Replica of the USS Constitution built by Becky
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN AROUND THE HORN?
I have; many times with Daddy. I think the most frightened I have ever been was on such a trip I made with Daddy.
Daddy had agreed to take a replica barque (I think) from Maine to the Columbia River in Oregon. It was such a pretty little ship. 2 masts, with topsails, Linen Sails, and such a figurehead as you have never seen, a Mermaid to enchant Neptune.
Daddy didn't want to take me because it would take at least 3 months and we would be going around the Horn in the dead of winter and he was worried about me if the ship went down.
How I begged him t let me go, finally Momma told him that he had to take me, he tried to argue, He asked Momma, what if we go down, its bad there, real bad and I don't want to risk her (me). Momma just kissed him in Momma's way and said that I fit happens, She's with you and I know that you'll protect her. Daddy finally agreed, but he was not happy about it.
We left Maine and had good sailing all the way down to Argentina, I used to go up to the bow and the Mate would tie a line around me so that I wouldn't fall and I'd lay in the safety net and watch the Dolphins play in the Bow Wave. Have you ever watched the Dolphins play or sailed with whales? I used to just lay there in the net for hours and watch.
At night the Stars were so bright, no sounds except for the creaking of the rigging and the hiss as our Hull passed thru the water. Just the watch and Daddy and me listening as he told of the constellations and of days gone by, of men and ships and of Sea Monsters.
I'd fall asleep as we sat on the deck and he'd take me below and tuck me into my bunk in my cabin. You cannot imagine how happy I was or how much I learned from Daddy.
As we got closer to the straights of Magellan, the weather worsened and the ship began pound into the seas, Daddy kept her bow pointed straight into the waves. The weather continued to worsen as we began our passage thru the Straights. The winds increased as did the waves, within a couple of hours we were in a force-ten hurricane.
The waves were higher than the masts and the wind shredded our topsails. Daddy ordered them cut loose to lighten the load topsides. We furled all of the sails and switched over to our diesel engine. Daddy ordered all hands below and to stand by to abandon ship if the need arose. I went to his cabin with the Chief Mate. I was so scared and so afraid for Daddy out on deck by himself at the helm.
I could see him there, standing at the wheel, looking into the night and smiling and laughing, he was in his element, him against Neptune. You should have seen him, he maneuvered out small ship in and out of the troughs and kept her upright so many times I thought that I had lost him as waves swept the deck completely, as the water fell away and back into the sea, there he was, like a granite statue, the water never even budged him.
The mate just looked and me and said, "Miss Rebecca, yonder is a Man and a Sailor the like of which I have never seen." The storm continued for two days and for two days, Daddy never left the wheel of the ship. For two days he battled the seas and he won; he brought us safely through that storm. There were five ships lost in that storm, all of them bigger than us. My Daddy was a sailor; he was a sailor of the Old Breed.