Caulking the Deck
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One of the best things we can do to keep everyone comfortable on board the J. & E. Riggin is keep things dry. Especially in the cabins. The best way to keep the cabins dry, is to make sure there is plenty of material in between the pine planks that form the deck. The gaps between the planks are called seams and they are packed tightly with cotton and oakum before being sealed with a layer of hot pitch. As the boat sails, it bows and flexes in the water, causing some seams to loosen up over time and begin to leak. In the winter, we do our best to identify problem spots and remove wet material between the planks before replacing it, and sealing it with fresh pitch. This process is called caulking. Captain Schaefer spends a lot of time each winter crawling across the deck fixing seams, so we joined him on deck for a demonstration.
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Capt. Schaefer begins by poking the seams with the tip of his knife. If the knife fails to penetrate the seam he knows it is still densely packed. If the tip of the knife sinks right in, he knows he has identified a problem spot. He then uses a reefing iron and a rubber mallet to dig into the seam and extract the rotten fiber. Once all of the rotten fiber has been removed, it is time to start filling it again.
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The Tradition of Flags
The tradition of raising flags at 8:00am and lowering them at sunset dates all the way back to the late 1700s in the British Royal Navy. It is still practiced by today’s navy, as well as many merchant and private vessels around the world. The Schooner J. & E. Riggin is no exception.
We fly an ensign, which in our case as a U.S.-flagged vessel, is the American flag. This is flown off of the peak of our mainsail when it is set, or off of the back of the main boom when the sail is down. It is used to communicate to other vessels where our vessel is registered. It is the first flag up each day, and the last one down.
The name pennant is flown from the top of the mainmast to give everyone who sees us the ability to read our name clearly.
The house flag is flown at the top of our foremast this is intended to communicate something about the ownership, but until we have a house flag designed, we have decided to use the classic State of Maine Dirigo flag.
The final flag you can expect to see aboard the Riggin is the “R” or Romeo flag and the First Repeater. We use this combination on the main spreader to communicate the presence of a Riggin Relic aboard a cruise.
This week we saw the first of many raising of the ship’s colors for the 2021 season. Though historically greeted with the call of a bugle, ours was greeted with excitement and cheers from the crew.
Back in Action
After nearly a year of sitting stationary, the Schooner J. & E. Riggin left the dock yesterday under the direction of her new captains, Justin Schaefer & Jocelyn Schmidt. She was bound for North End Shipyard, for her annual haul out. The crew relished in the cool spring breeze on their faces, something they all had missed in their time away.
“It would have been powerful to take her off the dock for the first time regardless of whether or not she had sailed last year.” Jocelyn said. “There was something exceptionally powerful about getting to be the ones to take her out, even just for the short run to the shipyard knowing that it was the first time in a year she had had the chance to stretch her legs. It feels like the start of a really special summer, and the reality of being able to have a season this year is pretty emotional for us.”
This haul-out will be brief, just to put fresh paint on the bottom and replace the zincs which protect the metal beneath the water from electrolysis.
“It feels good to be back out on the water and to return to a familiar routine with the vessel after a year of lying dormant,” said Captain Schaefer. “Generations of Riggin crew spanning several seasons came out to offer their collective support & wisdom which made for an extremely special day.”
Spring at Home & Sea
Spring at Home
Spring has arrived at our home.
The grass is getting greener.
The flowers have been lying dormant,
but now, they peek out from beneath the soil
which has protected them from the harshness of winter.
The days are longer and the breeze is warmer.
Soon, the air will begin to fill with familiar floral smells.
They define the season around our home.
The familiar buzz of our honeybees will be heard throughout the yard.
The birds will be travelling back to us
with stories of their time away,
chirping and chattering on the lawn.
We love this time of year
when everything seems to awaken.
Spring at Sea
Spring has also arrived at the cove.
The water is getting warmer.
The Riggin has been lying dormant,
but now, she will emerge, peering out from beneath the plastic cover
which has protected her from the harshness of winter.
The work days are longer and the breeze is warmer.
Soon, the air will begin to fill with the familiar smells of pine & paint.
They define the season around our docks.
The familiar buzz of sanders & saws will be heard throughout the vessel.
The crew will be travelling back to us
with stories of their time away,
laughing and chatting on the deck.
We love this time of year
when everything seems to awaken.
My Father’s Soup
Christmas this year saw fewer people around our table. Usually, Justin and I spend the holidays with my family in Ohio.
Each year we are seated around the table with brothers and parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, eagerly awaiting a delicious dinner prepared by my maternal grandmother, Alice. On the menu, the Christmas ham.
My grandmother, being a true Midwestern woman, always made more food than we could possibly eat in one night. And it was from these leftovers that my father’s ham and navy bean soup would spring.
My father grew up in a large catholic family in the suburbs of Chicago. His mother, Rosemarie Claudia (Haskin) Schmidt, had 10 children, the youngest of whom was my father. In a family of that size, nothing could be wasted, so it was not unusual for left over meat to remerge the next day, given new life in a warm bowl of soup.
Each year, after Christmas, my father would collect the ham bone and left over ham and make a stock by leaving the bone to simmer overnight with thyme, sage, and rosemary in an enormous soup pot. The following morning, he would remove the now clean bone and the herbs, adding carrots, celery, onions, garlic, navy beans, and the leftover ham which he had cubed back into the pot.
This soup recipe some years produced so much soup that he would freeze it, so it could be heated and enjoyed several times throughout the winter, each steaming spoonful serving as a reminder of the holiday and the gathering of family.
This year, we could not safely make the trip to Ohio to see my parents and brothers. Like many across the country we opened gifts over zoom and wished one another a merry Christmas on the phone. Justin and I, hoping to hold on to some of the traditions that define this season for us, prepared our own ham for Christmas dinner. That night I called my dad, who chatted on the phone with me while I prepared the stock with a hambone of our very own. Despite it being the two of us for now, I made a large batch and froze a few portions. This winter on cold lonely days, I will warm up some of my father’s soup, prepared by my hands, and enjoy it knowing that time spent in the company of family will come again soon.
Jocelyn Schmidt
Big Sea Boots to Fill
Musings of a Captain in Times of Transition
“Its going to be a challenge to become the person I so admired as a kid for the next kid who comes aboard.”
Justin sometimes just says things like this out of the blue after long quiet pauses. I am always surprised by comments like this from him. He is a truly gifted sailor and thousands of miles of ocean have slipped gracefully beneath the hulls of boats he has sailed. Guests of every boat he has ever worked on have always loved him because he is a genuinely warm person who loves what he does for a living and radiates that joy out to those around him. This role for him as the next steward of this amazing schooner he has loved for so many years just makes sense, but for Justin, this is so much more than just a natural next step in his maritime career; it is an ascension into a role he dreamed of as a child, but somehow couldn’t fathom he would have the opportunity to achieve.
Justin has been sailing since he was old enough to stand and that is no exaggeration. A Long Island native, he grew up sailing on the Great South Bay with his father, Chris, nearly every day there was wind. Justin always wanted to sail as a profession, but that dream wasn’t fully realized until his parents took him on a Kids & Family Cruise on the Schooner J. & E. Riggin when he was 12 years old. “The crew and Capt. Jon and Annie were like rockstars. I followed them everywhere asking if I could try whatever they were doing, asking to coil things, raise flags, and help. I had sailed before many times, but this was different, everything was so big and so old it was magical to me. Captivating.” He said “On the drive home headed out route 17 we got about as far as Chickawaukie Pond [about 5 minutes from the dock] before I was bawling in the backseat.” For Justin, the experience was life-altering and he was determined to return as one of the crew members he so admired. He would go on to sail as a guest, and apprentice for countless trips throughout the next 6 summers, a deckhand for 1 season, and finally, as the mate in 2015.
It was during this season as the mate that Justin made one of his fondest memories of his time on the Riggin. It was Jon’s birthday in August and Justin made plans to surprise Jon by dressing up as him; after all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. He went to the local drugstore and bought some sunglasses which looked like Jon’s. He made plans with Annie for her to smuggle him one of Jon’s shirts. The morning of, Justin patted flour into his beard to give him the effect of greying facial hair while Chloe coiled the main sheet into a cursive Happy Birthday. “I popped down into the galley to see if there was anything I could do to help out and even Annie was confused momentarily despite having given me the shirt. It was really funny!” When Jon came on deck, he did a double take, “I think I made a pretty convincing stunt double.” They took a lot of pictures. Justin told me that he continued to dress as Jon for the rest of the day, but he did rinse the flour out of his beard because as he remembers it was pretty foggy and he didn’t want to “end up with a beard full of pizza dough.” Even now as he talks about it, he can’t help but laugh.
Justin is going to be a great steward of the Schooner J. & E. Riggin. He is right; it will be a challenge. There are big sea boots to fill, but he is passionate about seeing this schooner continue to captivate the next generation of guests the way he was captivated, all while preserving the relationships he has formed with the Riggin Relics who have been sailing her as long as he has. With his hand at the wheel, I am confident that 2021 will mark the first of many happy years aboard the Riggin for our family.
Jocelyn
Capturing one of many moments
A Traditional Maine Lobster Bake
After anchoring near an undisturbed island in the early afternoon, the yawl boat (our launch and tugboat) ferries us ashore and we hop across granite rocks to the beach. Everyone wanders off in different directions – exploring inland for blueberries, combing the shore for beach glass, or taking a refreshing swim from the water’s edge. One of the highlights of the week for many of you on our windjammer is a traditional Maine lobster bake – a feature of all our trips. It’s an all-you-can-eat feast with all the fixin’s. Seven lobsters eaten by one person in one sitting is our record, although we wouldn’t recommend it (she seemed pretty uncomfortable afterward!).
The crew has already rowed ashore to the island with everything we need for our feast and we all work to put the meal together for you. A fire is lit, corn is shucked, and various goodies are put out to tide us over until the lobster is ready. Once the fire is really going, the lobster pot – a huge galvanized tub – is filled with 2 to 3 inches of salt water and set on the fire to boil. While we wait for the water to come to a boil, several armloads of seaweed are gathered (being careful to leave some seaweed at each spot so that more can grow back in its place). Once the water is boiling we layer the lobsters, corn, mussels, and clams in the pot, cover it with a “lid” of seaweed, wait for it to come to a boil, and rotate the pot (for even cooking on the fire). When the water comes to second boil we’ll pull some of the seaweed aside and check to see that the lobsters are red all over. When the lobsters are done, the tub is carried away from the fire, the seaweed is arranged on a flat rock, and everything is placed on the seaweed bed – ready to eat!
While we are on an island for our lobster bake, we operate under a Leave No Trace policy. Whatever we take onto the island, we take off. Often we leave with more than we came with, as picking up litter while exploring an island is our contribution to leaving an island better than we found it. Our fires are built below the high tide line in a fire pan to protect the beach rocks from any scarring or cracking; five minutes after we’ve left an island, you can’t tell we’ve been there.
We feast on lobster, mussels, clams, corn on the cob, potatoes and more, all while sitting on a granite-studded island and taking in the pristine and wide-lens vista of the Maine coast. It’s a moment of magic to be sure.
Once everyone has had their fill of lobster, the watermelon is sliced and the makings for S’mores are laid out. There’s always a lively discussion over how to make the best S’more and the proper way to roast a marshmallow. Eventually, the magic must transition back to the schooner and as the sun sinks lower in the sky, we make our way across the water to our home on the ocean leaving only our footprints in the sand as evidence that we were ever on the island at all.
Things Are Getting Fancy
While the main cabin house is getting it’s makeover, the navigation station is also getting a total renovation. Those of you who have sailed with us for a while will remember Mouse, a long-time crew member who has, over the years, become a skilled carpenter and shipwright. He’s back in school for naval architecture and on the weekends we get his good, smart self in our shop. This beautiful nav. station will grace our cabin house this summer! Capt. will get to look at all summer long as he stands back by the wheel. Here’s some photos of the progress. We’ll post when it’s all on board and installed too.
Isn’t it pretty?!
Photos by Alan Castonguay
New Main Cabin House
It started with a discussion about re-caulking the main cabin house. It journeyed past replacing some cabin planks and lots of layers of varnish. It ended with a completely new main cabin house. Just like replacing a stove in a house which turns into entire kitchen renovation. Exactly like that.
Every year we choose a different area of the Riggin upon which to focus. That’s just how owning a schooner built in 1927 goes. This year, the main cabin house got our attention and we had a number of crew members working on the project. Here are some process photos from start to almost finish. And an hilarious short clip of the guys having fun. We aren’t quite to the final coat of paint or the re-installation of the skylight or nav. station but we’ll post those when that happens shortly.
Photos by Capt Jon Finger
Yankee Magazine – Showcasing Annie’s Food
For those of you who don’t live in Maine or New England, this in print issue of Yankee Magazine might be hard to come by, but if you can get your hands on a copy, do it! Amy Traverso, accomplished writer, has given the Riggin wonderful kudos and Mark Flemming, photographer extraordinaire, adds a lovely balance to her words.
Recipes included in the article are Pecan Sticky Buns, Cornish Game Hens with Smoked Shrimp and Brandy Stuffing, Zucchini Gratin, and Lime Pie Jars. You can also find these recipes in At Home. At Sea – The Red Book, 2nd Edition.
This is one of the best articles we’ve seen on our sweet girl and you should check it out. #boatmagic!
Photo by Mark Flemming
