Sailing Saint Barbara
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This beautiful armoire was handcrafted by Steve Mulkerrins.
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Steve' Blog
Monday, June 12th 2006
We just arrived
in Flores, one of the Islands in the Azores. We're after docking and the lines
are tied. Already, there is a crowd of locals gathering around looking at
the St. Barbara in wonder. They don't speak any English and we don't speak
Portuguese, but we are trying to communicate all the same.
I'll go back a few weeks now to April 26th, a glorious sun soaked Wednesday
afternoon at Montrose Harbor. This being our departure point aboard the St.
Barbara for the historic voyage from Chicago to Maumeen, Lettermore, Connemara,
Ireland. The first Galway Hooker (Who-ker) to ever attempt this 5,200 nautical
mile journey! It's been an incredible and tough adventure so far…
We started off heading North on Lake Michigan, sailing under the Mackinaw
bridge, pass the famous Mackinaw Island where the movie 'Somewhere in time'
was shot in 1979 (Staring Jane Seymore and Christopher Reeves). On down the
length of Lake Huron and Lake St. Clare towards Detroit, Michigan and the
Detroit River. From there we headed into Lake Erie, arriving in Buffalo, New
York, where we were given a huge reception. Congressman Brian Higgins presented
us with a certificate of congressional recognition and bestowed on the St.
Barbara the honor of flying an American flag, which once flew over the State
Capital in Washington DC. We also also visited the Irish famine memorial site
where we sponsored one of the flagstones on behalf of the St. Barbara and
the crew. In Buffalo, we had to demast for the placid voyage down the Erie
Canal, on towards the Hudson River and New York Harbor. On reaching New York
we docked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard - A big THANK YOU to Liam Flaherty, Rescue
2 FDNY and to all the guys at Marina 6 FDNY Fire boat - This took us approximately
two weeks and as you read this now, you may think it was all smooth sailing,
but the opposite is true. The Great Lakes are 'small oceans' of their own
- Lake Michigan being nearly twice the size of Ireland! and Lake Huron bigger
again, with Erie being the most unpredictable of them all.
On Lake Erie, the whole crew was up on deck for approximately 30hrs at one
stage. Patick Joyce, myself, Coley Newel, Barney Flaherty and Rene Rivera
working and fighting the weather together. It was a long two nights with rain
and strong winds but we had one great asset and that was our skipper Patrick
Joyce. He has been with the St. Barbara since she was launched and christened
by the Mayor of the City of Chicago, Richard M. Daley, June 4th 2004. On this
day the Mayor also proclaimed that, June 4th in Chicago "from this day
forth" shall be known as "St. Barbara Galway Hooker Day", a
resolution passed by himself and the City Council of Chicago, where it will
be written down in history. Patrick himself has sailed and skippered the St.
Barbara with us, through the Great Lakes three times, including the St. Lawrence
Seaway and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where one night in October 2004, we encountered
a severe gale with winds in excess of 53mph and riptides & waves in excess
of 35feet. These conditions continued for 14hrs before it finally eased off.
Great credit goes to Patrick Joyce for putting each of the crew members (Barney,
myself and Rene), in our positions on the St. Barbara, from radar watching
- due to being forced by severe winds into the shipping lanes, where huge
tankers up to 1000ft long, carrying thousands of tons of iron ore, travel
- to handeling the tiller which he also took over himself. We are all very
greatful to him. It's at times like these, that his great seamanship experiences
are proven. We also had rough weather at other various times in Lake Michigan,
Lake Huron and Lake Ontario, but the result was always the same, Patrick set
courses and navigated through with the St. Barbara plowing the waves ahead
of him.
We've had various people as part of the crew of the St. Barbara from time
to time from the first moment her white oak keel touched the waters of the
Great Lakes, but the three that have been aboard her since that historic day,
August 10th 2003 were, Patrick Joyce, myself and Barney Flaherty. Other crew
members who sailed with us long distances are; Coley Newel, Sonny Joyce, Michael
Mannion, Rene Rivera and Gerry Nee.
I'm now back in the present in the Azores, we've sailed 3,830 nautical miles
from Chicago - 1,400 nautical miles from Chicago to New York and 2,430 from
New York to the Azores - The voyage from New York City, as I mentioned earlier,
was an incredibly tough adventure. Tom Joyce (Pat's brother) joined us there
for the transatlantic voyage to Connemara. Tom Joyce is also an exceptional
navigator, with 30 years of seamanship under his belt, so when he came on
board in New York we got what you could call a two for one. I won't go through
all the long days and nights, we did have some nice weather, but we did have
a lot of rough weather and fog over the George's Banks area. Anytime Pat could
grab a few hours sleep,(like all of us) Tom would be up with the rest of the
crew and visa versa. On one of our rough days we had strong wind in excess
of 40knots per hour and waves in excess of 35feet, which threw us off cours
by over 30 nautical miles. Pat, as always, with Tom made sure all safety measures
were taken, as did the rest of the crew. One of the best compliments I've
received since I built the St. Barbara was when Tom said, "Is iontach
an bád farraigh í, tá sí in ann ag aon aimsir
nó farraige" - "She's a great sea boat and can handle any
weather and any ocean" - the next thing, Pat shouts from the tiller,
that he wants to sail the Southern Ocean and around Cape Horn in the St. Barbara!
Everybody went quiet for a while. It was a proud moment for me being the builder
and owner of the St. Barbara.
I see Faial in my sight now, we will be docking in a town called Horta, everything
has gone well so far thank God, we now have 1,275 nautical mile left to go
to get to Maumeen Pier. A very special thank you to Coley Newel for keeping
everybody well fed aboard the St. Barabara and all our well wisher informed
on the website. It has not always been easy for Coley to get a good satellite
connection, not to mention trying to type in rough conditions, but he did
the very best he could and his blogs speak for themselves. I am truely greatful
to him.
Also, a very special thaks to Barney Flaherty (Bonjou) who has been with me
on the St. Barbara since day one, a good sailor and a good seaman. Barney
often helped me work on the St. Barbara in Chicago in his spare time. We have
done many a long night shift together, aboard the St. Barbara over the last
two years. I feel honored and privilaged to have him on board with me. I feel
the same honor and privilage to have Tom and Patrick and Coley on this historic
voyage. I would sail anywhere without hesitation with Pat as my skipper and
this fine crew!
We're two weeks away from Maumeen now and approximately five weeks since we
left Chiago. I'll be glad to see my beloved wife Agnes and my three children
- Steven, Róisín and Aoife- and also my mother whom the boat
is named after. They have all given me great support over the past 5 years.
I love and appreciate them very much. All of the crew, I'm sure, feels the
same way about their families too.
It gets eerie and lonely a thousand miles from land, in the middle of the
Atlantic Ocean at night, while manning the tiller, with wind and rain and
the salt spray of waves comming over the bow of the boat onto your face.
I'll finish off by saying, I am proud to own and have built the St. Barbara.
I'll never part with her if I can help it. Perhaps we can do the reverse journey
some day?…
Steve Mulkerrins aboard the St. Barbara - The Azores, June 12th 2006 - 02:00hrs
- N 38.31 W 28.36