On the Waterfront: Tall Ship U
Tall Ship U: Higher education at sea
When Jesse Maupin stepped off the tall ship Lady Washington this month, he was the same tall, handsome, blue-eyed youth who climbed aboard nine months earlier.
But, then again, he wasn’t. He was a year older and a lifetime wiser. Jesse had graduated from time-honored Tall Ship U, the ancient institute of the high seas. At age 19, he’s learned things many people won’t learn in a lifetime – not just the physics of wind and waves and sails, but the greater lessons of personal integrity and humility, of leadership and organizational behavior.
A couple of years ago, he confesses he didn’t have a clue. As a Port Townsend High School student, he was something of a misfit. A poor student, he took to wearing gothic black, made poor choices and was suspended twice.
"The social atmosphere didn’t work for me," he says. "We were punks. We did things for shock value. I wasn’t coping."
Eventually, he transferred to the school’s Mar Vista alternative program, which focuses on individual learning. Each Thursday, class convened at Point Hudson, where students climbed into the Bear, one of the heavy, traditional longboats operated by the Wooden Boat Foundation at the Northwest Maritime Center. Each of the kids gripped an oar, and rowed the open boat out into the bay. When the wind blew, they raised the sails.
For Jesse, things began to click. His parents are both avid sailors, and Jesse had learned to sail small boats at his grandparents’ summer home on the shores of Lake Ontario in upstate New York. This was something Jesse knew and loved, something he was good at.
"I liked the freedom of being in control of your environment," he says. Then he stops to think. "And also being out of control, at the mercy of the wind and the sea. It helps me clear my mind. Just me and the elements."
Last summer, he graduated to the volunteer crew of the Lady Washington. A frequent summer visitor to the Port Townsend waterfront, the "Lady" is home-ported in Aberdeen, where she was launched in 1989 to help celebrate the bicentennial of Capt. Robert Gray’s exploration of these waters in 1792. At 112 feet, but just 68 feet on deck, she sails as a non-profit educational enterprise, relying largely on volunteer crew.
She’s also something of a Hollywood personality, having served as Johnny Depp’s command in Disney’s film "Pirates of the Caribbean."
Jesse’s joined the crew in September, at the end of the Wooden Boat Festival.
He was astounded by the intricate spider’s web of lines and spars that control 11 sails atop the stout wooden hull.
As the rookie, he drew menial duties – swabbing decks, cleaning toilets, polishing brass, raising and lowering flags.
"That was Ok with me. My job was to learn the boat, and the only way to do that is to watch and listen and try things one at a time. It may look easy, but when you’re actually under sail, you have to know what you’re doing, which line is which, and what it does. That takes time."
Jesse’s personal voyage renews an ancient tradition. For centuries, young people have climbed aboard tall ships to see the world, and to find themselves. Those journeys inspired leaders from Columbus to Kennedy, writers from Melville to Conrad.
Capt. James Cook, perhaps the most famous sailor of all time, first went to sea as a teenager. On his historic third voyage around the world, when he explored these Northwest shores, he did so with a raw, young crewman by the name of George Vancouver. A generation later, Vancouver returned as the captain of his own voyage of discovery, placing Port Townsend and Puget Sound on the world map. His longboats, in turn, inspired the Wooden Boat Foundation to build a replica – the longboat Bear.
So Jesse’s personal odyssey merely continues the cycle. His first volunteer stint on the Lady was just two weeks. He came home, and promptly decided he wanted to go back. He rejoined the crew at Sausalito, where it stopped on its annual fall voyage to Southern California.
A month later, he was promoted to storekeeper. A few months later, he rose again, this time to bosun’s mate – managing the sails at the staggering executive salary of $500 a month. He loved the vessel, loved his fellow crew members. He loved climbing aloft in a 25-knot wind. He loved sailing through the night, steering by the stars. And he was learning to like himself.
"I get seasick every time we’re out in heavy seas," he says. "But it doesn’t matter. I get over it. And we work together out there. We’re a family, moving from one port to another port. We’re never in one place for very long."
By this spring, Jesse had been on the boat longer than any his crewmates. The student had become the teacher. The rookie had become the seasoned sailor.
And what had he learned? Jesse peers across Port Townsend Bay as he thinks about it.
"I’ve learned that I’m far more adaptable than I ever knew. I can endure exhaustion, seasickness, cramped living quarters. I’ve learned that privacy is greatly over-rated."
The Lady Washington may be an elegant sight, but the living conditions are rugged. Most of the 12-person crew sleeps in one small room, which they share with the galley table, cook stove and three heads. Crew are climbing in and out of their bunks around the clock. If somebody snores, you learn to ignore it. If you need privacy, you climb into the rigging, or you go home..
"But maybe the most important thing I’ve learned is humility," Jesse adds. "It doesn’t matter how much you know about that ship. Nobody can sail it alone. It takes a crew. You have to work with people. There has to be one skipper, and you have to do what you’re told."
Sometimes, getting along with people requires extraordinary measures. Jesse recalls cruising in heavy seas and a 25-knot wind when the topsail came loose and began flapping in the gale. He and a mate climbed aloft to secure it.
He was already feeling seasick. But, 60 feet up the main mast, the ship’s roll is amplified. And so is the motion sickness.
"We lashed the sail, and I could feel my stomach turn. I knew I was going to lose my breakfast, but I had to time it so that we were heeled over."
The seasoned sailor made his deposit over the Pacific Ocean, not the deck of his own ship. Jesse earned an "A" in maritime sociology.
Back on shore, Jesse has been looking to the future. He wants to visit his crewmate and new girlfriend in Southern California. He’s thinking about more schooling, or finding another ship.
But there was one more job to do. The Lady Washington was sailing back up the coast, and needed a bosun’s mate. He’s back on board for a few weeks, doing graduate work at Tall Ship U.
