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Tall Ship Eagle3/c Theo Jensen
Before coming aboard the Cutter Eagle, many of my fellow classmates and I had heard sea stories of long hours and tedious work aboard the ship.Well, the hours are definitely long and there is a lot of work to be done, however, the relationships shipmates and I have formed far overshadowed the long days. During the first phase of our tour, my division and I worked in the operations department which entailed standing four-hour deck watch, helm watch, and lookout watch. While on watch, our crew thoroughly enjoyed learning line handling and climbing the rigging out to the yard arms. My fellow classmate, Field Cassiano, and I both struggled with climbing at first. However, with encouragement and help from our shipmates, both 3/c Cassiano and I conquered our fears of climbing and working aloft. Our division pulled together as a team and worked well together, forming relationships we had never thought of prior to setting sail aboard Eagle.
During the current phase of our tour, my division and I are mess cooking, which involves working with side-by-side with the ships cooks and cleaning the dishes in the scullery. For the first four days, three shipmates and I worked in the scullery from 5 a.m. until about 1 p.m. This might be where some of those sea stories came from. The hours are long and the work is hard, however, my division and I made this duty fun. In the scullery, temperatures reached the triple digits and we worked in water-soaked uniforms, while continuing to clean dish after dish. We made this task as fun as possible by cranking up the music, creating a enjoyable yet effective working line. We also cracked a few jokes along the way which made time pass quickly. The bond the four of us created in that cramped, steamy, metallic room will last us a lifetime - making the hard work completely worth the effort.
3/c Jensen
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