Pride Of Baltimore

ST. MARY'S CITY -- After visiting more than 40 cities in 19 countries over nearly 20 months, the Pride of Baltimore II returned to Maryland waters yesterday, and its crew members expressed thanks for arriving safely."

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.

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.

TALKIN' TURKEY: Thanks to merchants here in town, members of the Pride of Baltimore II will be having a traditional Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow -- all the way in Malaga, Spain!Aside from turkey and all the trimmings, Pride members will be dining on Maryland crab cakes from Phillips Harborplace and cannolis from Vaccaro's bakery, washing the food down with wine from Boordy Vineyards.IN THE STRANGE-but-true category comes this: "Turkey Bowl 1990" today at the Kings Point Fairlanes in Randallstown!

As a teen-ager in 1977, Brett Hammond dreamed of sailing aboard the Pride of Baltimore. Yesterday he found himself 75 feet above the Chesapeake helping the crew of the schooner's successor, the Pride of Baltimore II, furl the topsail."

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.

THE SINKING of the Pride of Baltimore, like the explosion of a space shuttle that preceded it by several months or a horrific train crash in Maryland that occurred a few months later, caused a collective shudder 10 years ago yesterday.."Did you hear what happened to the Pride?" Many Marylanders still remember where they were when they heard the news, or recall a classic photograph of a grieving Mayor William Donald Schaefer, his head buried in his hands, at a press conference that day.Four sailors were lost -- Capt.

The Pride of Baltimore II's homecoming, originally scheduled for Friday in the Inner Harbor, has been delayed eight days by mechanical problems and stormy weather in the Caribbean.Baltimore's goodwill clipper ship left San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Saturday morning and is due to sail back into town Dec. 7, capping an eight-month, 11-country European tour."Everything's just fine," said Mark Belton, who became the Pride's executive director last week. "The weather looks pretty good. Depending upon the speed it can make, the ship will probably pull into Annapolis Dec. 6 and then do the ride up to Baltimore the morning of the seventh.

Recreation Pier -- once the place to go in Baltimore for music, dancing and fun -- could reclaim that status under a development proposal that calls for a waterfront Ferris wheel, miniature golf course, and a tugboat museum. That is one of five concepts submitted to the city for redeveloping Fells Point's signature structure that were released yesterday. Other ideas include a 12-story condominium tower, a hotel, and a mixture of offices and retail shops. Most of the proposals include making the pier the permanent berth of the clipper ship Pride of Baltimore II. The Pride has no permanent year-round berth in its home port.

The Pride of Baltimore II was lifted out of the water yesterday at a Curtis Bay boatyard for routine maintenance and a close inspection of damage from its 21-month European odyssey -- including an incident in an English port where the goodwill ship ran aground in July.Linda Jordan, executive director of the Pride, said the inspection is an annual requirement for passenger certification by the U.S. Coast Guard and that the "haul out" at the Smith & Sons boatyard provides an opportunity to look at the ship's bottom.