We’ll get to Eagle, but first . . . I encountered this sight as I lined up today’s shots. What IS that and where?
Anyhow, I heard Eagle‘s initial “under way” around 11:30.
John Watson monitored from his POV . . .
I envied her leaving Manhattan’s oven temperatures and hazy light*. I believe this ends Eagle‘s summer 2011 patrol marking her 75th anniversary. She started the summer
in Waterford a month ahead of the tall ships festival there, covered so ably by Capt. Boucher on Nautical Log.
A murder of crows gathered at Fort Wadsworth Lighthouse to pay respects.
I’m still looking for fotos and testimonials about Eagle‘s first trip inbound here in 1946 almost two decades before the Verrazano stood here, when Fort Lafayette languished where the Brooklynside Tower now stands.
Which brings us back to the goats: they are civil servants, federal employees . . . low-budget custodians of crumbling federal infrastructure, New York’s answer to the chickens of Key West or the horses of Vieques.
Who knew? Certainly not me . . although they’ve been here awhile, as evidenced by this video. I’d interpreted signs to “do not feed or pet the goats” as humor. I’m already thinking now of a sign “do not feed or pet the Congress folks.” Fill in the blanks with your own verbs for possible prohibitions.
Happy birthday Eagle! A personal note . . . while taking these fotos I spoke with a passerby who wondered why the USCG maintains an antiquated sailing vessel for officer training. My answer drew from conversations with a dear friend’s father two decades back who sailed on her in the 1950s . . . he said “The academy seeks not to train technologists but leaders. Leadership training is what happens on cutter barque Eagle.” What think you?
Thanks to John for foto #3; all others by Will Van Dorp, who had to check . . . yes USCG vessel docs show three commercial vessels with goat in the name: Goat Roper (Alaska) and SeaGoat and SeaGoat III (Louisiana). Imagine the possibilities for figureheads . . .
*For a whole different climate, check out Issuma’s view for 8/8 here.
Two tidbits from today’s NYTimes:
What we are learning from the “high n dry” USS Monitor
(thanks to eastriver) . . . folks on the sixth boro’s low seas
tugster: a waterblog 
5 comments
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August 9, 2011 at 7:56 am
Julian
Great photos, especially of the goats!
As for the Eagle, I think your friend’s father hit it on the head. There are many safer, faster, more economical ways to get around on the water, but that’s not the mission of sail training. Sail training puts all of us into a team where groups of people must cooperate, anticipate, and resolve problems rather than pushing a button. Simply put, Eagle’s high price of entry–the difficulty in sailing a square rigger compared to mashing a throttle–is what creates fecund ground for sail training and leadership.
August 9, 2011 at 8:56 am
Buck
Yes, your friend’s father was right.
I can’t say it better than Julian did.
August 9, 2011 at 10:31 am
Mage Bailey
Great shots of the Eagle. I got a few last time she was here also. My favorite seems to be one of an off duty crew member up on the bowsprit using his cell phone. He was directly above the figure head and the image was interesting.
Now I will go follow your links. 🙂
August 9, 2011 at 3:14 pm
Harold E. Tartell
She’s a BEAUTIFUL SHIP for her age. I was aboard her many times when I was stationed in the Coast Guard up in Groton across the river back in 1967. Four years ago, I was up that way with my companion coming back from visiting her relatives in Massachusetts. We stopped in Groton to visit my old duty station, and came across to New London to visit the Coast Guard Academy and hopefully EAGLE. She no longer berths at the State Pier, but is tied up now at Fort Trumbull. Unfortunately it was a weekday, and visitors are only allowed aboard on weekends. Hopefully, I will be able get up that way again on a weekend, and we can both get a chance to go aboard.
August 11, 2011 at 1:54 am
Joe Herbert
If ya can’t hand, reef and steer yer a passenger! And a leader must know what his subordinates are doing, how else may he effectively supervise.
Thats why Badrock Obummer is failing, he’s just another passenger, like all them congress critturs.
I wonder if the Captain of the Sheep Ship that always runs to the PG from Austrailia would come over here and pick up the lot of them. They’d all be good in a Stew Pot.