Daily Journal

July 4, 2010

By David M. Lawrence

We took a bit of a break today.

Sunday's are supposed to be "off" days in that we have no class. Today was no exception, but we had something much better than no class. We had an Independence Day party.

We were all encouraged to dress up for the occasion – this meant that many people visited Roman Shor's bunk, where a number of costumes are stowed. (You never know what you'll need at sea.) Many of us were quite clever with costume design, despite the material readily available in Roman's "underbed" storage.

At 1415 hours, the party began. After a brief introduction by party organizers Jenan Kharbush, Marina Cassio, and Sarah Wegmueller, Dylan Meyer jumped on top of the doghouse to rip off his shirt and show off his new prison tat – an American flag drawn on his chest. Then Marina and Sarah sang the "Star Spangled Banner." I've caught the two singing it before on deck when the two B Watchers were off duty. They impressed be those earlier times with their harmony. They impressed me yet again today.

Lisa Ballard followed with a reading from the Book of Common Prayer, "The Collect for the Fourth of July." After Ted Snedden recited a poem (he thinks by Robert Frost) whose first line was "Sail, Sail, this ship of Democracy," and while we waited for some of the scheduled musical talent to get their instruments, Lisa lead a singing of "God Bless America."

By then the musicians – Tyson Bottenus on guitar, Jake Keaton on guitar and harmonica, Marina on violin and vocals, Megan Cronin on vocals, and Emelia DeForce on the wooden frog percussion thing – were ready. They led us in renditions of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'," and Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA."

Afterward, we held a costume contest. The nominees for best costume were Jenan as Lady Liberty, Matt Ecklund as Sven the vegetarian whaler, assistant engineer Sarah Lake as Rosie the Riveter (rather appropriate), Marilou Maglione as Betsy Ross, Giora Proskurowski as some variant of Rocky Balboa, and captain Chris McGuire as a robot soccer fan. Data from the applause meter made them all winners, but Sarah's Rosie the Riveter was my favorite.

By the force of his personality, Matt was chosen to lead the ship's complement in about as big an Independence Day parade as you can get on a 134-foot brigantine: two laps around the deck. He was accompanied by the multi-talented Marina on fife.

After the parade, the ship's crew was divided into port and starboard teams for a game that combined elements of charades and pictionary. The starboard team consisted of everyone who has had their birthday this year, and the port team was everyone else. Despite falling a good bit behind, the port team roared back into contention and won by a single point.

Refreshments were brought on deck after the game, and following toasts to the party organizers and to King Neptune, sea shanties and another round of "Born in the USA" were sung.

The festivities were formally ended with the unveiling of tonight's midnight snack – two cakes, one iced with the blue field and white stars of the American flag, and the other iced with red and white stripes.

Of course, this is a working ship, and the pace of the work we do continues unabated. Ship handling, oceanographic sampling, and care and maintenance of our home at sea all have to be taken care of. C Watch had an incredibly busy morning watch. A Watch worked around the party in the afternoon watch, and B Watch is getting the job done as I write these lines now. This brings to mind a song by a band from our neighbor to the north, Canada. The band is Bachman Turner Overdrive. The song: "Takin' Care of Business."

--------  

For more from sea, listen to an interview with Chief Scientist Giora Proskurowski on the July 2, 2010 Science Update podcast, produced by AAAS.