“Making Ready for Sea”: 2023 AmeriCorps Crew Training Day 5

St. Petersburg, FL

Saturday, December 3, 2022

Log written by oncoming Deckhand Educator Samuel Johnson

Our final full day in St. Petersburg was marked by the same industriousness that has swept the ship in the week’s preparation for our departure to St. Croix. Between applying the finishing runs of seam compound between the planks of the hull, installing new ratboards (the bits of wood you step on while climbing the rigging, a task with which our new crew is rapidly becoming familiar!), and sea-stowing everything that could be thrown about below decks in a swell, our to-do list shrunk as our excitement and anticipation grew. Several of our new deckhands also spent the afternoon splicing lines onto the buckets which will retrieve our saltwater “showers” from over the side during the voyage. As a trainee, it has been rewarding to settle into a routine of learning and work, especially that which helps make our little world aboard Denis Sullivan safer, cleaner, and “ship-shape and Bristol fashion,” as the old salts say. The new cohort was also briefed on the educational programs we will soon be running once we get to St. Croix, and we have already been discussing some lesson ideas of our own!

But immediately before us lies the voyage ahead, and in the evening, Captain Crosby briefed us on the intricacies of planning the route to St. Croix, taking into account wind direction, force, and sea state, along with the speed of our vessel in relation to all three. There were also some delicious homemade cookies to accompany the lesson, followed later on by an excellent taco feast courtesy of our cook. The crew was also divided into watches this evening; a system of ongoing rotations which dictate who will be working, resting, and standing by at any given point in our voyage, including through the night. Tonight's dessert before dinner might well be the smallest schedule rearrangement faced by the new deckhands over the coming days!