The Ship's Log

July 26: Fort of Louisburg – Sydney Nova Scotia

Logged on Wednesday July 29, 2009

sap_kids_eating

SYDNEY/FORT OF LOUISBURG
Entry by: Nathaniel, Eric, Kai, and Kelsey

While at the Tall Ships festival in Sydney, we took a shuttle van through Cape Breton to the Fort of Louisburg, a reconstruction of a French fort/town from 1744. When we first walked in we were approached by a French soldier asking why we were speaking English and not French. Eric, trying to be smart, said that we were from the British Virgin Islands. We were let by, though the soldier thought we looked like spies because of our (red) Roseway shirts. We walked into the forge and there was a ten-year-old boy making nails, screwdrivers, and other metal items. We then walked into the King’s Bakery and we were given a small talk about how they bake the bread. Turns out, there were three types of bread made. There’s white bread, which was served to the upper class. The 50% white/50% wheat bread was for the second class, and the 80% wheat with rye was for the lower class. They still actually bake bread today in the same type of oven and everything. We bought some bread, the 50%. We should have gone for the white bread. The 50% didn’t taste so hot, but it is healthier than the white bread, though. They didn’t know, back then, that the bread for the lower class people was actually better for you. Most of us thought it was really cool to see people living like we would have lived during that time. The whole landscape and actual buildings were so much different than we would have thought.

July 21: Out to Sea Again – Halifax to Port Hawkesbury

Logged on Wednesday July 22, 2009

sap_2009TRANSIT LOG
Halifax to Port Hawkesbury
Departure: 1500 hours, July 20, 2009
Arrival: 2000 hours, July 21, 2009
A Watch: Kai, Kelsey, Captain Dwight, Sam, Gillian, Andrew, Patricia
B Watch: Eric, Nathaniel, Captain Tom, Devo, James, Christina

A WATCH
We left the dock around 1100. We were participating in the Parade of Sail, where all of the tall ships sailed in and out of the Halifax harbor. Earlier that day, we also met our new passenger, Patricia. She will be with us until we get to Sydney. When we started to sail out of Halifax’s harbor, we started our watch rotations. We started on the second watch of the day. As we were sailing along, we could see ten other tall ships. There was the HMS Bounty, the Pride of Baltimore, and the huge Russian ship. The Bounty and the Pride came very close to use before they crossed our stern. The Pride was going really fast. They were half our weight, but they had double our amount of sails. We could see them for a long time before the wind died down and we turned on our engine.
We saw a leatherback turtle fortunately before we turned on our engine. It dove at the very last possible second right off the bow of the boat. It was huge! It looked like a small capsized boat. We also saw a bunch of dolphins. Captain Dwight thought that we didn’t have enough energy, so he made us do thirty I’m a Stars.
It was crazy calm on our watch. There were barely any waves and NO WIND!

B WATCH
During team B’s first watch we were sailing with plenty of wind, which was nice.
During our 0000-0600 shift, there were tons of shooting stars. I saw at least six, myself. The weather was drizzly and cold. Luckily, we hand an hour of rest during our watch. During the 1200-1800 shift we saw seals and dolphins jumping out of the water. There was such a lack of wind—the sea was like a mirror!

July 17-18: Working the Food Bank in Halifax

Logged on Monday July 20, 2009

kai_at_food_bankThursday, Friday, July 17, 2009
Entry by: Kai and Nathaniel

Kai: Today, we went to a food bank and we served the needy food. At first, Sam, Kelsey and I were flattening boxes, Eric was sorting dog food and cat food, and Nathaniel was packing away dog food. Everybody who worked there, including us, joined into the morning prayer. It was run by the director of the food bank, Mel. After that, we were partnered up with the experienced servers. Kelsey was paired with a girl named Kelsey. After they showed us how it was done, we handled people on our own. I was a little nervous at first, but I got the hang of it.
Nathaniel: While I was serving people I got very confused about how much everyone got of each thing. After I served two people I went into the back and I started packing dog food and kitty litter.
Kai: I saw all types of people, couples, the old, the young, and people with large families. After we finished with the people, we were told to take some food. We weren’t really sure we should because the food was for the needy. We took some fruit snacks, 5 cokes, two pineapples, and a huge pack of cherries.
After lunch, we went to the Spirit of Bermuda and the Harvey Gamage. Then we got Beaver Tails. They were delicious. They are deep fried and were covered in our choice of toppings. Today was a good day.

Saturday, July 18, 2009
Entry by: Sam

nathaniel_food_bankPotatoes!! If I could describe our Saturday in one word, that would be it. We woke up early to catch a ride to Feed Nova Scotia, a hub for all of the food banks in the area. It was really cool to know that all of the food we saw in Feed Nova Scotia’s warehouse, most of it donated from local grocery stores or food drives, would end up going to food banks and distributed to people all over the province, including our friends at Parker Street from yesterday. At Feed Nova Scotia, we were introduced to Blain and Mark, who took us into the warehouse’s freezer to sort potatoes into two groups—good potatoes that people could eat, and bad potatoes to be composted. We put on some music and got into the zone, tossing around those root veggies like they were hot potatoes. There are so many reasons why potato isn’t fit for consumption. Many of them were covered in giant cuts, or were soggy. It was kind of satisfying, throwing the rotten ones into the bin, especially the ones that exploded. According to Kai, she had never seen so many rotten potatoes in her life. But what about the ones that weren’t gross? By the end of four hours, we had sorted an astounding SIXTY-TWO banana boxes full of good potatoes, all to help feed people who needed them. Did you know that the French name for potato is “pomme de terre,” which translates to “apple of the earth”? Great job, Ambassador Crew!!

July 13 – 15: Transiting from Boston to Halifax

Logged on Friday July 17, 2009

kai_and_kelseyBoston to Halifax Transit
Departure: 1500 hours, July 13, 2009
Arrival: 2300 hours, July 15, 2008

A WATCH
By: Kelsey
First of all I would just like to state that A is and always will be Awesome. The weather was much better than we thought it would be, the biggest the waves ever got were about 3-4 feet. A team had deckwatch at 6 am until noon and then again at 6 pm until midnight. We saw many pods of Pilot whales, during A watch’s hours which were way better for whale watching than B’s hours. Later Sam and Kai were on bow watch. It was dark so everyone was on high alert. Sam suddenly comes running back to the Captain saying “Captain, this huge red light just appeared on the horizon!” The Captain looked at her and said “Sam…that’s the moon.”

We ended up getting to the mouth of the Halifax harbor at about 9 pm. B team was sound asleep, not knowing how close they were to being in Halifax. There were many close calls. On the radar, we could see all the boats in the harbor, and all the channel markers. There was one marker that’s light had gone out and so we couldn’t see it even though the radar said it was right off our bow. So, James, Kai and I were going crazy looking for it. We never found it. While we were looking for the marker, an oil tanker came by and told us to get out of the way. We think that’s when the marker went by. There was never any wind, at all, but it did pick up once we took down the sails. We also got to watch three other ships race.

B WATCH
By: Eric
May I start off saying B team was the Best. Transit to Halifax was tiring, boring, and cold. During the sleeping period you could hear the roar of the engines and the creak of the wood. We stayed on watch for six hours and then six hours of sleep. During the midnight to six o’clock was the worst because we had to endure the coldest part of the morning. Boat checks were the best part of watch. During the day watch it wasn’t so bad because there was work to do, warmth, and sunlight. We when got to Halifax it was about 11 o’clock and there were lights everywhere. Docking was difficult and we had to use a ramp to get onto the boat. After we docked we were cleared by customs and then proceeded to return to our bunks.

July 12: Final Days in Boston

Logged on Friday July 17, 2009

July 12, 2009
Location: Boston, MA
Entry by: Kai

Today, we started the morning with another deck wash. We planned to stay onboard Roseway for the morning sail, but sadly it was cancelled. We instead went to the USS Constitution. The USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warboat in the world. We had to go through security similar to when you go on a plane, though it wasn’t so intense. Then we waited in a very long line to take a tour of the vessel. While waiting in line, Sam read us various facts about the USS Constitution. The boat was under construction so it had a huge grey tarp covering the top deck.
It was as nice tour, though being 5’8” I had to bend my head a lot. We looked around on the gun deck which turns out to be where all the cannons are located. On a boat cannons are called guns.
We went further below to where the crew slept. There wasn’t a lot of room for 500 men to sleep. They all slept in hammocks. I immediately felt grateful for my bunk that has a mattress, pillow, and space for my bags. The line to get back on the boat back to the dock we came from was ridiculously long. It took me awhile to wrap my head around so many people.
We were late for lunch. Very late. We reached the boat by about 1:35. Ate really fast, then we were off. The afternoon sail was completely full, so there wouldn’t really be enough space for us. We walked for about 5 minutes then we arrived at the ICA art museum. It was pretty cool. We started on the top floor, where there was an exhibition of work done by Shepard Fairey. He used a lot of stencils and screen print and spray pain into his art pieces.
On the side of the museum that was facing the harbor, it was all glass, so that you can see the boats and the skyline. We spotted the Roseway, passing by with its beautiful red sails. Many people came up to us to learn more about the boat and what we were doing (the students).
After the museum, we headed back for a quick snack, then we were off again. We went over to the aquarium to look at the seals, then we got lemonade and Italian ices. The lemon stands are everywhere here in Boston. It really made us want lemonade. With lemonade in hand, we walked over to the greenway, which is a series of lawns and gardens where a raised highway used to be. We went to the Long Wharf Marriot to use the restrooms, then we were on our way to meet with the Roseway once again.

Coming up next: Impressions about the 48+ hour trip from Boston to Halifax by Kelsey “Short Leash” of A watch and Eric “Ericski” of B watch!!

July 11: Summer Ambassador Program Day 1

Logged on Saturday July 11, 2009

img_0273Conditions: sunny, warm, light breeze
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Entry By: Nathanial (AKA: Nate-Dog)

Today we started off the day with breakfast and a deck wash. Even though I’ve only washed the deck three or four times so far, it is starting to become a routine. After morning routine, we picked up passengers and went on our first tour or boat ride for the day. After we finished with the ride, which was really fun, we did another deck wash and then ate lunch which was really good. After lunch we set out for a small tour of Boston. The first place we went was to the park where we did an activity and then kicked around a soccer ball. Before we left the park for the Freedom Trail we saw a large statue of George Washington. On the Freedom Trail we went to all of the stops on the trail up until North Church. The tour was fun and informative and also some people even stopped us on the way to ask us about Roseway summer program. When we decided to head back to the boat we stopped at a park along the way to learn how to tie some knots. A couple minutes later we used our knot-tying to attach a bunch of small ropes together into one large jump rope. After we had finished at the park we walked back to the boat which had just arrived from its last ride of the day. We got back to the boat in time for one last deck wash and dinner. So far my time on Roseway has been fun and I’m looking forward to the rest of the trip.

June 30: Anchor Watch off Job Island

Logged on Friday July 3, 2009

June 30, 2009
0230 Anchor Watch
(reported by the students of Longacre Expeditions, age 14-16)

Conditions: foggy, flat-water, not much wind, cold, low visibility.

We were able to set sail (from Rockport Maine ) at 1600 to 1900 and then dropped the anchor around Job Island. We were taught all the ropes about the boat. Also we were taught about oceanography and how water affects the rays of colors. During the time we were sailing, bow watch was an important job because it made sure we didn’t hit any boats or even land. Then at about 1830 we started to strike the flags and to clean up the ship.

____

It’s the first time Rebekah and Rachel boarded your ship. It’s 0211 in the morning and Rebekah and Rachel are doing anchor watch! You are a lot of work Roseway! We hoisted your sails, swabbed your decks and many other things. A few moments ago we were in the engine room. It was super hot down there. Rebekah and Rachel are really, really, really tired. This whole week its been rainy, foggy, and cold. Our ship got stuck in the mud yesterday! We went to the play ground and played Frisbee/soccer. Then we ate lunch and went to a boat museum. This is Rebekah and Rachel signing off! Good night Roseway, sweet dreams!