EAGLE’ s 2019 summer cruise began in early April with a passage from Baltimore, Maryland, to Portsmouth, England, where I joined the ship. For the past thirteen years, I have served as Temporary Assignment Duty( TAD) crew on the ship with the specific job of being a qualified QMOW( Quartermaster of the Watch) and navigation instructor.
The ship’ s enlisted personnel and officers generally spend somewhere between two to four years on the ship … so, with thirteen years under my belt, I do bring a bit of long term perspective to the mix. Typically, I stand two 4 hour QMOW watches a day and, when not on watch, I will assist with navigation training, or sail handling( during“ Sail Stations”). Relaxation it is not the word that comes to mind – EAGLE is NOT a cruise ship!
THE EVENING before our departure, we had a reception for various diplomats( including the U. S. Ambassador to the UK) and high level naval officers from a variety of countries. As you might imagine, security was tight. Very tight. The ship was carefully inspected before the reception( including by bomb sniffing dogs) and a number of agents from the British Secret Service were posted in various locations, on the ship, and ashore. It felt like we were in a James Bond movie.
THE NEXT morning, we departed Portsmouth and headed east into the English Channel. In addition to the fulltime EAGLE crew and officers, we also had, on board, over a dozen TAD crew, a mix of sailors from other tall ships( EA- GLE does frequent“ exchange programs”), and some civilian guests.
Early in the afternoon, we conducted“ School of the Ship” which included my annual trip up the rig, to“ The Tops.” As we headed down the Channel, a particular
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