My sister-in-law, Dot, arrived for a short visit today just in time for the two of us to load up all the kidlets, the big double stroller, a massive water bottle and my monster camera bag into the van to drive down to the lake to see three 19th Century ships sail across the lake and under the lift bridge into the Harbor for the Maritime Festival. We parked our car and walked down the Lakewalk to a patch of shore where we could watch the boats sailing in the lake. Dr. Peds just got me a great set of binoculars, and we all had a magnificent time watching things up close!.
This is the Madeline. She was the smallest of the three boats. There are really neat websites for all three ships that tell so many interesting things about them, but for some reason Typepad isn’t letting me make any links tonight. Drat. This is a replica of a trading schooner that traveled on the Great Lakes about 150 years ago. In particular, she traveled on Lake Michigan.
The sails of the Pride of Baltimore were my favorite on the water. The have such a swift lean to them! This is a replica of a Balitmore clipper, an important ship that helped win the War of 1812. The history of this boat is fascinating, and I really wish I could link to its website! The United States Government gave the owners of these ships rights to be privateers, or private pirates, and they were allowed to attack, raid, sink and capture any British ship during the war and keep whatever they wanted. Sarah and Noah didn’t totally get this concept, but they really did latch on to the idea that this was a pirate ship. As the boat went into the harbor it fired of a few cannons, which was exciting for most of us, but terrifying for Sarah EVEN though we were at least two miles away! We had a lot of frantic discussions about sinking boats, war, and cannons. Dot and I had a lot of secret laughs as we tried to explain things in a calm and relaxed fashion.
The last of the tall beauties was the tallest of all, the U.S. Brig Niagra, another important ship in the war of 1812. After the war she was used on the Great Lakes, and later deconstructed to haul things, and then reconstructed as a historical replica again.
Once the ships came under the bridge, we walked down to the place where they were docking to watch. There were throngs of people, but it was really fun to see the boats up close (we may take a tour of them while they’re here in the next few days). It amazes me how there are so many confusing ropes! It was very exciting to watch all of the crew work together to fold up the sails. They were climbing all over the tall masts and standing on tiny ropes, leaning over poles. Wow.
I was so enraptured with taking pictures of the ships and navigating through throngs of people with three kids, my sister- in- law and her dog, that I totally forgot to take pictures of Dot! And she’s one of my favorite people to take pictures of. I’ll have to make sure I take extras before she leaves in the morning.
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