Pride Ii

SHANGHAI, China -- "Look! Look!" Samantha Heyman said excitedly as she grasped a fried crab cake between a pair of chopsticks while standing along the banks of the Huangpu River."

Social calendarDec. 13: 1998 AIRS Holiday Gathering will be held at a Guilford home at 5 p.m. Benefits the Don Miller House and AIRS (AIDS Interfaith Residential Services) Family Program. $60. Call 410-433-1109.Dec. 18: The Maryland-DC Minority Supplier Development Council is sponsoring Business After Dark, BAD, at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Cocktail reception and a performance Handel's "Messiah." 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Tickets $150 for reception and performance. Call 410-997-7599.Dec. 19: Maryland Artists Equity Foundation's Winners Circle Exhibition will feature the works of 28 alumni, all of whom are winners of past scholarship competitions.

ABOARD THE PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II -- "Let's shoot all four of them!" called Capt. Jan Miles, to the ship's eager gunner, John Paul Hope, who scurried into place."

Daniel S. Parrott, who swabbed the decks of the original Pride of Baltimore and met his wife on the second one, rejoined the schooner this week to skipper a leg of its yearlong voyage to Asia.The Pride of Baltimore II appointed Parrott, 36, interim captain for 5,000-mile stretch from Panama to Hawaii. The trip amounts to a tryout for Parrott, the leading candidate to become one of the ship's two permanent captains."I'm delighted to be aboard," Parrott said yesterday, speaking by satellite phone as the Pride sailed in a warm, windy Caribbean about 240 miles east of the Panama Canal.

BEFORE THE Pride of Baltimore II eased out of the Inner Harbor last weekend for a yearlong voyage to Asia, about 60 fifth-graders from Spring Garden Elementary sang a tribute of Chesapeake Bay sea chanteys to the crew.They accompanied folk-pop artist Pat O'Brennan, the Chesapeake Troubadour, who has recorded three albums of songs about the estuary, during departure ceremonies for the beloved Baltimore vessel.The children and the folk singer were invited to sing songs of Maryland's bay sailors.

Capt. Bob Glover stood on the dock at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut at nightfall on a cold March day and watched as director Steven Spielberg filmed Africans disembarking from the slave ship Amistad."

Cannons were fired from one well-known ship and a wreath was dropped from another yesterday in an afternoon of homecoming and remembrance at Baltimore's Inner Harbor.Returning from a nine-month tour of Europe and the Caribbean in full, regal sail, the Pride of Baltimore II fired a fusillade of shots from the 4-pound cannons mounted on its sides.The shots, which echoed across the harbor, coincided with the dropping of a red, white and blue wreath by three survivors of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor from the stern of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Taney.

On deck once more is G. Peter Boudreau, skipper of the resurrection.Look for him tomorrow morning aboard the U.S.S. Constellation, a leaking, rotting, sagging, 142-year-old hulk of timbers that happens to be considered one of the country's most important historic naval vessels. He's the husky, mustachioed blond guy, the one who usually seems so calm and collected. He'll be in charge when a tugboat pulls the ship through the Inner Harbor ever so slowly, slower than a Sunday stroll through Harborplace.

If there's a common thread in the varied career of Mark Belton, it might be ships.Belton, a Naval Academy graduate and Navy veteran who grew up on the Eastern Shore, was chosen earlier this month as executive director of Pride of Baltimore Inc., the nonprofit organization that oversees Pride II.He's ready for the challenges of overseeing the ship whose mission is promoting Maryland in ports around the world, he says."

LONDON -- Rush hour on the Thames River. Pleasure boats and tourist vessels jockey for position in the murky water like commuters on the Beltway. Hordes of tourists line the riverbanks by the Tower of London. And there, just around the bend, comes the tallest, leanest ship of them all: the Pride of Baltimore II, sails unfurled and cannons booming."On this ship you sail into town, show what you've got, and then, take it all down and go boast about it," said the Pride II's captain, Jan Miles of Fells Point.

The captain and crew of Maryland's Pride of Baltimore II are turning to technology to tackle a centuries-old problem: how to keep the tall-masted clipper cruising comfortably when sails are unfurled and winds kick up. Seafarers say the challenge has grown more acute as masters and mates move from ship to ship with the seasons, producing new skippers who may not know enough about the conditions that could tilt the decks of classic vessels to uncomfortable, or...

As the Pride of Baltimore II cleared the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and headed toward Annapolis, the young crew flew into action. They yanked lines to adjust the heavy canvas sails of the clipper ship to move against the wind. The captain swung the wheel to steer parallel to shore in a zigzag pattern. With the sun lowering in the sky, the six-hour jaunt from Baltimore was nearly over, but the work was picking up. In windy, 30-degree temperatures, the 10-person crew raced from one side to the other, often heaving their entire bodies to move the heavy lines just a few feet to adjust the sails of the 185-ton ship.

Children from Roye-Williams Elementary near Aberdeen had boned up on state history, wrapped up a week of standardized tests and arrived ready yesterday to assess their seamanship during a one-hour tour of Maryland's famous tall ship. With the waters of the Susquehanna River glistening in the background and a stiff breeze blowing through the rigging, the crew introduced the children to the Pride of Baltimore II, which had docked in the harbor at Havre de Grace for a four-day visit. As it makes its way to various ports along the Chesapeake Bay and beyond, this symbol of maritime heritage offers children hands-on learning aboard a Baltimore clipper, which was the fastest ship of its era, said Linda Christenson, executive director.

What can a landlubber say about riding with a seasoned crew of the Pride of Baltimore II? My head still swims with the nautical terminology that I couldn't quite grasp. I boarded in Solomons for the two-day trip up Chesapeake Bay to the Pride's home port. It was intimidating, as I gingerly went below deck for the first time, wondering how many people busted their behinds after slipping on the almost-vertical stairs. Fortunately, I have not one mishap to report. Not that such thoughts didn't cross my mind.

The Pride of Baltimore II, the city-based clipper ship and Maryland goodwill ambassador, is being repaired by two companies in St.-Nazaire, France, and is set to return to the state in early spring, in time for the Volvo Ocean Race. The Pride II was severely damaged Sept. 5 when a rigging failure during a squall caused the ship's wooden bowsprit, foremast and mainmast to collapse while the ship was racing in the Bay of Biscay off the coast of France. Linda Christenson, executive director of Pride of Baltimore Inc., the nonprofit that manages the ship's fundraising and finances, said several European companies made bids to repair the ship.

The Pride of Baltimore II, the city-based clipper ship and Maryland goodwill ambassador, is being repaired by two French companies in St.-Nazaire, France, and is set to return to the state in early spring, in time for the Volvo Ocean Race. The Pride II was severely damaged Sept. 5 when a rigging failure during a squall caused the ship's wooden bowsprit, foremast and mainmast to collapse while the ship was racing in the Bay of Biscay off the coast of France. Linda Christenson, executive director of Pride of Baltimore Inc., the nonprofit that manages the ship's fundraising and finances, said several European companies made bids to repair the ship.

The Pride of Baltimore II, the city-based clipper ship and Maryland goodwill ambassador, is being repaired by two French companies in Saint-Nazaire, France, and is set to return to the state in early spring, in time for the Volvo Ocean Race. The Pride II was severely damaged Sept. 5 when a rigging failure during a squall caused the ship's wooden bowsprit, foremast and mainmast to collapse while the ship was racing in the Bay of Biscay off the coast of France. Linda Christenson, executive director of Pride of Baltimore Inc., the nonprofit that manages the ship's fundraising and finances, said several European companies made bids to repair the ship.

Jerry's Kids are doing without. Same goes for Baltimore police and firefighters. Hurricane Katrina victims have tugged so hard on America's heartstrings that fundraisers for other causes are suddenly shifting focus to benefit storm survivors. So when the group that runs the Pride of Baltimore II announced a "Raise the Rig" campaign for the ship after both masts collapsed this week, the timing was very awkward. "It isn't ideal, is it?" said Carol L. Hirschburg, a board member for Pride of Baltimore Inc., a nonprofit organization that operates the state-owned vessel.

When the Pride of Baltimore sank in a squall in the Atlantic in May 1986, many local leaders had no interest in building a replacement boat. The mayor, William Donald Schaefer, in particular considered it a bad idea. But the public felt differently. The same day that news of the sinking reached Baltimore, people began raising money for a new goodwill ship. A radio station launched an on-air drive, jars of pennies and dimes collected by children began arriving in the office of Pride of Baltimore Inc., and before long, local and state leaders committed to the idea.

Sailing ship carries pride to the world The Sun's article "Uncharted Waters" (April 16) wonderfully chronicled the history of the Pride of Baltimore and called attention to the fact that today is her 25th anniversary. However, the story may have left the inaccurate impression that the Pride's mission is unclear and her is future cloudy. In fact, the opposite is true. Pride II provides millions of dollars each year in free advertising for Baltimore and for Maryland, making front-page news wherever she travels and serving as a goodwill ambassador for the state's under-funded tourism industry.