H.M.S. SULTANA Day Cruise

25 April 2003

Click on any thumbnail photo to enlarge it

Updated 17 August 2004 15:30

On 25 April 2003, Ship 25 was fortunate to be able to take a one-day cruise on the topsail schooner  H.M.S. SULTANA from Chestertown, MD to Baltimore's Inner Harbor.  This day cruise was part fun and part preliminary investigation of the idea to do the Ship 25 long cruise onboard her this summer.

The original H.M.S. SULTANA was a Royal Navy revenue cutter and dispatch boat that sailed the Chesapeake Bay of the American Colonies of His Britannic Majesty King George III in the years immediately prior to the American War of Independence.  The first SULTANA was built in Boston, Massachusetts in 1767 as a merchant vessel to carry cargo to and from ports along the coast of North America.  She was sold to the Royal Navy shortly after she was completed.  

The current SULTANA is an authentic replica of His Majesty’s Schooner SULTANA.  She was launched in Chestertown, MD on March 24, 2001 having been constructed from a draught of the original SULTANA recorded by Royal Navy surveyors on June 21, 1768 at Deptford Navy Yard outside Greenwich, England.  SULTANA sails the waters of the Chesapeake Bay each year from April through November providing educational programs for over 5000 students annually. Sultana also offers land-based educational opportunities in the form of classroom outreach programs and boatbuilding courses at the Schooner Sultana Shipyard in Chestertown., MD.  

For more information and photos, visit the SULTANA website at http://www.schoonersultana.com/about.htm and meet the professional crew of SULTANA at http://www.schoonersultana.com/crew.htm .

  The crew at leisure.

  Tim keeps lookout.

  No gear adrift here.  A place for everything, and everything in it's place.

  Deadeyes are means by which the stays holding the mast upright are tensioned.

  Tim is still on lookout.

  SULTANA is steered by a means of a gun tackle rig attached to her tiller.

  Marlinespike seamanship.

  The first mate makes it look easy.

  Meanwhile, back at the helm.

  The ship's bell is still used to mark the passing of e

  The base of the mast.

  A deck shot.

  Greg helps Tim keep lookout.

  A shot of the port bow.

  Tim has apparently convinced Carl that it's fun to be a lookout.

  Mast hoops.

  Land ho!

  The galley.

  Instead of hammocks, the crew sleeps in little berths with sliding doors.

  An onboard lamp.

  Who knows what's in the box?

  The master's cabin.

  View from the port quarter light.

  The master's desk.

  The head.

  Tim looks for some new adventure.

  Captain Jamie Trost

  It looks easy, but in fact SULTANA is really a bear to steer.  These lines get very hard to pull when then is a good sea running.

  Chow time.

  I'm sure colonial sailors wished they had Pepsi available to them.

  The galley table.

  Nice dreads.