Lady Washington brings history to life

Last Wednesday was warm and gorgeous, perfect for an evening tour aboard the Lady Washington on the Columbia River. I don't know how the weather could have been any better.

Really, I only had one complaint. The theme to Gilligan's Island had been stuck in my head for days, with only a minor modification.

It had become a two hour tour.

I joined 42 other passengers and the crew for a little trip on the river in the replica of the tall ship that sank off the coast of The Philippines in 1797. We were powered by motor to a point parallel to where the western Julia Butler Hansen White-tailed Deer Refuge road now ends.

Crew climbed the rigging to free the sails. When they returned to the deck, the First Mate began calling out orders and the sails were unfurled. Passengers, including children, were encouraged to help with the lines. With a good wind behind us, the vessel headed back to Cathlamet under full sail.

Sailor Kyle, who seemed to be a kind of cruise director, led everyone in the call and response of the shanty.

"Sailors were not hired for their ability to sing," he said, "they were hired for their ability to haul. It is scientifically proven that the louder you sing, or scream, the harder you haul, and the quicker the work gets done.

"In South Australia I was born," Kyle began and passengers and crew joined in.

"It's a good day for sailing and singing," he said when the shanty was over. Then it was time for another, Bully in the Alley. He stopped mid song, seemingly lost.

"You know what happened right there?" Kyle asked. "We finished hauling out the line. The songs would have stopped the moment the work was done so they'd cut off in the middle of a song. Sometimes sailors wouldn't know the second half of a song."

He began again and when it was over his audience clapped and cheered.

A volunteer sailor sang what he claimed was a favorite in Canada: "I was told we'd cruise the seas for American gold. We fired no guns, shed no tears. I'm a broken man on a Halifax pier, the last of Barrett's Privateers."

One young lady, Emily, was with her parents, David and Rita Voss of Enumclaw. She seemed to know all the words of the shanties.

Her parents were impressed with the tour.

"The crew is enthusiastic about what they are doing and eager to talk about it," Rita Voss said. Everyone agreed that they were particularly patient with the kids and their many questions.

One sailor, Samantha Riggs of Bellingham, was feeling especially jovial.

"Everyone's story is going to be different," she said of her crew. "I started sailing in 2006. I was 39 at the time. My current contract is just a month long, I'm kind of the relief engineer. Then I'm going back to Marine Technical School where I will learn to fix Marines."

She laughed.

Lucy Stover of Davis, Calif., had recently come on as cook, and it was her first trip on a boat. She'd already done some ocean transits and was getting to be an old hand at it.

"It's a lot of fun," Stover said. "I've had just enough time to get used to the kitchen moving as I use it. It's the pans and the stove and the oven door. And the fridge door."

She tried to get one thing out of the refrigerator recently and almost ended up with everything rolling around on the floor.

"The cook is generally regarded by all the sailors as second in command to the captain," Riggs said. "We always keep the cook happy because she keeps us happy."

Suddenly it was over. The sun had set and the captain was steering the Lady Washington back up to the city dock in Cathlamet, something that would have been impossible during the tall ship's heyday.

Kyle the Cruise Director took the stage again and gave a little history.

"The Lady Washington was involved in the tea trade," he said. "For some reason, we had one tea party, and Britain didn't want to give us any more tea. She made it to what would become the state of Washington in 1789. A hundred years from that, Washington became a state and a hundred years after that, the new Lady Washington was finished. Nowadays we don't ship tea, we ship knowledge.

To learn more about the Lady Washington and their programs, go to http://historicalseaport.org/about-us/our-vessels/lady-washington/.