The first thing Pride II did this summer was go to a party! Actually two parties - one in Wilmington, Delaware, and the other in Norfolk, Virginia. Both were tall ship parties. Folks in Wilmington and Norfolk invited a bunch of tall ships, like Pride II, to come celebrate the beginning of summer. Watching tall ships sail around together is an exciting way to celebrate anything!

Wilmington has it's own replica (copy) tall ship. It's called the Kalmar Nyckel. She's a copy of the original ship that brought the first settlers to Delaware from Sweden. She was built and launched in Wilmington just a few years ago. Now she sails around the East Coast reminding everyone of Delaware's maritime (seagoing) heritage. The Kalmar Nyckel is a very handsome ship and has some beautiful carving on its stem and sternposts (front and back), just like the original ship from Sweden.

Norfolk has a replica ship, too. It's call the Norfolk Rebel . It has red sails and works as a tugboat. She's called a "tugatine" and is the only sailing tugboat in the world!

The captain and crew love to take Pride of Baltimore II to tall ship gatherings. She's always the most beautiful ship there - and surely one of the fastest! Pride II makes the crew proud - and you can be proud too, too, because you are a virtual shipmate.

Next, Pride II went to the Great Lakes. Wow! The Great Lakes? That's practically in the middle of the country! How did you get there from here? Here's a clue: you don't FedEx a tall ship. You have to sail it!

Here's a map that shows the East Coast and the Great Lakes. Can you figure out a way to get to the Great Lakes from Baltimore by water?

Yes, there is a way. You sail all the way up the east coast of the US, past Maine, and around what is known as the Gaspe Peninsula. Then you sail down the St. Lawrence River. Pretty soon, there you are in Lake Ontario, the first of the Great Lakes.

Simple, huh. Well, not exactly. Do you suppose it is "smooth sailing" all that way? Can you like just putter along from the Ocean to the Great Lakes on the same level?

No way, Jose! The Great Lakes are practically in the middle of the country. There is a mountain range between here and there. The Great Lakes are hundreds of feet higher than sea level (the level of the Atlantic Ocean). That means that the St. Lawrence River has rapids and rocks and a very strong current as the water rushes downstream and tumbles hundreds of feet downwards toward the sea.

In fact, until 1959, vessels from the ocean couldn't get into the Great Lakes. But in the 1950's the US and Canadian governments got together and built the St. Lawrence Seaway. This consists of special locks, canals, and channels along the river. There are 15 locks between Montreal on the St. Lawrence River and Lake Erie. The St. Lawrence Seaway was opened to ocean traffic in 1959. So now vessels can sail from Chicago all the way to Europe or Asia - or Baltimore.

The St. Lawrence Seaway has a series of locks that raise ships up if they are going to the Great Lakes. It lowers them down if they are going toward the ocean. So what's a lock? A lock is like a bathtub with gates at both ends. Imagine Pride II going through the Seaway. She motors into the first lock near Montreal. After she gets in, the back gate of the lock is closed. A whole lot of water is then pumped into the lock so the ship is lifted up - almost 50 feet. When the lock is full of water, the front gate is opened up and Pride II motors out. She goes up the river a few miles to the next lock. She repeats this process seven times between the first lock at Montreal and the first lake, Lake Ontario. It takes at least an hour at each lock depending on the traffic. (Yes, rivers have traffic jams sometimes, too.)

All together, it took Pride II almost three weeks to sail from Boston, her last stop on the Atlantic Ocean, to Lake Ontario by going through the St. Lawrence Seaway. She had to motor almost all the way up the Seaway because it is narrow and the current is fast. But that's how you get there from here!

Here's another map. It shows how all the Great Lakes are connected. It also shows the ports of call that Pride II called on during her visit.

Do you suppose the Lakes are on the same level? For instance, can you sail from Toronto to Chicago without any obstacles (something that blocks you)? For a clue, look at the picture to the left.

WOW! Know what that is? Yep, it's Niagara Falls. The Falls are situated between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie near Buffalo. Lake Erie is HIGHER than Lake Ontario. That means that Pride II would have to sail UP Niagara Falls to get to Chicago. Can you imagine sailing UP that waterfall? No way!

Fortunately, there is another canal with seven locks that takes ships around Niagara Falls and lifts them up to the level of Lake Erie. It's called the Welland Canal and it's part of the St. Lawrence Seaway. The good thing is, once you're in Lake Erie, it's smooth sailing all the way to Chicago - no more locks. It took Pride II just one day to get through the seven locks of the Welland Canal. By the time she was in Lake Erie, she had climbed 552 feet through 15 locks!

Go to Part 2 of the Sept. 1, 1999 Log