The mornings start at 7am. All hands report to the galley (kitchen) where we either make a breakfast dish that is shared or every man or woman for themselves. 8am we meet at the capstan on deck for our duties for the day, which may change depending on the needs of the ship. After the 5 minutes or so discussing the days duties, we either stay on deck to do a deckwash or go to the 'tweendecks to sweep and mop stem to stern (galley to great cabin). After that is all done we usually pick up on the job from the day before. Yesterday I painted cabins on the lowest deck and today I laid tar upon the bracing which supports the masts. I used a paintbrush to cover all areas on the bracing where it was not black. That took most of the day. I also made it up to the main topgallants (the top of the second of three sets of rope ladders leading to the top of the mast) today but didn't venture further. It is VERY high! Sheesh. I was freaked out to think I may be up there in a storm, heeled over with the wind and rain trying to pull me out and drop me in the drink!! It is really nuts to think that people in the past did all of this with NO safety gear whatsoever. Jesus, they were tough guys.
The white dog was being walked past the ship so I jumped off to take a photo of this poor beast. There is another photo of Sara and Svetta repairing sails. That was fun to learn. I'll have to take some detailed photos of this process later. We're being taught the same techniques used over a hundred years ago to repair sails! There are a couple of photos of the deckwash in action. We spray the whole top-deck down and scrub it with coarse brushes.
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