren, and told a spooky ghost story called “The Lady in Black.”

For all the crew, who had previously been sea sick, the brief land trip was defiantly a good break. After the tour, everyone was allowed to play games, explore, or just talk.

After a while of just chilling on land, the Zodiac arrived to carry us back to the ship. Back on board, we had to continue our tasks and our chores. Once they were all done, it was finally time to climb the rigging. Excited, everyone donned their safety harnesses and one at a time began to climb, backed up by an adult. From the top of the rigging a beautiful sight lay beneath. One could look out over the harbor, and down on the fort.

As the sun began to set, we all gathered mid-deck, and created a story. This activity was run by Linda, and it was very funny to see how the plot changed as the story passed from one person to the next.

After a full days work, everyone was tired and full from Sarah Renée’s dinner of sorted meats, carrots and potatoes. Finally, everyone collapsed in bed, only to realize that in a couple of hours, they would have to wake up for anchor watch.

June 30, 2009

Day 3- aboard the Spirit of Massachusetts

The foggy morning began with everyone dragging themselves out of bed. After only two days everyone was very tired, but still they had to get up. The first jobs were to scrub the decks, heads, soles, and eating surfaces. Soon the boat was looking clean, and we were all very proud of our work.

After cleaning, it was time for breakfast, which was assorted cereal, oatmeal, fruit, muffins, and cream of wheat. After eating, of course, the daily dish duty began, the crew quickly got to work. In a short time, they were all done.

Next it was time to clean our bunks. The adults had decided that some of the bunks were looking a little messy, the stuff not properly stowed. So everyone had to go down to their bunks, and neaten it up for an inspection by Mr. Tingle. Almost everyone passed, and now it was time to move on to other activities.

The first activity of the day was to have an emergency drill. Everyone went to the helm to get the basics down. Then we all split up into our groups to learn what procedures we were in charge of. Then, to test it out, we tossed a buoy overboard, and went through all of our procedures to rescue it.

After the safety was established, it was time for lunch. Today’s lunch was a great meal of hot dogs, salad, chips, and a special treat of gummy starbursts. Since it’s always time to go on a ship, as soon as the meal was done it was right back to chores.

Later, the crew devised a great plan to have three learning stations for us to go to. The first was with Captain Madeira, where we learned about navigation. The second was with Max, where we learned to make the complicated Turks Head knot and the ­­blood knot. The last station was with Brian, were we all played a game with idioms about sailing.

That night, everyone gathered mid-deck where Brian told us a story about an evil captain and Jay sung a lullaby that he sang to his children Elise and Spencer. Earlier, the crew had decided that certain things would get them to have to perform: for example eating with a hat on, leaving a light on, or leaving your stuff around.

So after the story, it was performance time, and we had many, many songs, poems, acting and stories. It was very entertaining and everyone had tons of fun. Afterward, everyone was so tired; they just went straight to sleep. That night was also really foggy and during our watch we lost our bearings, but by morning it had cleared up.

July 1, 2009

Day 4- about the Spirit of Massachusetts

The day began a little chilly, but not really that bad. We had a breakfast of French toast and everyone did their chores. Then, it was time for another land excursion. This time it would be to Misery Island. After a big talk and writing about its name, no one knew for certain why it was called that.

We got ashore using the Zodiac and the exploration began. We were told that pirate treasure had been left on the island and we were going to find it. At first we just took a long walk going by the casino ruins. Then we came back to the beach for sandwiches, trail mix, and punch.

Then it was off to find the treasure again, everyone was running around looking. The three who saw it first almost at the same time were Leah, Jessica, and Teddy. However, soon everyone was around them grabbing the treasure of Doritos, Oreos, and Nutter Butters.

After the treasure search it was back to the beach where captain Madeira had brought ashore two buckets. Everyone began to fill them up with sea life and soon we had our own little aquarium. When we were back on the boat we got to learn all about them and got to look at them under the microscope.

Dinner that night was delicious pork, veggies, and mashed potatoes. After dinner and chores, we had a talent time where Jessica and Leah shared a hilarious story contributed by many other crew. Other acts included Spencer, Alex, and Josh modeling, beat boxing by Everest and Josh, singing from Jay and guitar from Leah and James.

After the show, we all played the Pirate Ghost, more commonly known as Mafia. It was very fun, and we all enjoyed ourselves. After the game it was back to bed and everyone settled down into their bunks for a goodnight sleep.