Crew's Views from
Andrew Jackson

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August 21, 2000

It's something I'm still not used to after eight years on the sea; a couple of kids will get on board not knowing port from starboard, and two weeks later they'll be splicing and reefing, holding the wheel spot on in 8 foot seas and thirty knot winds. If I see them a year later, they'll be studying for their fifty ton licenses. And there I am in the galley, still not trusted to put a stopper knot in a main halyard - and rightly so. Sailing is much easier to learn, I guess, when you're young.

Anyway, we got here so early we stayed at Gosport, across the harbor from Portsmith for a couple of days. We rafted up next to the Mary Mouse 2, an old lightship the Portsmith Yacht Club uses for a clubhouse.

We had time to tour the National landmark, Admiral Nelson's flagship, Victory. He died on this ship during the Battle of Trafalgar. On the quarterdeck hangs a little brass plate where he caught the bullet. Another plaque down in the operating room signifies where he breathed his last. Since the boat was built of oak back in King George's day, it's been gradually rotting away, so now they're gradually replacing all the timbers with teak. When they're done, will it be the same boat? Kind of Zen.

We had some time to gam with the crew of Brilliant out of Mystic, Connecticut, my hometown. Brilliant is a beautiful old racing yacht, fast as lightning, but as the mate said, "When there's ten knots of wind, there's not a dry spot on deck and precious few below." It was terrific to hear them "ooh" and "ah" at our roomy salon and our three showers. Together we had a ruby, which is short for curry. Who is Ruby Murray?

The big culture shock here, of course, is the food. So far, I haven't been able to find normal American frozen orange juice. They have a liquid concentrate that tastes (to me) like Tang, but the crew, so fanatically devoted to good old American Tang, makes faces when they taste it. And I can't find that schooner tradition, Kool-Aid, or even a reasonable facsimile. They have oddities like Ribena Currant Juice, and Prawn Crisps (they're fizzibly melty!) and Branston's Original Pickle (the Chunky Crunch). As I watch my shipmates' noses wrinkle with suspicion, I can't help reflecting that the food is going to get a lot weirder as we plunge into the heart of the Old World. Even the McDonald's here is a little eerie. They've never heard of super-sizing. The cadets seem determined to survive the next six days on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but I'm having trouble finding big jars of peanut butter.

Right now, we're steaming up the Thames, preparing for our grand entrance. The crew is doing a washdown, Ellen and John are making charges for the cannon, and any spare hands are polishing brass. There's a good chance the local authorities, worried about terrorists, won't let us fire off our usual salutes. And Christopher, the mate, says that on this narrow, twisty river, we might not even be able to raise sail. In town, we'll dock at St. Katherine's basin which involves complicated maneuvering, including going through a lock. So, we might not get to put on our beloved Big Show until we get to Amsterdam. Sinker says if all else fails, we can take out our three hula hoops and impress the locals with them. Options in the face of uncertainty - that's what makes schooner life so exciting.

Well that's it for now. See you next week.

Andy the Cook

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