Brian,Originally Posted by brian daley
Not in the merchant marine... he had a spell of about 7-8 years where he volunteered as crew on tall ships.
It started off with this one in Erie, PA
http://flagshipniagara.org/flagship_niagara/index.htm and after a few seasons was it's cook.
The highlight was the brig being in the lead group at the Presidential July 4th 2000 review in NY harbour. This article describes it a bit and give the history of the brig from the war of 1812 -
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...pagewanted=all
Spread to a few others, one taking kids in San Fransisco and two seasons on the Hiawain Chieftain/Lady Washington that cruise together on the US West coast.
Sailing with kids he discovered that haviing them quickly identify the downwind railing was very important...
I went on a "battle cruise" out of Marina del Rey on the Lady Washington and it was a kick - shooting cannons at each other in the Pacific while dodging the idiots in power boats who sail as badly as they drive on the LA freeways....
I was very impressed with the crew running up and down the rigging working on the sails - it's a long way up there!
He since settled down and now owns/runs a game shop in Santa Monica.
The other sailors in the family were my grandfather who was a captain for the Palm Lines before WWII, and my uncle, who I just found out was a wireless operator on HMS Inman in WWII, a Captain Class frigate (Destroyer Escort) built in Boston under Lend Lease. After the war is was immeadiately scrapped. It performed North Atlantic convoy escort duties.
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