Day 3: First full day of work

We got at it today.  Almost all of the winter stuff (that's a sailor term, trust me) off the ship.  There are two ridge beams left and that's it.  Weather has been great, a little chilly, but sunny and nice.  Guess that ends tonight though.  The heavens are supposed to open up on us and drop a few degrees. (note to self:  next sabbatical in Florida. Oh, Erie you are so fickle!)

Not really worried about working in the rain but the biggest issue may be that the decks have not been watered all winter so they are dry.  That's good, right?  No that's bad.  When the deck gets water it swells and helps waterproof the below deck areas.  I am likely going to get wet sleeping.

Any who, how about a word for the day?  A simple one like donage.  Donage are pieces of wood that are castoffs from formal projects that are used , well, for just about anything: weight, blocking stuff up, whatever.

Plethora of cool things happened today.  I will give you 2 for instances:

1. Retrieving the "bubblers".  These devices keep the water from freezing around the hull in the winter.  If the water did freeze it would put damaging pressure on the hull.  When I yanked the bubbler on deck there was a dead duck stuck in it - been there a long time.  Nuff said, right?
2. We used the "gant lines" as a hoist to take ridge beams off the ship.  Totally cool.  The chief mate gave commands and 10 people worked in perfect unison to get the beam ashore.  Lots of sailor-y stuff going on here.  By way of command get this:  "Port main gant line, stand by to sweat the line,  handsomely."  Think it might take a bit to get the hang of the terminology.  But it will be sweet when I do.

How about a couple of photos from the deck of the ship?

Since the Niagara was built as a bun barge to fight the British in the War of 1812:  24 pound carronades.

This is the aft (back) of the ship.  The big light colored handle with the lines on it is the "steering wheel".  The Brown wooden box to the right is where much of the nautical electronics are housed.

The round tool in the middle is a man-powered winch when lots of torque is needed.  There is room for up to about 20 people on these "capstan bars" (one bar visible).

This is a pic of my bunk.  When I'm lying on my back that center beam is about 8" from my stomach - its why the regulars on the ship refer to this bunk as "chastity."

Well that's all today folks.  Gotta go get my foul weather gear ready for the work day tomorrow.

Ahoy.