Get the Spy 



D 



on't be alarmed by 

 the roar of the cannons. Around 

 Beaufort, the sound is considered 

 oral history. 



And it is the town's way 

 of saying "Ahoy!" to an armada 

 of schooners, barkentines and 

 square-riggers that, come July, will 

 seemingly sail out of centuries past. 



Beaufort is the final port in 

 an intercontinental rendezvous of 

 "tall ships," the grand sailing vessels 

 reminiscent of bygone days. The 

 flotilla will form the centerpiece of a 

 lavish maritime heritage celebration 

 coinciding with Independence Day. 



The N.C. Maritime Museum in 

 Beaufort is hosting almost a week of 

 festivities as the culmination of the 

 2006 Americas' Sail competition. 

 The nonprofit Americas' Sail, based 

 in New York, stages long-distance 

 sails and races every four years to 

 promote tall ships and traditional 

 sailing worldwide. The 2006 affair 

 gets underway in Brazil. The 

 North Carolina stopover is 

 the last of the passage, and 

 the only one in the United 

 States. 



David Nateman, 

 museum director, says the fleet of floating 

 history embodies the museum's mission 

 — preserving and interpreting the state's rich 

 maritime heritage. Visitors get a sense of the 

 sailing ships that shaped the world as they peer 

 through a porthole or grasp a varnished spoke 

 of a helmsman's wheel. 



"They hear the creak of the deck. They 

 look at the rigging. They see the blocks and 

 lines," he says. 'This represents how people 

 lived in an earlier time. That's what we are 



Tall Ships on the Horizon! 



by Julie Powers 



Photos by Scott Taylor 



about. It's not just preserving history. It's 

 making it accessible to people so they can 

 understand it in contemporary terms." 



Beaufort and nearby Morehead City are 

 expecting perhaps 200,000 people, drawn by 

 the chance to let their imaginations soar to the 

 top of the towering masts. 



Even in this age of space travel, adventure 

 on the high seas of yore still fascinates folks 

 — especially in an area that already is all about 

 boats. The HMS Bounty, a 1 18-foot square- 



rigger, drew a sell-out crowd in 

 2005 when it docked at the N.C. 

 State Port in Morehead City as a 

 preview of the 2006 event. 



Though relatively few 

 people sign on for an ocean 

 voyage, the call of the sea beckons 

 many — and not just those who 

 live within easy reach of the 

 beach. Nateman says the intrigue 

 of maritime and coastal traditions 

 is a natural attraction. The state's 

 early settlements clutched the 

 shorelines, where water provided 

 food and transportation, and 

 spread inland as cultures and 

 economies evolved. 



"Every North Carolinian has 

 a little bit of saltwater DNA in his 

 or her veins," he says. 



LANDFALL 



Beaufort's own Horatio 

 Sinbad, captain of the Meka //, 

 won the honor of naming his 

 home harbor as the 2006 

 port for Americas' Sail 

 closing events. The Meka 

 //, a distinctive black and 

 white pirate ship replica, 

 is a familiar feature on the 

 local waterscape. It triumphed in its class at the 

 2002 race in Jamaica, while on an educational 

 journey cosponsored by the Friends of the N.C. 

 Maritime Museum. 



Four to six of the giant "Class A" ships 

 are expected to dock at the N.C. State Port in 

 Morehead City. Another dozen or so smaller 

 vessels will tie up at the Beaufort Town Docks 

 and the Maritime Museum's Olde Beaufort 

 Seaport site on Town Creek in Beaufort. 

 Ticket-holders can board the ships, chat with 



Continued 



TOP: The Meka W's past win resulted in the Ameriea's Sail stop in North Carolina. BOTTOM: Uh\S Bounty is a replica that includes 

 many intricate details, such as this figurehead. LEFT: The arrival of the HMS Bounty in 2005 was a preview to the Pepsi Americas' Sail this summer. 



Coastwatch I Winter 2006 I www.ncseagrant.org 15 



