Mains'l Haul!

The last two sundays in San Diego have been the most rewarding time I've ever spent at the Museum. Why, you ask? Well let me tell you.

The Sunday before last, the topmen on our crew finished the last of the bending on of sails. We were also sorted into our seperate little crews on deck. For each of the three masts, there is a Mast Captain. They select however many people they need for each mast to efficiently tend the lines that work the gear and sails. They also have to make sure that for each mast they have enough people who can go aloft (the topmen) and a Top Captain, who is in charge of the yards, etc.

Somehow I got lucky enough to get the posting I wanted. I'm on the Mizzen crew. There are eight of us, since the mizzen mast is the "simplest" of the three. It only has two square sails on it, the mizzen topsail and the mizzen topgallant (tops'l and t'gallant), and the spanker (which does double duty as a rudder for the ship). The mast is located on the ship's quarterdeck, where the helm is and where the Captain will spend most of his time. So, we will be guaranteed of hearing the orders first hand, AND we have a pretty spectacular view behind us. I will tell you why that is important in a minute.

The lines for the mizzen are relatively simple too. We have a pinrail on either side of the quarterdeck, as well as the fife rail around the mainmast itself, and the fife rail on the mizzen, which basically controls the spanker. After the week before last and this past Sunday, I think I have pretty much all the lines we are concerned with memorized. Which was handy this last Sunday, because on our pin rail, there are two pins on either side that have to do with the mainmast, and we get the main crew trapsing about the place constantly. I had to stop a couple of them from taking our mizzen topsail clew off the pin instead of their main t'gallant brace from their pin. (pictures to follow for those who haven't got a 'clew' of what I'm talking about)

So, the week before last, we divided up into our masts, and went about setting all the sails. We had to make sure that nothing was fouled or stuck, that gear wouldn't come tumbling down from aloft and hurt anyone. This was the very first time that the working sails of the ship had been set since they brought the Surprise to the Museum, a year and a half ago. Some of us went out onto the Embarcadero to take a look at our beautiful old girl. She was drawing quite a crowd too. She looked spectacular. And you could tell that the ship wanted to go, especially since she was working hard at pulling the floating pier off its docking collar.

After all the excitement, we doused all the sails and stowed them on their respective yards. We cleaned up the deck and hung all the lines back on their pins. I think we were all really pleased that things had worked out so well.

This last Sunday was even more exciting. We started on sail drills. We set all the sails, and worked as one crew to tack and wear the ship (dockside) under the commands of our Captain and Mast Captains. We spent the morning doing this three times. The first time took a while, because we'd never done it before. The second time was better, and the third time was much improved. The Captain seemed to be pretty pleased at how we all did. On our respective masts, we were working out the kinks of who was to be on what line at any given time, and how to efficiently and safely carry out all the commands. I think we did pretty well on the mizzen. After clearing the decks, dousing the sails, and cleaning everything up, we all felt pretty good about the fact that we were actually working well as a crew and that the ship was looking better and better.

And now, why is it important that we have that great view off the stern? Well, the sails on the Surprise are so unbelievably big that when they are set, you can't see down the length of the boat. In fact, you can't see anything. The mains'l is so huge that you can only see people on the forward side of it from the knees down. So, the only places on the ship to get a good view of anything when we are sailing will be at the end of the bowsprit, or right at the bow, and the stern. Granted, we will have the Spanker set, but we will still have a pretty good view of the sea.

So, that's what's been happening in San Diego. We are going to be drilling again next weekend, and the weekend after, as well as any other maintenance related issues on board. But I'm really looking forward to Oct. 29th, when we are going to take the Surprise out for her first sea trials. Our captain is utterly determined to do this, as are the crew, however there are a lot of rumors flying around that the Admiralty of the museum (so to speak) are holding back. Still, we can hope and pray that we'll be able to take her out, at least once, before the Sail on Nov. 11. We need to make sure that we don't make complete asses of ourselves getting out of the terrible docking position we are in.

So, lots to look forward to! We've come a long way, and have a long way yet to go. But we'll make it!

Ta!


Long we've tossed on the rolling main,
Now we're safe ashore, Jack
Don't forget your old shipmates,
ral dee ral dee ral dee ral dee rye eye ho!