Maine Diaries: Chesapeake musings
Each spring students from
Maine Maritime Academy
set sail on their training ship the State of Maine
for a two-month cruise. One student, Paul Kemp*, has
agreed to share his experience.
June 19-With less than a week to go, we’re all getting to the end of our motivation to do, well, anything at all. Like drinking an ice slushy, or a bottle of Jäger for that matter, cruise at first is wonderful. But then it hits--the indelible pain in the head, the constant throbbing of over-stressed and overworked body parts, and the unmistakable feeling that this in all aspects was a completely stupid idea. That isn’t to say we haven’t all learned. We have all reached a point where we can say we have gotten something out of our experiences here on the boat.
Tonight, we venture the 200-some miles up the industrial stretch of the Chesapeake Bay where the America of the 1960’s has forever landed its mark on the shorelines of this once great river basin—where extremely bored and broke settlers embarked thousands of miles across open ocean 500-years ago.
And like our original settlers, we, too, are all feeling a little oppressed and bored. And so we try for Baltimore. (Why, remains a mystery to me. For at this point our ports seem to have been chosen by an 8-year-old child throwing darts at a map, missing the Caribbean entirely and focusing on North America like some sick and twisted magnet.)
As we pass the Norfolk Navy Yard, a solemn reminder of our past rises from the depths of the secured dockage of the naval fleet—stacks of the most recently built U.S. destroyers. Weird looking, to say the least, and beneath the giant arrays of radio antennas, missiles and guns of every caliber, and the ever-so dull naval gray deck paint, lie steel salvaged from Ground Zero of what was the World Trade Center in New York.
And in the darkness of the harbor, the blue lights of patrol crafts dart across the water like shooting stars as we are all reminded that there is still a threat. Of course, the Vessel Security Classes we take three times a week serve this purpose, too.
But with all of our anti-terrorism training, it seems to me that anything someone wants to do, they can sure as hell find a way to do it and no money in the world can truly prevent it. So take all the money used on national security and military counter-terrorism intelligence, and spend it on making these people less angry with us. Who knows, maybe that would be a little more effective.
Previous posts:
May 5
May 7
May 9
May 10
May 12
May 13
May 17
May 18
May 19
May 21
May 23
May 26
May 28
June 2
June 3
June 6
June 8
June 12
June 15
June 17
*Paul Kemp is a pseudonym. The student has asked that his name be withheld out of respect for those with whom he is sailing.
June 19-With less than a week to go, we’re all getting to the end of our motivation to do, well, anything at all. Like drinking an ice slushy, or a bottle of Jäger for that matter, cruise at first is wonderful. But then it hits--the indelible pain in the head, the constant throbbing of over-stressed and overworked body parts, and the unmistakable feeling that this in all aspects was a completely stupid idea. That isn’t to say we haven’t all learned. We have all reached a point where we can say we have gotten something out of our experiences here on the boat.
Tonight, we venture the 200-some miles up the industrial stretch of the Chesapeake Bay where the America of the 1960’s has forever landed its mark on the shorelines of this once great river basin—where extremely bored and broke settlers embarked thousands of miles across open ocean 500-years ago.
And like our original settlers, we, too, are all feeling a little oppressed and bored. And so we try for Baltimore. (Why, remains a mystery to me. For at this point our ports seem to have been chosen by an 8-year-old child throwing darts at a map, missing the Caribbean entirely and focusing on North America like some sick and twisted magnet.)
As we pass the Norfolk Navy Yard, a solemn reminder of our past rises from the depths of the secured dockage of the naval fleet—stacks of the most recently built U.S. destroyers. Weird looking, to say the least, and beneath the giant arrays of radio antennas, missiles and guns of every caliber, and the ever-so dull naval gray deck paint, lie steel salvaged from Ground Zero of what was the World Trade Center in New York.
And in the darkness of the harbor, the blue lights of patrol crafts dart across the water like shooting stars as we are all reminded that there is still a threat. Of course, the Vessel Security Classes we take three times a week serve this purpose, too.
But with all of our anti-terrorism training, it seems to me that anything someone wants to do, they can sure as hell find a way to do it and no money in the world can truly prevent it. So take all the money used on national security and military counter-terrorism intelligence, and spend it on making these people less angry with us. Who knows, maybe that would be a little more effective.
Previous posts:
May 5
May 7
May 9
May 10
May 12
May 13
May 17
May 18
May 19
May 21
May 23
May 26
May 28
June 2
June 3
June 6
June 8
June 12
June 15
June 17
*Paul Kemp is a pseudonym. The student has asked that his name be withheld out of respect for those with whom he is sailing.
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