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

Welcome Aboard The CG Barque Eagle
May 28, 2005 100 miles northwest of St. Kilda Island, Scotland “Land Ho!” That is what division Fore 1 screamed from high in the rigging during the wee hours of the morning when they were the first to see parts of Scotland. 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 Morgan Roy for Capt. E. J. Shaw

“Land Ho!” That is what division Fore 1 screamed from high in the rigging during the wee hours of the morning when they were the first to see parts of Scotland. Although it was just some outward Scottish islands (Rona & Sula Sgier), it was the first sight of land in the past 11 days. This was by far the longest time that most of the third class had ever been away from solid ground. The spottings of land made most feel confident that our journey was finally taking us somewhere unique. With days of endless ocean and very few sightings of other vessels, it is hard to keep in mind the big picture of where exactly we are. The Scottish islands, seemingly made of sheer rock, were a necessary reminder that the miles of ocean were but a stepping stone to far-away lands.

This morning Eagle entered the North Sea, but we didn't gain admittance without a fight. Our sailing yesterday took us south of our intended track. I looked at the possibility of cutting a few track miles off by transiting south of the Orkney Islands through Pentland Firth. Besides the savings in distance, this would give us an opportunity to peak into Scapa Flow as we passed. Naval history buffs will tell you Scapa Flow was important in both World Wars and gained its strongest notoriety by being where the Germans scuttled their entire fleet after the British interred it there. But one look at the charts told us to reconsider. Warnings and cautions and a couple of "There Be Dragons!" were posted all along our potential track. Currents through Pentland Firth routinely flow at 12 kts with several reported instances of 16 knot currents. This would make quite the challenge for a tall ship that does 11 knots under power. So, instead we angled to the northeast and made for The Fair Isle Channel. The Scots have such a droll sense of humor. As these "fair isles" ghost in and out of the rain and fog they appear to the mariner to be some of the most forsaken, mysterious, and potentially treacherous pieces of property in the world. We turned into the channel last night and were immediately met by winds howling at 35 knots (still from the wrong direction. The current here was a leisurely six knots. And the weather is still pretty cold (a mere 28F with wind-chill factored in). The adverse weather we are experiencing now makes one gain a new respect for the early explorers who took months to reach places they did not even know for sure were there.

Yesterday, however, the winds shifted just long enough to provide perfect sailing weather for the Barque. Friday was full of smooth sailing and cadet training. Cadets continue to have morning and afternoon training sessions, during which the crew teaches various topics including: medical first aid, engine rebuilding, knot tying, damage control gear, pipe patching and weather. The third class cadets are starting to complete their helm and lookout packets, as well as their Eagle task lists. Once someone has received all the necessary signatures in their helm/lookout packet, they must then take an oral board reciting all the knowledge necessary to become a fully qualified helm & lookout watch stander. Becoming a qualified watch stander allows one to stand unsupervised watches at the helm and lookout. These two watch positions are necessary to a safely and properly functioning ship. The lookout is responsible for reporting any and all contacts. The lookout sees contacts before the bridge, and in some cases before the radar can even pick them up. The job is so important that it's the only watch position on a ship that's specifically required by U.S. and International Rules of the Road. Not even a requirement for the Captain is mentioned! Becoming qualified takes quite a bit of work and a good understanding of all that one could encounter during a watch. It is not an easy task, but one that most of the third class cadets are excited to accomplish.

As Eagle takes the turn around Scotland, all sights are set on Bremerhaven, Germany. The crew and cadets have been practicing German phrases each morning at muster, some are counting the hours until they can take something more substantial than a “sea shower,” and others chat excitedly about their first trip to a new continent. Even more importantly, as Scotland becomes a fixture off the starboard side, winds should be perfect for setting all sails on our final stretch.

28 May 05 by 1/c Megan A. Davison

3/c Tenley Barna stands aloft on the foremast and furls the course sail.

0956 Zulu time. Just writing the date and time reminds me of how lucky I am. How many people get to observe Greenwich mean time? On top of that, how many people get to observe GMT while they are amidst a trans-Atlantic trip on Barque Eagle? Not many, and I am proud to be one of them. Yesterday was a busy but productive day, which included sail stations, 4 to 8 p.m. CIC watch, making the plan of the day for the ship, and working on the inbound Bremerhaven navigation brief with 1/c Greg Dahl.

As I reflect on each day and the amount of work and learning that takes place, (led by the permanent crew and aided by cadets), I am amazed. Beyond the trainings and watches, the internal growth that each 3/c, 1/c, and crewmember is experiencing is unique. Third class cadets are beginning to realize how vital it is to learn about the closeness of shipboard life, working with a knowledgeable enlisted crew, and getting to know their classmates who will be forever with them. Firsties are receiving their first real training experience for being officers in the Coast Guard. A new responsibility has been placed upon us, and with the help of the crew and officers, we are training the third class while struggling to find our own style of leadership. The crew is the missing link for all of the cadets onboard. They are repeatedly passing on their hard work and expertise, in attempts to help improve our ability to lead.

As the summer continues on, each person will continue to grow. Be it learning how to don an SCBA, getting to know classmates, or holding yourself to new standards, Eagle continues to teach us vital lessons for our professional and personal lives.

28 May 05 by Division Fore 5

Crew and 1/c Gregory Dahl (middle) are always improving safety practices, and debrief with cadets after sail stations on the foremast.

Well we all just finished our weather training on the mess deck. It was very informative for 3/c Lusardi. Lusardi was especially interested as she had prior knowledge in the weather piloting charts. One day she aspires to be weather forecaster like in the movie "Anchorman," which was shown on the mess deck the other night. It made the division laugh. The division also participated in trivia night last night on the mess deck. Fore 5 division didn't do so well in the first round and raised the Charlie November flag in distress. The division continued to play for fun and excelled in the later rounds.

Third class England also found the weather training to be one of the areas that he learned the most from. Third class Williams just completed another LAN. She is nicknamed “Lil’ Boats” because of her vast knowledge of the lines and sails on the great Barque. She hopes to pass her pin rail test today; the division has faith in her “salty” abilities.

Everyone in Fore 5 has their place and is assigned an “officer position.” For example 3/c Harms in the marine mammal officer otherwise known as the MAMMO. He is often the first to sight these sea born creatures and reports them to the executive officer. Third class O’Brien is the safety officer. He was appointed this position for his attuned senses and sharp eye for anything that is unsafe.

Well that’s it from division Fore 5. We’ll end with a cheer. 1…2…3…Fore 5!!!

27 May 05 by 3/c Tyler Beebe

1/c Ben Lee and his division are ready to haul on lines in rain or shine.

It’s been a week and a half since we left St. John’s. I was pretty excited to cross the North Atlantic. I thought for sure we would see some storms. But, unfortunately, the weather has been pretty calm and we’re making the crossing with no hindrance thus far. They have been keeping us busy so the days are flying by. Training and watch take up most of the day. Every night has me watching a movie before hitting the rack, it’s nice and relaxing. Last night I had the midnight to 4 a.m. watch. It was pretty awesome seeing the sun rise at 3 a.m. in the morning. It never gets completely dark out. Which is unfortunate because looking at stars is amazing. On the way to St. John’s we had one clear, pitch black night. I have never seen so many stars in my life; it really was breathtaking.

So anyways, Thursday night was the first time we sailed through the night. I didn’t have the hum of the engine to put me to sleep. I was helmsman so I was in charge of keeping us on the ordered course. At first it was tricky because the waves made us wander and I was overcorrecting to keep us on course. After about three times of overcorrecting, I found the sweet spot of about 4 degrees of right rudder--"weather helm." If it started to wander all I had to do was turn it a few pins to keep it steady. Bow lookout was fun too. We had four contacts to keep us busy. I think they were all fishing vessels because of the amount of lights they had shining on the water. We also saw two pods of dolphins and two pods of pilot whales. The dolphins were cool because each time they came up for air, at least one of them would jump out of the water. That’s about the most exciting thing to happen on watch.

Cadets and crew must work all over Eagle, traveling high to low and stern to bowsprit.

I also like going to the engine room for watch. It's awesome sitting next to the huge 16-cylinder main engine when it’s ahead full. You also go on rounds with the oiler, checking oil on the main and the generators and sounding the tanks, and checking temps on everything. I also learned about an emergency generator on board, a 6-71 Detroit, my favorite kind of diesel. So Eagle has 4 diesel engines, I thought that was pretty cool.

Speaking of diesel engines, I got a chance to start the P-100 fire pump. It’s tricky to start, with the decompression switch and all the valves that have to be open or closed. I started it first try. Another kid in my division didn’t pull hard enough so it started the engine in the opposite direction. Air was coming in through the exhaust and out the air intake. Not good for the engine! After I was done messing around with the pump, my hands were covered with grease and oil. I was happy because it reminded me of home, working on cars and go-carts. We have about five more days until we get to Germany. I can’t wait. The entrance to the harbor is long and narrow, and we have to go through a lock. I hope I have something fun to do on sea detail, like being a range bearing taker or throttle man or something. Were starting to see some Scottish Islands too which is cool. I hope the North Sea has good wind.

27 May 05 by 3/c Walter Evans

(L to R) 1/c Ben Lee and Lt. Cmdr. Dale Bateman work together to correct charts.

A week and a half ago when we departed St. John’s, Newfoundland, all the cadets, crew and officers on board knew the voyage across the Atlantic would be long and grueling, and it was. But having now crossed the Atlantic Ocean on board USCGC Barque Eagle, we have experienced success in every way imaginable. Each day we, the cadets on board, have been training to our fullest on every aspect of shipboard life. Over the last week and a half we have become acclimated to our surroundings and to shipboard life. Shipboard life for the cadets and crew on board include four-hour duty shifts, which consist of watch on deck, operations, or maintenance.

Today, we observed our first piece of land since we left St. John’s. The piece of land was an island off Scotland; in fact multiple islands were observed today, each one adding to the teasing factor of what is to come in Germany, our next destination. We all miss our families and friends, especially while lacking telephone communications regarding activities on board Eagle.

Evening morale activities including movies are always relaxing and fun after a hard day of training and putting up sails or taking down sails. Going aloft is always fun but it’s always important to be aware of the safety measures, like clipping in and three points of contact. In the next day or two we will be entering the North Sea and we expect multiple contacts.

Being one of many cadets on board who have yet to visit Europe, curiosity overwhelms our minds. Pilot whales and dolphins entertain us on a daily basis. Drills for safety take place each day on board as a means of making safety a habit. Recently, I shot an LAN (local apparent noon) of 600 yards, which is only .3 minutes of error. This is very good in the world of celestial navigation. Two years ago I never would have guessed I would be sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, but I am and am experiencing something new everyday, which is awesome. In addition, traveling has always been an aspiration of mine for my career. I have enjoyed my time on Eagle and look forward to my next days ahead on board her.

I am missing all of you back in San Diego and I look forward to coming home at the end of the summer.

27 May 05 by 3/c Keri McCormack

1/c Brenna White puts the final touches in making up a line on the forecastle.

Wow, today was a long day! It actually started at last night at 11:30 p.m. because that was when I began my watch on deck. During that watch, we set and then furled the upper mizzen sail. Later on that morning, I went on a round with the boatswain's mate of the watch and saw different parts of Eagle I haven’t seen before. At 3:30 a.m., when we were relieved, I was so happy to jump into my rack!

I woke up at reveille but before rolling over and going back to sleep, I did my usual wake up. I decided that I would smack 3/c Lusardi in the head with my pillow to stir her like usual. Because I had the mid-watch, I was allowed to sleep until 9:30 a.m.

Crew members hold onto these monkey lines on the side of Eagle when the small boat is being lowered to the water, so as to prevent falling if the boat is lowered too quickly.

When I woke up, I found out training had already occurred because morning sail stations was cancelled. I studied my pin rail and took a sea shower until chow was piped. I ate, then went back to sleep until quarters, knowing I would be up late that night. Right after quarters, we had sail stations for about two hours where we accomplished a lot. We wore ship from a port to a starboard tack, doused and furled all the sails, then brought it back around to a port brace.

After sail stations, my division had damage control training. I stayed after and completed another section with EM3 Keen. By that time, they called evening chow. The FS staff prepared the most delicious red sauce and I ate too much of it. Right after chow, I had to get ready to stand watch. My division relieved the off going watch at 7:30 p.m. and I decided to go to the engine room. While I was down there, I managed to complete four out of the five necessary check offs from my cadet training manual. I stood the last 45 minutes on deck with the rest of my division and was finally relieved at 11:30 p.m.! It didn’t take me long to get in my rack. It was just another long, but successful day aboard Eagle.

27 May 05 by Damage Controlman 3rd Class Nickolas Arco

Lines run quickly on Eagle and must be "faked out" in this way to prevent tangling.

Things I did on May 27, 2005. Today I woke up at 3 a.m. and prepared for my 3:30 watch in the engine room. While getting ready, I took a peek outside and found the sun was up and bright, which I found to be very strange. At 6 a.m., I went outside to go to the small boat checks where I found a small island off our starboard beam. It was nice to see a little piece of land after seeing birds fly around us the entire week and a half we've been sailing.

At 8 a.m., we held muster. At 9 a.m., DC2 Bafia and myself took care of the problem of a deck drain that was flooding in the female head. The biggest problem with the drain was the fact that people kept having to use the head, so we had to keep stopping so they could use it. At 11 a.m. lunch was served. 12:45 quarters and 1 p.m. sail stations for about two hours. At 3 p.m. we had a time zone switch, where we had to move our clocks up one hour, now in ZULU time. At 4:20 p.m. FN Philpot attempted to fix a sink that had been leaking. At 5:30 p.m. we had chow served to us: pork and potatoes. It was good. At 5:45 p.m., after I dropped my plates off at the scullery, I went down to the crew's lounge and watched a movie. At 7 p.m., I set YOKE for my zone (closing certain doors for watertight integrity) and went to the rack to get some sleep. At 9 p.m., FN Philpot woke me up and told me that the sink was still leaking. At 9:05 p.m. I fell back asleep.

27 May 05 by Food Specialist 1st Class Victoria Frasca

A view of the headsails from the monkey rail on the forecastle.

Wow, the past couple of days have been pretty eventful. Senior Chief Vickerman raised almost $30 for morale with his famous Lucky Bag sale. The crew laughed as Senior joked about different items up for auction. I was thrilled that my gear wasn’t adrift in his presence. His morale nickname is “Senior Thief” but it is all in good fun. We sailed together for the winter tour on Eagle and I am happy to have him as a shipmate for the summer, GO LUCKY BAG!

The cadets in charge of morale are 1/c Ben Lee and 1/c Jennifer Makowski, better know as “Bennifer.” They have been doing a great job with morale events like the flag contest for each mast, trivia on training, Fishy Friday, and planning more for the future. The crew is eagerly anticipating Karaoke on the waist of the ship if the weather would just cooperate! I have heard some buzz about the decks about a mixture of groups performing and I have my camera ready.

I am sailing with a new galley FS (food specialist) team this summer. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to work with each one. FSC Faria just reported from our training center in Petaluma and the team is soaking up all the knowledge he is throwing our way. Excited to have him as our leader!

Lt. Stehn passes the stopper on a line, preventing it from running while it is belayed to a pin.

FS1 Levy was a company commander prior and has us amused all day. It’s terrific to have a shipmate that makes your day enjoyable by laughing. She is an amazing leader and chef. She can be a tough cookie, just try to enter the mess deck 30 minutes before chow--better bring some elbow grease! FS2 Napier is being promoted to FS1 and we are so proud of her! She is an awesome cake decorator as well. She makes the meanest rose on the ship!

FS3 Lieb made the most amazing salmon today with this Berre Blanc sauce that would make you believe you are in heaven. Scrumptious! He entertains us with stories about his Italian Grandmother, which leads me to believe he can make some mean Italian dishes as well and I have had a major craving for eggplant! FS3 Birch knocked everyone over with her knack for baking. She made these fabulous Congo bars today. It’s a cookie bar that is like a chocolate chip cookie topped with chocolate gnash and garnished with coconut. Lip-smacking!

FS2 Walker and FS3 Hood are taking the wardroom by storm and their meals have been nothing less then exquisite. Just the other day they were applauded for a meal that they worked extremely hard on and were very proud of.

I miss my family and friends back home in Florida, Long Island, and New London greatly and wish they could experience the opportunity that I am now experiencing. I am excited to reach our next port and embrace the diverse cultures in the ports to come. We have an amazing team of officers leading us, I’m sure I am not alone when I feel blessed to be part of this crew.

27 May 05 by Lt. Cmdr. Dale K. Bateman

(L to R) Chief Boatswain's Mate Jerald O'Brien and Information Specialist 2nd Class Ralph Millar take part in a damage control drill.

Underway off the north coast of Scotland. This will likely be my last trip aboard the Eagle . . . bringing my total to eight. This is my third trip to Europe aboard the Eagle, and my sixth crossing of the North Atlantic. It never really gets old. I still thrill at crossing the ocean in a tall ship. How many people can say they’ve done it?

Admittedly, this summer has been tougher than previous summers aboard the Barque. Leaving family at home, no matter how much fun I think I’m going to have while underway, is tough. This is really a first for me. Last summer I sailed leaving my wife behind. This summer it was my wife and my son. The draw of shore is much stronger now. My relationship with the sea is changing.

That said it is good to be back doing the King’s business. Teaching in a classroom is fun. Teaching at sea is magical. Standing a watch as the sun comes up (at 2:30 in the morning) is something that you have to experience to understand. Teaching the next generation of ship drivers to appreciate the beauty and power of the ocean is very fulfilling. Doing it under sail, as we were this morning is indescribable.

A 1938 view of the Eagle, formerly known as the Horst Wessel, with all sails set.

My days aboard the Eagle are coming to a close. We are less than a week away from Bremerhaven. And then a short sail to Edinburgh and I leave. I will always remember my time the Eagle fondly. She has taught me much, demanded much of me, and rewarded me handsomely. The lessons I learned under these masts about leadership, seamanship, and living in community are without equal. Nowhere could I have been better prepared to be a seagoing officer, a teacher, and hopefully a better husband and father.

Until the next time I put to sea aboard a tall ship.