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Written by John Beebe-Center Captain of SV Amistad
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Wednesday, 13 August 2008 |
Greetings, all, from Casco Bay, Maine, back in the US of A. We arrived last night after a fairly uneventful passage from Shelburne, Nova Scotia which had rain and fog but not very consistent wind.
We are presently anchored up behind Diamond Island, about 5 miles North of Portland and it’s a beautiful sunny day so the varnish pots are out. With so much rain and fog in the last month it’s a pleasure to take a day and get the “shine” back onto Amistad-at least a little. This Winter we will be stripping almost all the varnish off of the cabin tops, etc, after the prolonged baking at low latitudes last winter and spring.
To recap our visit to Halifax; what a pleasant port to visit and what fine friends Amistad has there! We were in port almost 2 weeks and spent part of each day open to a very inquisitive public, showing off the ship and telling the Amistad story. In addition we were frequently underway around the harbor and Bedford Basin with Students of the SANKOFA diversity training program aboard, learning the ship and the “ropes”.
For myself, I was very interested to learn the history of the Black Loyalists, who left New England at the end of Americas Revolutionary War and were transported to Nova Scotia in 1783 and of the 1200 who continued on to present day Sierra Leone in 1792. A real story of bravery and determination - fairly lost to contemporary American History.
We departed Halifax on August 4th and experienced the best week of sailing in the Summer, so far. Winds were fair from the North West on the first day out and fresh. With the wind abaft the beam and four lowers and the fore topsail set Amistad walked right up to 9.5 knots and we boomed along towards Green Bay, Nova Scotia. When we dropped anchor there, just at last light, we had covered almost ˝ the distance to Shelburne in the first afternoon!
After a restful nights sleep we were off again, this time in light but fair winds and we were able to get the Gaff Topsail set for the first time this season. That night we put a hook down in Port Joli and listened to the sound of coyotes howling all night. Not completely expected but interesting…
The last nights anchorage was Jorden Sound, right next to Shelburne and the morning of our arrival we had a pleasant surprise; an Easterly breeze, fair for the sail into Shelburne and the parade of sail to the Public Dock.
Off of Shelburne Light we were joined by 35 vessels, including 8 other schooners and we all enjoyed the sail in with lots of horn blowing and cannon salutes. Haley Cox, of Shelburne is our gunner and she enjoyed herself firing the cannon and then pointing out family members whom she had just “saluted”. One of the all time best parades of sail I’ve ever been involved with and my compliments to all involved.
The Shelburne welcome of Amistad was warm and well attended-as part of the commemoration of the 225 anniversary of the arrival of the Black Loyalists to Nova Scotia and it was an honor for us to attend.
Sunday night, our last in port, was a social evening with the crew traveling out to the Coxs cottage to help celebrate Beverly Coxs 50th birthday-an event I was informed, that we could not possibly miss. And a good time was had by all and many happy returns to Bev and Ronnie and the whole clan who looked after the crew of the Amistad so well.
Tomorrow we will make our way to the dock here in Portland, clear customs and begin our visit. Until next time-cheers
John Beebe-Center
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Last Updated ( Monday, 25 August 2008 )
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