Photo Shoot: Farewell to a maritime friend
Many Cape Codders fall in love with their boats, from kayaks to yachts. I set my sights on 540 feet of sleek steel. Built in 1967, she was in middle age by the time we met back in December 1999. That was when the freighter named Cape Bon arrived at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy to become their training ship. I was smitten. Since then I have been lucky to roam just about every inch of the freighter turned training ship, from shaft alley to the engine room, and cadet berthing to the bridge.
In 2008, when reporter Hilary Russ and I headed to sea with the crew and cadets on their training cruise, the ship had been renamed, Enterprise. Leaving campus on the traditional coldest day of early January heading south with a transit through the Panama Canal. Technology made the trip possible, ship to shore internet service allowed us to transmit back photos and a story every day. It was a training cruise for the cadets, but also the media. I learned the proper way to tie a bowline knot and almost perfected the monkey’s fist. At night I would wander up to the top decks and watch upper-class students work on celestial navigation using sextants, way too much math in that skill set. Transit through the Panama Canal took place at night which added to the mystique of the voyage.
A change of name in 2009
The ship changed names again in 2009 to the Kennedy, in honor of the Kennedy family. In 2010 it went into drydock at the Brooklyn Navy Yard for upgrades and repairs. It was there I finally got a good look at her great lines. Standing at ground level looking up it was quite a sight as the photo shows.
Like any long-term relationship the years pass ever quicker with age, photographing its coming and goings. The school will be getting a new ship now under construction in Philadelphia, arriving later this year. The TS Kennedy has been transferred into service at Texas A&M Maritime in Galveston. So it was wearing that school’s colors when it steamed out of the Cape Cod Canal last week for its last training cruise for MMA.
It was a fitting day for departure, cold and damp, the promise of warm days on every cadet’s mind. I did a final walk around from the bridge to the stern for old time’s sake. Slack tide arrived at 8 a.m. and all but one line had been cast off. But the fog grew too thick for a safe departure. The ship was tied back to the pier, it would be six more hours before it left. But deadlines are hard and fast, one last photo of my long-time companion enveloped in fog for old time’s sake.
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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: TS Kennedy's final trip for Massachusetts Maritime Academy
