Pride of Baltimore's story begins in 1976, where in a small and modest shipyard a wooden ship was being built. She was to become the "tall ship" of Baltimore, the first of her kind to be built in nearly a century and a half. In her first four years Pride sailed the Atlantic, Gulf Coasts, the Great Lakes, to Canada and the islands of the Caribbean. And in the fall of 1982, she undertook a bold journey from the Chesapeake Bay to the Pacific and Pacific Northwest, an historic trip of more than 17,000 miles. The Author's dramatic photographs, including an exceptional race series, along with captains' and crews' logs, take the reader on an adventurous journey with this unique vessel.
Pride's next voyage would take her even farther -- a long journey to the major ports of Europe. Pride would be the first vessel to tour Europe as a representative of an American city, and, as a U.S. flagship. Mr. Pease's photographs capture Pride as she glides past Black Rock Castle in Cork, under the Tower Bridge of London, by the tiny Norwegian village of Drbak and the sun bleached houses of Puerto Banys, Spain. Pride called on ports in ten countries, from Gdynia, Poland to the Straits of Gibraltar.
The story of Pride of Baltimore ended abruptly on her return from Europe in the Spring of 1986 when she was overwhelmed by one of nature's most unpredictable and violent forces, a microburst squall. Lost at sea were her captain and three crew members. The eight survivors spent four days, seven hours at sea in a small life raft before they were rescued by the Norwegian freighter Toro.
The tragedy of May 14, 1986, was a deep and shocking blow not only to the friends and relatives of Pride's crew and to those who built her but to the whole Baltimore community. The community's response however, was strong and immediate, a public mandate came forth to replace the ship. That same small shipyard where Pride was built eleven years earlier, would soon give birth to a new ship Pride of Baltimore II.
The author would spend eighteen months documenting the building of Pride II, from the laying of the keel to the launching of this elegant wooden ship on April 30, 1988.
Pride II was officially commissioned on October 23, 1988. She maneuvered well during her sea trials and on commissioning day, but not until her Maiden Voyage in the open ocean was her awesome power fully realized. She flew through the water with strength and ease. She was more beautiful than anyone could have ever imagined.
From the Title Page:
Photographs by GREG PEASE
With Text by THOMAS C. GILLMER and BARBARA BOZZUTO
Excerpts from Captains' Logs and Reports and Crew Journals Selected by Barbara Bozzuto
Architectural Drawings and an Afterword by Thomas C. Gillmer
An Historic Reconstruction and Original Painting by G. Peter Boudreau
