IS GODSPEED AN AUTHENTIC REPRODUCTION?
It
was a fairly close representation of a 17th century sailing vessel of
that
size. I don't believe there is any record of the original lines
of
GODSPEED. The current GODSPEED was designed by Duncan Stewart and
built
by Carl Pederson and his crew. The keel was laid May 14, 1982 and
the
ship christened May 12, 1984.
HOW DID THE SAILS AFFECT THE JOURNEY?
All
of the sails or courses aboard GODSPEED, except one are
square.
There were 5 total. There are three masts: starting aft, the
mizzen
mast, the main mast and the fore mast. All the way forward,
sticking
straight out was the bowsprit. The largest sail, being the main
course,
was located on the mainmast. Its driving power was best when
close
hauled or with the wind on the beam. Above the main course was
the
topsail. Because it was higher up, they held the wind when the
ship
was in a trough. The foremast, carried the fore course. The
fore
course was set on all points of sail and was vital for maneuvering the
ship.
The mizzen mast was located behind the main. It carried a
triangle
shaped sail, called the mizzen course. It was a balancing or
steering
sail. All the way forward, on the bowsprit was the sprit
sail.
This was good for maneuvering the ship. Its bottom edge sometimes
was
in the water.
Modern sailboats can sail almost into the wind. The sails act almost like an airplane wing, with the wind flowing over the sail creating lift. On square rigged ships like GODSPEED, you did not get the lift effect. The best you could do to windward was when the wind was just a little forward of the beam. But all other points of sail she behaved beautifully. For this reason, they sailed mostly following the trade winds. Instead of just heading anywhere you wanted, or taking the more direct route, you used the prevailing winds to push you. In our case, we had to sail south before we could sail north. This is why it would take many months to cross the Atlantic.
To set the courses, you had to have many men, some on deck handling the lines while others were up on the yards unlacing the courses. If you had to reduce canvas because of a storm, you would have to climb up the mast and lace the sail up.
HOW DOES GODSPEED BEHAVE AT SEA?
She
and her kind, were the original rock and rollers. With the wind
on
the beam, she would really move. If there was any type of sea,
she
would rise up and over the swells. This could be a bit wet.
Also
heeled over in a steady breeze everything on board was at an
angle.
If it wasn't lashed down, it moved. When you slept, depending on
which
side you had the wind, you either slept pressed up against the side of
the
ship or if the wind was on the other side, you rolled out. We had
a
rectangular piece of canvas called a lee cloth that was held up with
rope
to the overhead. This kept you in your bunk.
With the wind on the stern, like in the trade winds if they weren't too strong, GODSPEED would push along. but if the wind was up and there were large seas, she would roll from side to the other side. Sometimes we actually would start to surf. You are constantly leaning or moving up or down or holding on to something, rolling back and forth, but never motionless.
HOW CRAMPED WAS IT? WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE FOR THE
ORIGINAL
COLONISTS
We
had a crew of 14 aboard and they had more than 3 times that
amount.
Down below it was crowded for us. I don't know what the layout
would
have been like for the original GODSPEED, but we had 8 sleeping in the
main
cabin aft, 2 up forward where the cooking was done, and 4 guys in
the
middle section. They could not stand up by their bunks like the
rest
of us could. We each had an area by our bunk to
store
our cloths, books etc. We carried enough canned and dry goods to
last
about 60 days. So it was pretty crowded. I imagine that it
was
pretty tight for the original colonists, and I am sure it smelled very
bad.
WHAT KIND OF HARDSHIPS DID WE ENCOUNTER AND HOW WOULD IT
DIFFER
WITH THE ORIGINAL?
One
of the main difficulties we had was learning to sail a 17th C.
ship.
Most of us had 20th century sailing experience but this was going to be
very
different. Just on the main course alone you had about 16 lines
used
to control the sail, 8 per side. You had to know what each did
and you
had to know where it was. Since we were also sailing at night,
you had
to be able to grab the right line during a change of course or
reduction of
sail during a storm. If you used a flashlight, it would ruin your
night
vision. The original sailors would know the ship and how to sail
it
right from the start. We learned as we went. This is one of the
reasons
it took 2 weeks to get out of the English Channel. They also were
accustomed
to many things that was foreign to us. If they drank the water,
it
was teeming with life, I think they drank ale instead. The food
aboard
at that time was poor compared to what we had. Scurvy was common
and
loss of life due to it happened on long voyages. Sanitation was
unknown,
bathing was out of the question and changing your clothes was unheard
of.
I don't think safety was a big issue. That is why they sometimes
had
a large crew. You were bound to lose a few along the way. Missing
your
family and friends I think would be common to both. We didn't
have
refrigeration or hot showers, but you got used to it. We
made
up for the lack of fresh food by having a variety of canned and dried
food.
We bathed with salt water and used liquid dish soap to get the salt
water
to lather. For me, it was like a long camping trip. Another
major
hardship was the fact that we were a 20th C. crew, we had to deal with
20th
C. problems, like a schedule. The original voyagers didn't know
about
the hurricane season here, and they didn't really know where they were
going,
there wasn't anyone waiting for them at their destination.
SOME OF THE LOW POINTS
Hoping
we didn't get run over in the English Channel. At night it could
be
very dangerous. We had to be in a certain port for a function
that was
arranged months beforehand. We did not have an engine and most
modern
people forget that when you are truly a sailboat, you arrive when you
arrive.
This to me was one of the main problems. We ended up canceling
many
ports that would have been visited by the original GODSPEED. Also
most
of the crew only had enough time from jobs for about months.
Because
of the delay in Puerto Rico due to hurricane season, it would only be
myself
and two others of the original crew of 14 that would step off of
GODSPEED
when we finally arrived at Jamestown. We had a couple guys
seasick
for weeks at a time, one from the first crew and one from the second
crew.
They had to leave when we got to the next port. We had one fellow
so
worried about his family, that he started to go into depression.
He
had to leave. Instead of arriving back in Virginia by mid July,
we
just barely squeaked in to St. Thomas. This wasn't a low for me,
I
was having fun!
SOME OF THE HIGH POINTS
Having
my parents in London for the departure. Meeting Prince
Philip.
Finally getting out of the English Channel. Watching dolphins
chasing
flying fish and our bow wake. Enjoying beautiful sunrises and
sunsets.
Seeing the Green Flash. Swimming. Climbing up in the
rigging
and listening to music on your walkman, or chatting with one of crew
mates.
To celebrate the halfway mark of the voyage, we ate a fruit cake made
by
my mom. Making a landfall. Getting a message from back
home.
Because I was the radio operator, I had the guys post the message they
wanted
me to send by the radio shack. When I made my sked with the
Amateur
Radio Operators back in Williamsburg, I would send them. At the
same
time, if they had anything for us, I would copy it down and deliver it
to
the crew. This was a real boost to the morale. About 75% of
the
messages sent and received was with morse code. The rest was with
a
phone patch, where you could actually talk to the person.
This
was all before cell phones, and email. And I am glad of
that.
A few years ago, the British sailed the route of Cabot using a replica
they
had built. It had engines, cell phones,laptops, and if they
needed something,
it was air dropped by the RAF. We were basically on our
own.
I'll have to check it but I think we are one of the few replicas to
actually
sail out of the English Channel.
STANDING WATCH
Standing
watch can be exciting and it can be very tiring and boring. We
had
three watches made up of 4 per watch, the cook and captain didn't stand
a
watch. I think each watch lasted 4 hours. What you do is
spend
an hour at the helm steering, then you spend an hour up forward as a
lookout
and the rest of the time you are doing maintenance if it was during the
daytime
or just hanging out if it was night. You spend a lot of time
looking
at the stars. After your turn at the helm, you would go down
below
and make an entry in the ships log. You would note the weather
conditions,
your course, average speed. During the night watches in the
English
Channel you needed the four guys on watch just to have the extra set of
eyes.
But later on it wasn't so important. If it was raining, you
put
your foul weather gear on and hoped your watch would end soon. It
night,
it was common to send someone down into the hold to find where the
oreos and
chocolate bars were stored. We would be like kids, drinking boxed
milk
that we had and eating cookies. Later on in the tropics, we would
cook
up popcorn and stargaze. When the sun came up, whoever was on
watch
would see all the stuff we spilled!
When you were off watch, you would sleep for a few hours and then get up for meals, hang out, write in your journal, read, do chores, play games etc. If conditions got poor, and all hands were needed, you got up and helped out. You always wanted the bad weather and changing tacks to occur during the other guys watch.
DID WE FOLLOW THE SAME ROUTE
Originally
that was the plan. We were going to visit each place that the
original
GODSPEED stopped at, but at a different time of year. But we
ended
up only visiting Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands,
the
USVI and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The other stops in the Bahamas
were
not visited by the original GODSPEED.
DID OUR TRIP TAKE AS LONG AS THE ORIGINAL
If
you don't count the delay in Puerto Rico, I think it took about the
same
amount of time. We sailed over 6000 miles in a little over 3
months.
DID WE HAVE ANY PASSENGERS?
No
A QUESTION OR TWO I WILL ASK YOU TO PONDER....
Because
of hurricane season, it was decided for safety reasons, the voyage to
Virginia
should be postponed. I remained in Puerto Rico with GODSPEED and
the
rest of the crew had to go home and back to work. We did not know
when
we would continue. Because of that, a new captain was
selected.
With 3 of the original voyage crew, and 8 that the new captain
selected,
we totaled 12.
QUESTION: When did GODSPEED depart Puerto Rico?
We had a total of 12 aboard when we departed Puerto Rico and only 9 when we arrived at Jamestown.
QUESTION: What happened to the other three?
If you
would
like the answers, email to:
(mycallsign)@netscape.net
(my call is wa4chq)
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