Authorized newspaper of Fort Lewis, Washington
Also known as "America's Tall Ship," the U.S. Coast Guard's Cutter Barque EAGLE is the only actively serving commissioned square-rigger in the U.S. government. The 295-foot ship was docked in Foss Waterway for Tall Ships Tacoma 2008. It was the ship's first west coast appearance in nearly 20 years. Matt Smith/Northwest Guardian
This past weekend the Coast Guard cutter barque Eagle, also known as America’s Tall Ship, made its first trip to the west coast in two decades to take part in Tall Ships Tacoma 2008.
Docked at the far end of the Foss Waterway, the ship, which trains all future USCG officers, added another page to its long history, which began in Hamburg, Germany 72 years ago.
The Eagle, according to its official history, was built in the Blohm and Voss Shipyard and was commissioned as Horst Wessel into the German Navy as a sail training ship in 1936.
Four other identical ships were built in Germany; the Tovarisch, the Sagres II, the Mircea and the Gorch Fock II. Collectively, they were known as “the five sisters.”
The Horst Wessel was converted into a cargo ship during WWII and transported men and supplies throughout the Baltic Sea. The ship is also said to have shot down three aircraft during World War II.
After the war, the United States received the ship as a war prize and sailed it to New London, Conn., by a Coast Guard crew along side the German crew already on board.
It has been based in New London, the home of the USCG Academy, ever since.
The Eagle has a year round crew of six officers and 29 enlisted personnel who not only attend to the vessel’s maintenance, but also serve as teachers to the cadets, who can number up to 150.
Seaman Boatswain’s Mate Sharon Mezulis is one of those enlisted personnel currently serving aboard the Eagle.
“Training cadets is our main goal here,” said Mezulis, who has been in the Coast Guard since October 2006. “Not just teaching them how to sail, but helm to lookout and navigator of the watch, those are all standard Coast Guard things they need to have knowledge of because they’re going to come out qualified (Officer of the Deck).” The crew, which the enlisted personnel are referred to as, also teach cadets celestial navigation because it is no longer taught at the academy, Mezulis said.
“Then they mess cook and go through engineering rounds so they get kind of a broad exposure to all realms of the Coast Guard while they’re on board here,” she said. “We’re the hands-on trainers of everything, basically.”
The summer between their freshman, or 4th class year, and sophomore, or 3rd class year, all cadets spend six weeks aboard the Eagle absorbing all the information the crew can feed them.
“The crew is awesome. They know exactly what’s going on,” said cadet Trip Fernandes. “If you have a question, you ask them and they will tell you. I can’t say enough about the crew. Even when you climb, they’re right there with you and they help you out. When you’re doing line commands, they’re right over your shoulder tell you what to do, it’s great.”
Coming into the Coast Guard, Fernandes was no stranger to sailing as he had spent much of his life on sail ships. So the basic principles of sailing were well-known to him. Climbing to the top of a nearly 150-foot mast, however, was a new, if not a terrifying, experience for the seasoned sailor.
“The first time I climbed up, I went 147 feet up and when I came down, my forearms had never hurt so much in my life,” said Fernandes who aspires to work on a cutter or pilot one of the USCG’s helicopters. “I didn’t even know it, but when I came down … my arms were shaking because I was holding on for dear life. They say the more times you climb the more comfortable you get. And I was skeptical at first, but if they need volunteers to go up now I’ll do it.”
Fernandes has been on the Eagle since being picked up in Astoria, Ore., on June 14, and said the thing he has enjoyed learning the most is the aforementioned celestial navigation.
Though there are stated goals of training that must be met by all on board, there are added benefits of seeing places around the globe that many wouldn’t otherwise have a chance to visit. The Eagle made appearances in Puerto Rico, Barbados, Columbia and Mexico last year, and has been to Canada, Panama and Mexico already this year.
As a crewmember, Mezulis is in the middle of a two-year commitment aboard the Eagle. And though she said she’d like to get involved in the marine science side of the USCG, Mezulis also said she would like to remain on the ship through its planned voyage to Europe next year.
“Career-wise it may be a bad decision to stay, but I think I want to fleet up anyway and stay here,” she said. “Sailing to Europe wouldn’t be a bad thing in my mind. Regardless if it holds me back from making rank one more time. I think that’ll be OK with me.”
For Fernandes, a Connecticut native, getting to the west coast was a treat.
“I didn’t know coming into the Coast Guard that I was going to have to do all these summer training, but it’s awesome, I love it,” he said. “You meet great people and get to see great places like Tacoma, it’s awesome.”
Print
E-Mail