Testing a Friendship, for the bounding main
If Coast Guard approves, Salem vessel can sail with passengers aboard
On a gray April Saturday morning, two men in bright orange and yellow harnesses stood in the rigging of the Friendship, attaching one of the Salem vessel's many sails.
Elsewhere, volunteers worked through the day's list of tasks, from working aloft to pumping water out of the bilge. All were necessary to the ship's upkeep and to prepare it for its imminent stability test.
The test marked an important milestone in the arduous United States Coast Guard certification process, which, if completed and passed, would allow Friendship to carry passengers.
The three-masted, 171-foot replica of the historic merchant ship has been a fixture in Salem since 1998, when it arrived from Albany, N.Y., where it was built.
For years the ship's role has been to help the National Park Service tell the story of historic Salem as a bustling center of trade.
But the public could not experience the story away from the dock. Although Friendship is a fully operational sailing vessel, without the Coast Guard certification, only park service staff and a volunteer crew are allowed to sail it.
When Patricia Trap took over as superintendent of the Salem Maritime Historic Site about 2 1/2 years ago, she made obtaining the Coast Guard certificate of inspection a priority.
Trap recalled her first sailing trip on Friendship, and how it helped her appreciate what it would have been like to be a sailor during Salem's heyday.
"There is something magical about sailing," Trap said. "You can make history come alive in a tangible way."
The ship's primary mission is education, and being able to take the public sailing would only enhance its ability to share the story of Salem and the original Friendship, built in Salem in 1797.
There are practical advantages to having the certification as well.
It would place the Coast Guard stamp of approval on the safety procedures under which the ship has been operating, and any revenues from ticket sales or even filming opportunities could help offset the costs of maintaining and sailing the ship, Trap said.
Volunteers arrived at 7:30 a.m. April 22, the day of the stability test, to load 13,000 pounds of additional weight onto the ship and complete last-minute tasks under the direction of the ship's three full-time employees.
"The volunteers are the lifeblood of the ship," said Jeremy Bumagin, a National Park Service employee who is the rigger and chief mate for Friendship. "There are certain jobs that we just can't do without a mass of people rigging, handling the boat when we operate. Having their help and expertise and commitment are all part of the planning for the ship."
The ship has a roster of nearly 100 volunteers, 40 to 50 of whom work at least once a month. They range in age from 16 to 75, and come from a variety of backgrounds - firefighters, an elementary school teacher, a biostatistician, a chemist, a medical researcher, and a graphic designer, among other occupations.
In all, volunteers give roughly 8,000 hours a year of their time, Bumagin said.
The romance of working on a sailing vessel like Friendship is what first drew many of the volunteers. And, despite the hard work, they keep coming back to play a role in promoting Salem's maritime history.
This latest phase in the ship's life is one the volunteers see as a boon to the overall mission.
"This will be a whole new chapter," said Salem resident Pam Bradbury, who has been a volunteer for nine years. "It will open up more educational opportunities, which I am looking forward to."
On the day of the test, two Coast Guard inspectors arrived at about 9 a.m. Along with overseeing the stability test, they also checked the movement of the ship's rudder, and that all hatches were watertight.
"We are looking to make sure [the ship] meets certain standards for taking people out to sea," said Ray Colicci, chief warrant officer with the Coast Guard. Colicci has been involved in the inspections since last fall, checking to make sure each requirement has been met, and filling in any gaps in the ship's history.
To prepare for the stability test, volunteers and National Park Service staff had to attach, or "bend on," nearly all of the ship's sails, fill the fuel tank, and replicate as close as possible the weight of the ship while under way.
Naval architect David Bonney, who also was one of the ship's designers, conducted the test by taking measurements to determine the ship's displacement and measuring the angles of the ship's heel.
This is done by hanging three pendulums from the deck to the deck below in buckets of laundry detergent, which slows the movement of the pendulum.
Traditionally, the pendulums are hung in oil, but Bonney, who performs these tests regularly, prefers the detergent. "It makes less of a mess," he said.
The added weights, when shifted from the centerline to starboard and then to port, are to cause enough of a heel, or tilt, to ensure that the pendulum moves more than 6 inches.
In all, eight data points are collected. All those aboard had to stand in the same spot each time a measurement was taken.
By measuring the angles of the heel during the test, Bonney can estimate the ship's center of gravity, a key factor in the vessel's ability to return to upright.
Bonney will run the data several times, testing it under a variety of conditions the ship might encounter while underway, such as wind force or a collision.
The goal is to ensure the ship's design falls within the Coast Guard's parameters for stability, and to determine the maximum passenger capacity. He sends the results to the Coast Guard for review.
The park service anticipates the maximum capacity will be roughly 110 passengers, Bumagin said.
Overall, Bumagin felt the day went well. There were minor hiccups, including an increasing wind and a midday scramble to ensure the weights were properly certified.
But he thought the numbers lined up as they should have and he does not anticipate any problems.
Friendship has one more major step in the process, the hull inspection.
The park service hopes to have this completed by mid-June, and, ideally, to have the certification in hand in time for Sail Boston in early July.
Admittedly, Bumagin said, this is an ambitious timeline, but the certification would enable them to move forward with some exciting plans, including a trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia, as a part of the summer's tall ships celebration. 