sharon.elizabeth: Visiting Schooners


Spectators look on as one of the Schooners rounds the Lower Harbor break wall

A few weeks ago I was browsing the Mining Journal, as I often do, when I noticed that there were two large Schooners, The Lynx and the Pride of Baltimore II, that were going to be docking at Lower Harbor later that evening. The paper indicated that it would be the first time that two tall ships had ever docked there at the same time. The ships are reproductions of tall ships used during the War of 1812 between the United States and England. These types of ships were apparently common on Lake Superior, and seeing The Lynx and the Pride of Baltimore II would be an opportunity to get an idea of what things "used to be like".
Marquette's local schooner, The Coaster II, would be greeting the ships and leading them into the harbor (their arrival to be announced by cannon fire).

(Interesting facts I learned about each: The Lynx's crew dresses in period costume, and it was also used to help train the cast and crew of Pirates of the Caribbean. The Pride of Baltimore II is the most traveled historic tall ship and has visited 40 countries!)

Not only was I intrigued by the ships, having never seen anything like that in action, but really... who doesn't want to see what cannon fire sounds like OR see a ship that helped train Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom? So, I was pretty excited when I emailed my husband the newspaper article indicating that I wouldn't mind going, and he responded that he would, indeed, take me!

When we arrived to the Lower Harbor area, the two ships were out past the break wall, surrounded by what they made look like tiny local sail boats. We found ourselves envying those with personal boats who could get so up close and personal. We enjoyed watching them off in the distance for some time before deciding it was absurdly hot (although, no doubt Tim decided that immediately after we stepped foot out of the car) and we needed ice-cream. Honey treated me to a Mackinac Fudge cone just as the ships were making their way into the harbor. Not wanting to give up my ice-cream (knowing if I asked Tim to hold it for me it would find a way in his belly with the excuse of "it was melting so fast I had to eat it"), I managed to hold my camera in one hand and the cone in the other (although zooming in and out now became an issue). I was managing just fine until, BOOM, cannon fire. I jumped maybe a half foot in the air and my cone was almost lost in battle (get it, cannon fire...battle..), but I hung on - managing to get a shot of lingering cannon smoke. At the time of fire, the ships were very near each other, and if I ignored all of the other tiny boats (and the large crowd of spectators), I could almost imagine the two ships facing off - way back when. Incredibly neat.

We stayed long enough to watch the Pride of Baltimore lower its sails and dock at the harbor, but wanting to beat the heat and the crowd that was a long as we lasted. The following day offered tours and sails on the ships, but we were headed downstate for the weekend and were not able to do this.

Point of this story - if you take a moment, set aside taking for granted the area due to living here so long, you will find that there is almost always something incredibly interesting and unique (and camera worthy) happening in our very own community.

Crossing one another in the distance. You can imagine how much I really wanted the speed boat to move out the way - not for their potential safety but for ruining my shot ;)