Fred's Place - The Place To Meet Old Coast Guard Shipmates

Welcome Aboard The CG Barque Eagle
May 26, 2005 100 miles northwest of St. Kilda Island, Scotland The winds have not been kind, coming from anywhere but the northeast, making it impossible to do any sailing in the desired direction. "Maybe tomorrow" is what you hear about the decks. All photos are credited: U.S. Coast Guard photograph by Petty Officer Second Class Andrea Rask.	The Coast Guard Barque Eagle, homeported in New London, Conn.

Captain's Log by 1/c Eric Majeska for Capt. E. J. Shaw

After several days of motoring with only a few sporadic sail stations, finally cadets and crew can look to the sky and see great white blankets of sails covering Eagle. After a long period of unsailable headwinds, at last the winds are beginning to act more favorably for Eagle. Calm seas and sunny days have also become more common. The fantail is often seen cluttered with cadets with sextants in hand all facing in the direction of the sun. The cadets have now been issued their celestial navigation cards, which contain the various tasks that they must complete before departing Eagle. Celestial navigation is a little different when Eagle is this far north and sailing into the East. It doesn’t every really get dark on Eagle now. The sun merely dips below the horizon for a few hours, never reaching total darkness.

Less than a week remains until Germany. Just yesterday, Eagle broke the 1,000 miles left until Germany mark. Cadets on lookout are enjoying reporting more and more contacts as Eagle begins to move out of the open ocean and closer to the North Sea. Cadets are becoming more comfortable with their watches as they get closer to achieving their qualifications for helm and lookout. The crew of Eagle has been very helpful on their watches, going out of their way to help teach cadets how to stand these watches properly.

The cadets and crew are having trouble containing their excitement. Many morale events are planned for the next few days to keep spirits high and help pass the time remaining. Karaoke on the mess deck was postponed last night, but there certainly isn’t any problem with giving the cadets and crew a little more time to polish up their performances.

There is still plenty of work to be done before Bremerhaven. With Germany approaching, the deadline for cadets to pass their pin rail exam is also approaching. The cadets must know all of the lines on the ship before Eagle pulls into port. Cadets are working harder on their task lists as they have passed the halfway point of their trip. With the two port calls approaching, Eagle only has 10 more days of being underway and 9 days in port left in this phase.

The phase is half way over but certainly not winding down. There is little time left with a great deal to accomplish and a lot of fun to be had. With so much to do still, it’s a good thing there are only about three hours of darkness every day!

26 May 05 by Jill Hughes

Store keeper 1st class Stephen Selph receives a letter of commendation from the Commandant and is named Eagle's sailor of the quarter.

I have been given the opportunity as a civilian to sail aboard USCGC Eagle. Tall ship sailing is a passion of mine, and this experience has been great. Taking full advantage of my situation, I am constantly bombarding crewmembers with questions. Everyone has worked to answer these questions and always does so with great patience, often having to answer subsequent questions that come up.

Cadets and crew man the yardarms in order to sea furl the square sails on the foremast.

After spending several watches on helm and lookout, fully appreciating the value of a Mustang survival suit, I have begun to work with the quartermaster of the watch. Here, in the protection of the pilothouse, I learn how to, and help with, plotting, logs, and other calculations and tasks needed to run the ship. Again, this has been a great opportunity for learning.

This experience is extremely valuable because of all the chances to gain more nautical skills and knowledge. It is also tremendously enriched by the people I have had the pleasure to work and sail with. When I awoke late this morning from the midwatch, after sail stations had finished, I noticed a special treat--silence. The engines were turned off and wind filled our sails, an uplifting change.

25 May 05 by 3/c Taylor Andrews

Damage controlman 2nd class John Bafia heaves on a sheet pennant.

Crew stretcher bearers work together to help an "injured" shipmate during a damage control drill.

The last few days have been fairly easy going. The winds have not been coming from anywhere but the northeast, making it impossible to do any sailing in the direction we want. Maybe tomorrow. Having just gotten training on predicting weather, it looks like we should get some favorable winds by the time we get near the north sea, at the latest. Today on watch we did a loss of steering drill, and we got to change to aft steering and communicate by sound powered phones. The rest of watch I stood helm and lookout along with preparing for my helm and lookout qualification board. This afternoon after watch our division worked on some celestial navigation. It is hard to do, but once you get the hang of it, it feels like you really accomplished something.

My division officer just told us we might have sail stations coming later tonight, so I guess winds have changed enough for us to do some sailing. We were told today that we are within 1,000 miles of Germany. We are all looking forward to the next port call and seeing land again. Tonight has some festivities planned that should be fun, including karaoke. I have early watch tomorrow, but hopefully I can take part in some of the fun before I decide to hit the rack.

25 May 05 by 1/c Brenna White

Third class cadet Charlie England acts as line captain on the fore lower topsail sheet.

Days start to run together. There is so much to do and learn. One would think that with the daylight being 20 hours that there would be plenty of time to go around, but you would be in error. Every person is needed and finds a place in line to help ease the day's work along and haul through the difficult exercises. I love my job! As a division officer, I directly supervise eight great third class cadets. Today we all woke up at 3 a.m. to be able to relieve at 3:30 a.m. for the 4 to 8 a.m. watch. The day of learning starts early. For instance, I learned that my entire division was more prepared for watch than I was; they were smart enough to buy breakfast foods in St. John’s. Now why didn’t I think of that?

Yesterday one of the eight outstanding cadets in my division taught the division how to reduce sun lines. He had taken the time on his own with a trainer on board, and by the end of the session he was so comfortable that he was teaching the division during down time after dinner.

“Now commence the cadet afternoon training.” Wonder what the hour will bring.

25 May 05 by 3/c Zachary DiIulio

Electrician's mate 3rd class William Keen dons his fire fighting dress for a damage control drill.

Today was an awesome day. I awoke to reveille, hit the deck, triced my rack, and lashed or stowed my belongings in my locker. The chow was good at breakfast. After that my division relieved the 4 to 8 a.m. ops watch and I stood on the forecastle staring through my binoculars, straining my eyes for contacts on the horizon. After a few hours of lookout, I made my way back to the helm to participate in a steering casualty exercise. After that we were relieved, ate chow, and hit our racks for an afternoon nap. I awoke at first call to afternoon quarters and ran up to the waist. After quarters we grabbed sextants and headed to the fantail. After shooting a couple of sun lines, we went below to plug to the celestial navigation aid computer program called Stella. After that, we learned how to forecast weather and are now certified 1st class weather forecasters, courtesy of 1/c Dahl. After that we ate the evening meal. And here I am now awaiting sail stations.

25 May 05 by 3/c Carrie McCormmick

Machinery technician 1st class Brian Hennessey teaches cadets how to properly patch a pipe.

After a long day helping on the mess deck, getting out of my rack this morning was pretty rough. I was just commenting to my division officer about how much more soundly I sleep than when I first boarded Eagle. This time I’ve been spending on board has taught me so much about the Coast Guard and, more importantly, the members of this service. I imagine the reason I sleep so soundly is because of all the hard work that needs to be done during the day. Everyone’s positive attitude and the crew’s dedication to training cadets really help me to push myself and perform the best that I can. During the past couple of weeks, I have learned more about myself and my classmates than I have in the past year. Living with sixteen women in an area about as big as my room at the Academy is a blessing in disguise. Yes, we get on each other’s nerves at times but we have spent more time talking, laughing, and getting to know each other more than anything else. Tonight we are having karaoke night and my berthing area is performing together. That should be interesting. After that, I’ll crawl into my rack for another sound night’s sleep.

25 May 05 by 3/c Charlie England

A third class cadet standing watch on deck climbs the shrouds on the foremast.

After only a couple of hours of sleep it was time to carry out my devotion to duty and stand the midnight to 4 a.m. watch, or in the Coast Guard lingo, the "mids.” The “mids” get served “midrats,” or midnight rations from the mess cooks. Tonight was a treat; Chief Faria was behind the grill making eggs to order. I had mine over-easy with extra runny yoke.

Machinery technician 2nd class James Gray tests a battery in the electrician's shop.

The eggs were accompanied by a delicious serving of spinach and leftover stuffing from the evening meal, which brought satisfaction to my judgmental taste buds. Following the wonderful meal that the food service staff provided, I made my way to the pilothouse to relieve the previous watch stander. Tonight, 3/c Jesse Harms, our division officer 1/c Eric Majeska, and I would be standing quartermaster of the watch (QMOW) under the guidance of BM2 Hubbard. QMOW is in charge of plotting our course, weather reports, suggested course changes and other navigationally related tasks. QMOW, in my opinion, is the most rewarding watch to stand because I am applying everything I learned in nautical science over the past semester. It is difficult to grasp some of the concepts in nautical science because I am inside of a classroom and don’t totally understand why and how to plot all the various tasks such as a track line, or true wind compared to relative wind, or calculating the time sunrise occurs. Yet once I step inside of the pilothouse everything begins to

Machinery technician 3rd class Matthew Mccoy (R) and electrician's mate 3rd class William Keen (L) perform daily small boat checks.

come together and make sense. Also the QMOW’s are extremely helpful and make sure that we completely understand what is going on.

Cadets stand bridge watch, while sail stations are taking place about the decks.

While Mr. Majeska, Jesse and I were standing warmly under the protective shelter of the pilothouse, the rest of my division mates were outside battling the elements. I poked my head out to check on my division standing lookout; 3/c Laura Williams, 3/c Keith Blevins, 3/c Tori Lusardi. As I did, I saw the bow drop down into the trough of a wave and get completely engulfed. The salty seawater drenched them, covering from one side of the bow to the other.

One of the QMOW’s duties is to recommend changes to the course the ship is traveling. Around 2:30 a.m., 3/c Harms approached the conning officer, Lt. Cmdr. Bateman, with a recommended course change of 070 degrees true. After telling Mr. Bateman of his recommendation there was an awkward silence, and 3/c Harms thought that Mr. was testing his leadership abilities. So 3/c Harms turned around and shouted out a command to the helmsman, “Come left, steer course…” but before he could finish Mr. Bateman interrupted him. The command that Jesse gave can only be given by the CONN. The CONN is someone who has had years of experience and many qualifications. When Mr. Bateman questioned 3/c Harms about the command, 3/c Harms said, “I was just trying to get a head start on my CONN duties.” They both laughed it off and resumed the watch.

An old 1938 photo of officers and crew aboard Eagle, then named Horst Wessel under Germany's command.

The watch ended by us watching the sunrise around 3 a.m.; this has been one of the neat observations we have seen in the North Atlantic. It doesn’t get dark until around 10:30 p.m., and the sun usually rises around 3:30 a.m. In only four hours of watch, I have experienced all of these things I just described to you. I guess that is why so many people enjoy being underway. Even though we abide by a daily routine, we have many interesting daily experiences. Yet with that said, I cannot wait to get in port and see what Germany has to offer.