Workday: Historic Ships in Baltimore – March 28, 2015

Photo by Anne Puppa
Lightship Chesapeake in Baltimore’s Inner Habor

Our first workday in Baltimore was not exactly spring-like. I had ordered some pleasant springtime weather but what was delivered was a chilly overcast day with intermittent snow showers. If you were coming to Baltimore from the north, I think it was a little more substantial at times. But the ship was a balmy 50 degrees, which actually wasn’t bad when you were moving around. At least it felt warmer than Thomas Point from last weekend.

Hobie and Tony returned the stairs that Hobie had taken home to work on in his workshop. The stairs underwent a minor makeover. Hobie removed the treads and then he and Tony removed the old varnish and applied a new coat. These are the steps that lead to the pilothouse. The stairs were quickly installed before the lightship opened to the public. They got a lot of use as many visitors toured the ship on this second weekend of spring. (According to the calendar if not the weatherman.)

Volunteers spread out around the ship and did a number of tasks. We put a final coat of gray paint on the swab rack that Hobie made several years ago, painted other metal brackets, drilled some holes for the brackets that will hold a new light in the mess, stowed some equipment in the compartment below the pilothouse, worked on some of the light switches and wiring, hauled a radio rack from below decks to the dock for removal, scraped the flaking paint off some of the hatches down below. I’m sure we’ll be painting those in the future. We also polished brass in the pilothouse and greeted many of the visitors to the ship.