Girl Scouts Set Sail on the Bounding Main

The life of an ordinary seaman on a sailing ship has been recognized over the ages as one of the hardest, and yet there is no shortage of young people who want to sample the life, if only for a fortnight.

As 18-year-old Katy Kaiser, from Pedee, Ore., said at the end of a cruise on the 300-ton schooner Malcolm Miller, “I’ve never worked harder in my life, but I’ve never played harder, either.”

She was one of five Girl Scouts of America on the cruise run by the Sail Training Assn., based in Portsmouth, England. The STA was formed in 1955 to organize the biannual Tall Ships race, but in 1966 it also started to run cruises for young people on the schooner Sir Winston Churchill.

A sister ship, Malcolm Miller, was completed the following year. Since then, both have been providing 35 cruises a year for people ages 16 to 24.

Spirited Teamwork

The object is to provide the youths with an outlet for their spirit of adventure and an opportunity to work as part of a team.

Another 18-year-old, Jennifer Hall of Salem, Ore., explained the team effort this way: “You learn to pull yourself through difficult situations, because you know if you don’t take the responsibility, you are letting somebody else down and possibly endangering them.”

The five American girls joined the ship at Ipswich on England’s east coast. Each was welcomed by Capt. Mark Kemmis-Betty, a retired lieutenant commander in the Royal Navy. They then signed on as crew members, as required by merchant shipping regulations.

Once these formalities had been completed, the ship’s chief officer, Michael Dowling, explained the watch system and the general routine of running the ship. As Ipswich is inland, up the River Orwell, he said that to catch the tide they would have to sail at 6:30 the next morning. This would mean hard work until dark: learning the complex drills for raising and lowering the sails, getting to know the difference between a halyard, a sheet, a downhaul and a tricing line.

Experienced Staff

It was bright and sunny as the pilot eased the ship away from the quay. But for Katherine Lee Winn, 18, of La Canada, the weather was of little interest. She was at the helm and her whole attention was on the commands of the pilot, ensuring that she responded promptly and correctly.

When she did need help there was an American voice nearby; her watch officer was a retired U.S. Navy commander, William McGrath.

Apart from the permanent crew, each of the three watches of 13 girls was under the direction of an experienced amateur yachtsman. In the case of McGrath, this was his seventh trip as a watch officer with STA. From San Marcos, Calif., he is a doctor of philosophy and a former dean of students at the University of Southern California.

McGrath was enthusiastic about the courses run by STA. “Watching these youngsters at work and play, I have no worries about this generation,” said the veteran of commands of a destroyer and attack tanker in the Pacific during World War II.

As a photographer, I was on board taking pictures of the departure. Unfortunately, there was no room for me to make the trip, so before leaving on the pilot boat I asked the girls to let me have their comments upon their return, so the rest of the story is theirs.

Close-Knit Bond

Let Katherine Lee Winn start. She was impressed with the close-knit bond that built up between them. “By the time we reached Den Helder, Holland, it felt as if we were all members of a great big family, and this feeling kept growing right until the end.”

Jennifer Hall also spoke about the personal relationships that developed. “The Americans were an obvious minority, but now we have a whole new vocabulary and a different way of looking at things.”

The first of the shore leaves was at Den Helder, where the highlight was a soccer match against a local girls’ team.

After a beach barbecue at Kristiansand, Norway, the ship sailed on, but shortly afterward had to make an unscheduled stop at Arendal, Norway, for medical treatment for one of the English girls, who had fallen and bumped her head.

Back at sea, they were practically becalmed for a couple of days, which was followed by the other extreme of weather when gales had many of the crew hanging over the rails. But despite the seasickness, all did their jobs when the time came.

All this was soon forgotten as huge crowds greeted them in Amsterdam at the end of the cruise. There were a couple of days’ shore leave, with bowling, discos and fun fairs, together with cream cakes and pastries that they found scrumptious, a word the Americans learned from their English friends.

Floating Hotel

Susanna Smith, 17, of Bloomfield, N.J., described the experience this way: “This trip has been a dream come true. As trainees we learned how to sail, and also how to live and work together as a team.

“One of the highlights was arriving in a foreign port and hearing the captain telling us we had shore leave. I have learned a lot and enjoyed every moment of it. I’m sure this trip will be with me for the rest of my life.”

A two-week cruise in spring or autumn costs about $600, in summer about $800.

Details can be obtained from the Sail Training Assn., 2a The Hard, Portsmouth, PO1 3PT England.