Part 3 - Fells Point, Baltimore Harbor – Monday, May 20th

Climbing into my berth on Sunday night there are a few things on my mind. As far as the POB2 herself, she is flat out beautiful, and I have no worries about her. But there are other thoughts bouncing around my head - the excitement of the trip, of being with new people, and a bit of disappointing news, two bits of it. First, the POB2 isn’t leaving the next day as planned. The boat is expecting the delivery of a cannon any day now. Tomorrow might just be the day. (It wasn’t.) And secondly, we won’t be sailing south down the Chesapeake like I assumed. We will motor north into the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and out the Delaware Bay. Looking at a map, it makes more sense – the route is much shorter. But I wanted to see the Chesapeake.

Of all the things on my mind, my performance aboard the POB2 isn’t one of them. It should have been. My mind is going in too many directions; I take a sleeping pill, 5mg of Ambien. It might leave me a little drowsy in the morning but we don’t muster in the morning until after breakfast.

Monday morning is sunny. The breakfast is good, great really. Mark, the cook for the journey, has laid out a spread – eggs, bacon, hot oatmeal, pastries. Another good omen for the trip.

The muster goes well. Our captain, Jamie Trost, a native of Erie, PA, leads it and explains what is expected of the crew and guest crew. I feel a little intimidated by him. He is in his mid to late thirties, strong, fit, sure of himself. The opposite of me. But it’s OK. He seems competent enough, and that’s the only real thing a captain has to have.

Add caption

He turns the muster over to Jill Hughes, the Chief Mate. She’s originally from Buffalo, NY and also seems competent and confident. She explains the details of what will happen today. It’s a day of voyage preparation. For the regular crew this means mending this and checking that. She assigns different tasks for each regular crew. The Second Mate of the POB2 is Will McLean from Rocky Mount (or somewhere near there) North Carolina. He will direct the regular crew.

 For the guest crew (six of us) it will be a day of orientation: learning about the boat; about safety on the ocean; about what is expected of us. The orientation is led by the Bosun (an apprentice Mate), Meredith McKinnon, from Montreal (I think), Ontario, the only Canadian aboard. At orientation we learn about the boat, about safety at sea, about what is expected of us in different situations. Most of the orientation is routine, how the lifeboats work, how to put on our immersion suits, which side of the boat to walk on while it’s moving. And then at the end Meredith asks, “Does anyone want to go up the main mast, just to see what it’s like?” Most of the guest crew goes up, including, of course, me. I have to go up in a big, fat hurry to show everyone my capability and also my comfort in high places. I’m a former roofer/carpenter/painter after all.  

Guest Crew in Immersion Suits Which Can Keep You Warm and Afloat

When orientation is over and I’m in my cabin waiting for lunch to be ready. Afterwards Captain Trost wants to take on fuel so the POB2 can get an early start in the morning. The fuel dock is two minutes of motoring away but getting there requires maneuvering the 185+ton boat away from its berth. To push the bow away from the dock requires the crew heaving 2” dock lines at the stern to pull it towards the dock which pushes the bow out into the harbor. (Yeah, let me jump in with these 20-year old kids and pull as hard as they do.) And I do. The procedure at the fuel dock requires heaving on both bow and stern dock lines. Then we repeat the procedure and return to our slip. By the time the heaving is over, I’ve had it.

 --Bob Kerber