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| 神奈川沖浪裏 葛飾 北斎¹ |
I've flown over the Atlantic more than once, over the Pacific more times than I care to remember. Looking down from altitude and all one can see (provided there are no clouds) is an unbroken expanse of a dark blueish-gray which stretches forever. It's best not to think about what would happen should your aircraft wind up down there. (Yes, yes, I know the odds of surviving a crash, but what if?"
Flying over the Rockies in the dead of winter gives me the same sensation, but at least there you can see the occasional sign of humanity, a road, perhaps even a cluster of buildings. Over the sea, if the air is clear enough, you can see a ripple-effect, not a flat surface. For there are waves there, marching from one horizon to another. (I did once see the wake of a ship while flying over the Pacific, pretty cool, but it did give me pause as to just how far away from land those sailors were.)
I have truly been to sea only three times in my life (I don't count the ferry ride from Point Judith to Block Island, if it's not foggy you're in sight of land the entire way.) Once on a cruise ship (Boston to Bermuda and back), twice on aircraft carriers: USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), out of Norfolk, and USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) , out of San Diego. All three times I was out of sight of land on very large ships.
Truth be told, riding the carriers was fun, Family and Friends Day Cruises are supposed to be like that. The hangar deck is packed with things to do and, best of all, free food. There were activities up on the flight deck, a mini-air show both times, and one could keep pretty busy the whole time.
Coming back from the cruise on Ike, The Nuke and Your Humble Scribe stood by one of the openings into the hangar deck and watched the ship speeding along. As my daughter mentioned, "I think the captain is in a hurry to get home." Those very big ships go very, very fast when they want to.
Heading out of San Diego on the USS Ronald Reagan, I was actually on the flight deck, going out and coming back. As we cleared Point Loma, you could feel the ocean lifting that big gray warship. (When she's fully loaded the sensation isn't as pronounced. We put out with less than the full crew and the air wing was ashore.)
Now the cruise ship was a different matter entirely. We were two days at sea going out, then two days coming back. On the way out, we hit a storm, 2o to 30 foot seas, the wind was over 50 knots as I recall. The ship we were on was Norwegian Majesty, a "small" cruise ship as such things go, had to be to fit through the Town Cut to get into St. George's Harbor (see below). She was less than 700 feet long. Pretty big, but the sea is bigger.
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| The red circle is the Town Cut, our ship was small enough to pass through there. The blue circle is where we tied up. (Source) |
I learned Saturday that this ship is still in service, though with a different cruise line, and is now named Louis Majesty. (Hhmm, I've heard it ain't good to rename a ship, not without going through the proper rituals anyway.)
The Missus Herself was seasick throughout the storm, stayed in her rack and tried to sleep. I weathered the whole thing pretty well. And yes, I'm inordinately proud of that. The kids are all good sailors as well, though LUSH does get a bit queasy riding in the car. (And NOT while flying off the boat and then trapping back aboard? They're different I guess ...)
Anyhoo, not too many months after we had gone through a storm, Norwegian (er, Louis) Majesty hit another storm, those folks weren't so lucky -
I've been in that forward lounge, very nice view, but when the sea wants in, it gets in.
I remember having a lot of time to myself on that cruise while at sea. I loved to stand by the rail and just watch the ocean. She has many moods and is always a thing of sheer beauty.
But never turn your back on her, respect her always.
Hhmm, I should like to do another cruise, but can I convince The Missus Herself? We shall see.
¹ The Great Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa-oki Nami Ura) by Katsushika Hokusai
I knew a NIMITZ plankowner, and he told me that during speed trials, admittedly at low draft, they had her up over 40 knots, but the vibration made them back off.
ReplyDeleteI have seen video of both the Big Badger Boat having waves break over the face of Turret One, and a Sea King chained to the flight deck disappear when a wave came over the flight deck. Both instances being in the Norwegian Sea.
During Typhoon Cobra, WISCONSIN had bridge windows 300 feet back from the bow, and sixty feet from the waterline broken out by waves.
The ocean is a cruel mistress, that only wants to kill you, if given a chance
They move along right smartly.
DeleteI've heard stories of the Enterprise throwing up an immense rooster tail when she skedaddled out of one area, at max power, to another hot spot.
DeleteThat would be a sight to see!
DeleteAfter flight deck, please insert " of a CV ".
ReplyDeleteImplied.
DeleteYah, ocean cruises aren't appealing to this landlubber, up the Mississippi or one of the Viking River cruises that's another matter. Being stuck on a ship with thousands of people, nope, nope, nope.
ReplyDeleteIf you time it right, you hardly notice the other people. Heck, most of 'em head straight to the slots once in international waters.
DeleteGambling is that big a draw? It's been a long time since I was somewhere where there wasn't a casino handy. That was the winter in Rockport Texas in 2013-2014. Right now there are casinos just over an hour north or south of me.
DeleteA fool and his money ...
DeleteFair bit of time at sea, nearly all on (and under) the "Pacific". Under doesn't much count both for short duration and once submerged sea state really doesn't affect the boat.
ReplyDeleteRode from Thailand to Japan following a typhoon; those seas very much counted, had a 43 degree roll to starboard on one of my watches, as much as I ever want to see. Yet the real danger is when you are in proximity to land, that's why ships put to sea if they can during bad storms.
I'll always be proud of being a capable mariner at one time and would be OK with going out in a weatherly vessel again. The one cruise I've taken was notable mostly for sharing a stateroom with my Bride rather than another member of the Wardroom.
"Never turn your back on the sea" aye. Learned that one as a child at the beach.
Boat Guy
The sea has always held a special place in my heart. Still not sure why I didn't join the Navy. Oh yeah, Air Force bases stay in one place, that's why.
DeleteI grew up on the south plains. I've seen a sea of grass and wheat.. but I could walk home if anything went sideways. And have had to before. The sea is a bit too overwhelming for me. When I was younger maybe, but not so much now. If the boat had wheels under it and never got off them, maybe...... and that's a shaky maybe.
ReplyDeleteThe sea does take some getting used to.
DeleteCrusty Old TV Tech here. Nope, not gonna, not never, not this airman! Family lore has it that an ancestor shipped out sometime in the 19th century, and had such a time of it on that wooden vessel that it is alleged that if the Lord would let him return to shore, he'd name his firstborn after that port. (Good thing it was Sydney, NS and not Newark!). Air Force for me, long, delirious, burning blue, not the deep dark watery blue of Davy Jones' Locker! Lots of respect for those who can master the seafaring life, it is definintely a unique skillset, just not my cup of tea.
ReplyDeleteThey both have their attractions.
DeleteMy wife and I feel equal pulls, her to the ocean and me to the Blue Ridge mountains.
ReplyDeleteAside from being in Iwo Jima (LPH-1) on the periphery of a storm off the coast of RVN, no real foul weather tales. On that occasion, recall when she rolled, the contrasting hanger-deck view of dark blue sea or light blue sky.
Meanwhile, to all Sailors - brown shoe or black - Haze Grey and Underway.
Sea-Fever
By John Masefield
I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.
A beautiful poem that is.
DeleteSarge, The Ravishing Mrs. TB has been on a one or two Caribbean cruises and a Mexican cruise with little to no ill effects. From what I understand, Alaska cruises are also pretty "tame".
ReplyDeleteOne of the few times I have been on the sea outside of a bay, it was on a ferry from Galway Ireland to the Aran Islands. During a storm. The deck pitch seemed to be 30 degrees but I am sure it was much less; that said, I have never really re-embarked on any kind of sea-going tour.
The shore, on the other hand - I went to college (or at least half of it) with 3 miles of the shore. I could listen to it all day (understanding, of course, that the salt water is awful for all things metal.
I can't picture myself living far from the sea, I need it, I need to see it everyday.
DeleteMy only time at sea was January 1964 on the cruise (per Coffypot) ship General Maurice Rose, Brooklyn to Bremerhaven. A scheduled nine day trip, it took the better part of fourteen days. To my surprise, I didn't get sick. I did have some sympathy for the forty or so Air Force enlisted aboard among several hundred Army enlisted. They didn't believe they signed up for such an experience. There were several days we weren't allowed on deck.
ReplyDeleteMy Dad did a similar trip in 1946 I think it was.
DeleteAir Force guys on a ship, I do recall juvat having a tale or two on that score.
Did that same cruise on the USNS Rose in 1960. Thanksgiving at sea in the middle of a storm, what fun.
DeleteNo fun at all!
Delete1986 we were on the Forrestal in the Med. We went through the Straights of Messina. It got so narrow that I was standing near the aft round down and was looking a people on the balconies of an apartment building close enough that I could have played catch with them. Riding the Forrestal up the Delaware River back to Philly was pretty interesting as well.
ReplyDeletejimx5499.
DeleteI was on the FID from mid '74 to mid '76 and made one and half Med cruises on her.
I worked in the engineering spaces and saw little to none of what you saw.
When the large mob of Philly Shipyard workers walked aboard Forrestal in the Shipyard, one of them was me.
It's a small world sometimes.
jimc5499 - Going through the Town Cut in Bermuda is much the same. The people are right there, waving as the ship goes past. You could easily play catch with them.
DeleteJohn - Small world indeed!
DeleteMy last active duty ship was a destroyer and we were operating somewhere when I came up from a night watch in Main Engine Control to look out at the ocean and get a breath of fresh air.
ReplyDeleteThe ocean was about as calm as it could ever get, and the almost full moon cast a white line on surface of the water that looked almost like a white line on a highway.
As I stood there taking it in, one of the other ships in our squadron passed between us and the moon and was in full silhouette.
The ocean is big and beautiful and it will also kill you without a second's thought.
I remember the beauty more than the danger.
Though the storm we went through was scary, it was also beautiful in a weird way. God's power in the sea.
DeleteMy Dad transited from Manila to Okinawa in a 63 foot plywood boat towed by an LST in July of 1945. They spent 72 hours of it in a typhoon, during which, he said, the tow cable parted three times. I can't imagine what that must have been like.
ReplyDeleteCan't imagine, scary to contemplate. Wooden ships and iron men in those days, well, the PT boat guys anyway.
DeleteEmergency rescue boat, in this case.
DeleteAnd they had to ride out a typhoon in that? Under tow? Brass ones, giant brass ones!
DeleteAdm Galley in one of his books tells of meeting the captain of a little Navy tug that clawed its way in winter from Newfoundland to Iceland in an Atlantic gale. At times the crew was bailing water by hand to keep her afloat. Galley had asked him if the crew was scared. The response "No, they were all pretty green. I told them that bailing ship was a routine maneuver in the Navy"...
DeleteHeh.
DeleteIf you're looking for cruise ideas, you can't go wrong with a Downeast windjammer. Not luxurious by the big cruise line standards, but affordable, and you can't beat the home cooking coming off a woodstove in the galley three times a day. You're among 20-25 strangers on Day One and you leave with 20-25 fast friends by the end. Done it five times over the years and looking forward to the next. In between, there's been a tiger cruise on the Big E and an open ocean race in a 44-foot sailboat, along with general messing about in boats. Each one was unique, but the race was the best, at the mercy of the elements, the quiet midnight watches with dolphins leaving phosphorescent wakes under the boat, the night sky away from the electric glare of civilization, twenty-foot seas to flat calms, the camaradery of a small crew, the thrill landfall right where you wanted to be after days of a trackless expanse going and coming. And all the time the thought, "Lord, thy sea is so great and my boat is so small . . .".
ReplyDeleteWow, well said.
DeleteIt's always the sea, but with well north of 2,000 days underway and countless hours intentionally and unintentionally swimming in her vastness, I can attest that from moment to moment it is never the same sea. Which is part of her allure. Never had the desire to do the civilian cruise thing, though more than a few tin can sailors have accused carrier sailors of serving on cruise ships. In some respects they're correct. In some respects Sam Johnson was correct as well: "No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned."
ReplyDeleteI get the feeling old Sam never went to sea.
DeleteBeen on a lot of cruises. Mrs. J and my honeymoon was a cruise. Pretty much been at least one a year since. Flying to Spain and cruise the Med this September with Daughter, SIL and MG. It'll be MG's first flight and cruise. Looking forward to it. As to USN cruising...Despite being an Eagle driver, my assignment to HI involved 6 or so cruises aboard Blue Ridge training the 7th Fleet Staff and 2 or 3 aboard Coronado doing the same for 3rd Fleet. I enjoyed them also although the Food and Drinks were (are) better on the cruise line version.
ReplyDeleteJuvat
Drinks aboard a Navy warship? Bug juice and coffee!
DeleteConsider taking a river cruise on the Rhine. Incomparable to the Ocean Cruise, and no sea sickness whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteBeen there, done that. You're right about the lack of motion.
DeleteMrs J is putting together a wine cruise for March of 23 to do just that. Our winemaker friends are the featured guests
DeleteJuvat
Nice.
DeleteI'll offer up something that I wrote, nearly fifteen years ago, about enduring a bad storm at sea. In that storm, one of the NATO ships was nearly cracked in two and spent months in an American shipyard being repaired enough just to get home. A cruiser had to go into drydock for weeks for sonar-dome repairs, which required all of the other stuff that goes along with it (ammunition offloading being the biggie). On one e of the ships, some clowns went topside for rubbernecking; they were never seen again.
ReplyDeleteNow that is one heck of a story!
DeleteFunny, but Rogue Waves weren't considered 'real' by 'scientists' and 'knowledgeable people' until video evidence showed that, yes, rogue waves exist.
ReplyDeletejuvat will better be able to connect you and yours to a better travel cruise.
Better? Ours was pretty good, can't depend on good weather on any cruise.
DeleteThere was serious consideration of taking the Horrible Space Telescope on a ship from California to KSC through the Panama Canal. I was one of those who would be onboard if it was done that way. USAF eventually agreed to ship it in one of their C5s instead. As a result, I have never been on water deeper than Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho.
ReplyDeleteThat would have been an interesting trip!
DeleteEspecially with HST's cleanliness requirements!
Delete👍
DeleteTransited West Coast to Hawaii a number of times courtesy of the Navy and once on a Matson Lines steamship, the Matsonia, which carried about 600 passengers.
ReplyDeleteThe U.S. has only one flagged passenger ship now. It cruises among the Hawaiian Islands and carries thousands. The food's pretty good but the quarters are a little cramped, but not as much as on the transportation the Navy provided.
Did the Rhine on Viking in 2019; thinking about a Danube trip. Meanwhile, We scheduled a cruise of Alaska's Inside Passage for summer 2020; then rescheduled for 2021. We have been well compensated by Viking for being unable to cruise and will endeavor to finally take that trip, along with a land tour to Denali, in two weeks. There may be photos.
I've seen some rough seas, mostly in WestPac during the tropical storm season. The old tincans ride those waves kinda funny.
Another road trip, love your photos!
DeleteI was talking with a friend, also named Scott, about his time in DDs, and he told me of one if the things he will always remember. They were doing Sprint and Drifts, on a very clear, moonless night, in a sheet of glass calm Pacific.
ReplyDeleteDuring the drifts, when the bow wave subsided, and the sea surface settled, the stars reflected in the sea, and the destroyer was sailing through space. At least one Sprucan became a starship!
👍
DeleteNot a night that would have used Song of the High Seas, as the sound track
ReplyDelete👍
DeleteJust finished rereading an old favorite, Thor Heyerdahl's "Kon Tiki". Moving how they became so close to the sea on their voyage...
ReplyDelete👍
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