Lady Washington and the Hawaiian Chieftain taken. There be bounties on their heads…
One thought on “Sunday, March 30, 2014 Here There Be Pirates”
Jim Sweeney
I took my wife, son and his family out on the Lady Washington a couple of weekends ago on the simulated sea battle. Really fun. Talked a lot to the Haida historian, who is from that NW Indian ancestry and knows a lot about the original Lady Washington, which was a tender for the Columbia, the ship that is the namesake for the river and province, and a trader that went round the horn from Boston to trade for furs with Indians like the Haida, then crossed the Pacific to trade furs to the Chinese. I guess the little brigantine, Lady Washington (the original) went along.
It was fun watching the crew work the sails and maneuver to fire blanks from two three pounders and two swivels at the Hawaiian Chiefton. They would get three points for a stern raking shot, which was the best angle, presumably because it would take out not only the steering gear but the officers on the quarter deck. Two points were for a bow raking shot and only one for the less effective and more dangerous broadside. The bowswain said we won, but he also said he always claims that. The gunner was a cute young girl, her first time. She ran from gun to gun, “worming” out the cannon to get rid of the left over powder, then ramping home the charge, carrying a stick with a smoking slow match to ignite the powder she put into the hole, which set off a loud boom, after we were warned to cover our ears.
They would back the foresails when coming about and there was lots of pulling on the yards, adjusting lines, and finally tying off on each tack. Sometimes they would “ware ship” or jibe. The mate was at the helm, which was a giant tiller, assisted by pullies and lines on each side, as it could be quite difficult to manage in heavy seas and winds.
After the “battle” we used the diesel to motor back up the channel. They had some trouble double docking the brigantine along side the Hawaiian Chiefton, so I didn’t feel so bad with my attempts docking after taking Rudi’s docking class with the club, as these guys seemed to know what they were doing, but managed to foul the foreward standing rigging with the other ship.
Overall a very interesting experience, and we went out for fish dinner after at the Fish Market in Redwood City.
Jim
I took my wife, son and his family out on the Lady Washington a couple of weekends ago on the simulated sea battle. Really fun. Talked a lot to the Haida historian, who is from that NW Indian ancestry and knows a lot about the original Lady Washington, which was a tender for the Columbia, the ship that is the namesake for the river and province, and a trader that went round the horn from Boston to trade for furs with Indians like the Haida, then crossed the Pacific to trade furs to the Chinese. I guess the little brigantine, Lady Washington (the original) went along.
It was fun watching the crew work the sails and maneuver to fire blanks from two three pounders and two swivels at the Hawaiian Chiefton. They would get three points for a stern raking shot, which was the best angle, presumably because it would take out not only the steering gear but the officers on the quarter deck. Two points were for a bow raking shot and only one for the less effective and more dangerous broadside. The bowswain said we won, but he also said he always claims that. The gunner was a cute young girl, her first time. She ran from gun to gun, “worming” out the cannon to get rid of the left over powder, then ramping home the charge, carrying a stick with a smoking slow match to ignite the powder she put into the hole, which set off a loud boom, after we were warned to cover our ears.
They would back the foresails when coming about and there was lots of pulling on the yards, adjusting lines, and finally tying off on each tack. Sometimes they would “ware ship” or jibe. The mate was at the helm, which was a giant tiller, assisted by pullies and lines on each side, as it could be quite difficult to manage in heavy seas and winds.
After the “battle” we used the diesel to motor back up the channel. They had some trouble double docking the brigantine along side the Hawaiian Chiefton, so I didn’t feel so bad with my attempts docking after taking Rudi’s docking class with the club, as these guys seemed to know what they were doing, but managed to foul the foreward standing rigging with the other ship.
Overall a very interesting experience, and we went out for fish dinner after at the Fish Market in Redwood City.
Jim