The Captain's Logs are below.

Read the Crew's Views from John, KC, and Caroline as they reflect on their experiences in Asia.

Back to 1999 Captain Logs Index

Greetings,

I am back aboard for a short period. I returned to Pride II in New London, Connecticut, on Sunday, September 12. I found the crew in good morale - heightened by their win in the Gloucester Schooner Race off Cape Ann near Boston only the week before.

Captain Parrott and I commenced the process of changing command immediately. Interspersed in our routine, I went to the local library here in New London to determine how big a threat Hurricane Floyd (located near the Bahamas) might be for our passage to Philadelphia scheduled to begin two days hence.
Hurricanes are a very focusing influence on mariners as well as those living ashore. But I suspect we mariners are less superstitious about what to expect from hurricanes. After all, hurricanes are merely super sized lows that obey different laws as they move from the tropics and drift into the upper latitudes. But it is just as true for mariners as it is for those living ashore that hurricanes are not to be trifled with. So my desire to see the latest information on Hurricane Floyd was strong, and the local New London library was a good place to access the Internet and see what was going on as the storm developed.
Meanwhile, the crew took advantage of our location - just 15 miles from Mystic Seaport, Connecticut. They had the help of two of our Great Lakes passengers and good friends, Tony Sparrow and Vic Walton, who came to New London from western Connecticut to provide transportation and logistic support.

At Mystic Seaport, the crew got a chance to view the construction of a new Baltimore Clipper styled sailing vessel. Her name is Amistad America and she is meant to travel and tell the story of the first chapter in the fight against slavery in the United States.

This was the slave uprising aboard the original Amistad in 1839.

In other business, Pride II had two daysails scheduled for Monday with an affiliate of Tate Access. Tate Access is a Maryland company that has made the most use of the benefits Pride II offers to imaginative business leaders. Captain Parrott took the first charter and then was whisked away by his parents while I handled the second charter.

I spent Tuesday morning of departure day looking at the Internet and trying to decide if we were in fact going to depart at all. Over the two days I had been aboard, Hurricane Floyd had been slowly but steadily moving west-northwest. This put it in the Northern Bahamas. My question for departure had to do with having enough time to get to Philadelphia before there was any significant threat in the mid-Atlantic area from Hurricane Floyd.

The Internet offers to those that can process the information a lot of primary source material about the size, stage of development, and movements of hurricanes (I like to use the National Hurricane Center. While I am no weatherman, I find it helps me to make an informed decision if I am able to see the primary source material as well as the lay interpretations that are available on hurricanes. After a full morning of research and consideration, I decided we had more than adequate time to make the transit to Philadelphia. Plus, if the hurricane should do something unforeseen, I had a number of options in seeking alternate shelter for Pride II and her crew.

The distance to Philadelphia from New London is 350 nautical miles. In planning the itinerary, we allowed three days to get there. But that assumed no really significant weather. With the appearance of any threatening storm, the Captain aboard Pride II has the responsibility of keeping the crew and ship safe, which supercedes maintaining the schedule. My assessment of the information provided by the hurricane experts and the National Hurricane Center was that the soonest there would be any threatening influence by Floyd in the Philadelphia region would be Friday. Also, as the hurricane advanced northward, the first hint of its influence would be light winds out of the easterly quadrant. That meant its effect on us would be from behind - a favorable condition. At a speed of 5.5 knots, Pride II should arrive at and start heading up Delaware Bay on Thursday morning, well before anticipated serious effects of the storm. Alternatively, if Hurricane Floyd should suddenly move very quickly up the coast, Pride II could divert to New York City for shelter. So off we went at midday Tuesday.