Oh yes... The Pride is back... The Pride II of course..

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Wow... no posts since February... Life does move along quickly sometimes...

In this edition of "This is My Life.." My son Jay arrived back in the states aboard the Pride of Baltimore II. The Pride is a tall ship, the "good will" ambassador of the State of Maryland, USA... He arrived April 30, 2006 at the inner harbor in Baltimore. We (his siblings and I) met him at the dock. It was a long trip from Long Island in the wee hours of 4/30/06, but we were there on time with time to spare...


Here the pride comes in, sails already down but with cannon blasting. Jay worked the cannons. Other ships in the harbor also blasted cannon in salute and still others blasted their air horns constantly. There was even a fire boat to welcome the Pride home.

The big story behind this particular ship is the fact that this past September 5th, the Pride II was caught in a squall off the coast of France. (I believe 2 squalls, actually...) During same, the rigging gave way and the ship was dismasted. This means the masts cracked and fell... harrowing from the stories told... Miraculous in that none of the 12 people on deck or the 6 people below was killed or injured. With skill and commitment, the captain was able to limp the Pride to Saint Nazaire, a port city in Western France. Repairs would have to be made there...and the crew, was befriended by a local family. Some of the crew flew home, and replacements arrived in January of 2006, my son Jay among them.

From January to the middle of March, the crew and repairman worked on the Pride. A local family, headed by a man with many "friends" helped the Pride's crew and even provided connections for needed work and dinners for the shipmates. Jay became friendly with the family. (see photo below)

Jay with 3 members of the family that befriended him (he played piano with the daughter, and trumpet with the son)

I'm at work as I write this and there may be an alarm coming in... so... will write more about this later... bye