Here's is a shot of the "HMS" Rose at port in Charleston harbor. She's a 3-masted full-rigged ship, 179' long, 150' high, 500 tons. The largest wooden ship still sailing in the oceans.

This is an idea of what is is to look up the mainmast, 150' above the water at its highest point.

And here's where I spent many of the toughest hours on the ship, my bunk in A compartment. It's about 7' long, about 3' wide, and about 2' tall. That's not nearly the problem so much as the fact it was a stiflingly humid 98 degrees in the bunks at all times. Long nights.

Continuing a brief tour through the ship, here's the Galley, where the crew sat to eat the great meals Hunter, our cook, whipped up for us. You were never hungry on Rose.

And to the port side is the gundeck where the Rose's compliment of 6 pound cannons sits. These never got fired on the trip as they tend to set off the ship's fire alarms. We did fire the 2 pounders on the weather deck, though.

It's time to leave Miami harbor and hands all called to go aloft and ungasket the sails. That means myself and others start climbing the shrouds (the web-like ropes on either side of a mast) to go aloft. I went to the t'gallant, which is the highest yard on the main mast, since I figured if you're gonna pay, get all you can out of it.

And there I am on the main t'gallant yard, ungasketing (taking the ropes off) the main t'gans'l. I'm the one just to the left of the mast, gazing about in awe.

Here's a shot a bit more panned back to show how high we were. As you can see, I was not alone on the yards aloft, as the crew members went all the way out to the yardarms to stand, waving to the crowds on either side.

And we're in the open seas, sailing along at 6 knots, when we spot the first pod of dolphins to escort our ship. These striped dolphins would frolick about the bow of the ship, showing off for everyone, like myself, who climbed down to the monkey deck to get closer to them.

The boat definitely looks more impressive when her sails are full of wind. This is a shot of the foremast with the tops'l and the t'gans'l set and braced. (Am I impressing you with my nautical terms yet?)

The view is much enhanced from up aloft. I'm about 2/3 way up the main mast at the topyard, looking starboard and slightly forward. I think I was only swaying 10 or 12 feet around in this calm weather.

You wanna know what being a tallship sailor is all about? It's this... hauling and easing the lines. In this case, sweating and tailing the main course clew and buntlines. Sweating away are Kit, Ray, and Allen.

Here is a shot of the main starboard pinrail, with it's barrage of lines. It was one of six pinrails and 3 fiferails. Each of the square-rigged sails had seventeen lines attached to it, not to mention the fore-and-aft rigged sails and their lines and all the misc. lines. Learning their names, locations, and uses was one of the best things you could do in your stay aboard.

Since we were making a 5 1/2 day trip and we had 7 days to do it in, we made a stop in Port Royal, SC. While there we fired on the town, dropped and wieghed anchor the same morning, took out the away Thorne and headed towards Paris Island to look at the live firing Marines (a story I won't get into here), and had many distilled malt beverages with the crew members and fellow trainees ashore.

Speaking of those crew members and trainees, here's the watch I was assigned to, B Watch. We were on duty from 8-12 every morning and evening. Though not everyone is in the pic, I will tell you who they are from left to right: Allen, Shannon, myself, Jason (the mate of the watch), Guy, Mike, Dave, Tom, Chris, John, Shane, Ben, and Charlene. We're mustering at the capstan, which is the enormous winch used to weigh anchor.

About 30 miles or so from Charleston, we spotted another tall ship off the starboard bow (if you look in the center of the pic, you can barely make her out). That meant we had to get the 2 pound guns ready for battle.

And here she is, the Eye of the Wind, a strangely configured brig. For movie buffs, she's the same ship used in "White Squall".

Well, she was pretty quick, but that didn't stop us from firing a brace of 2 pounders on her. I was wishing I had my cutlass and flintlocks along for the ride, but I'm sure that would have caused havoc at the airport.

And we finally made it to Charleston harbor. We were sent aloft one more time to furl the sails, so I made for the fore t'gallant, the highest yard on the foremast. Looking port side from the fore t'gallant, you can see the USS Jonestown aircraft carrier docked across the river. Look at it's size compared the to little schooner in front.

And directly in front of us is the famous Canadian boat, Bluenose II. Farther back, you can make out the Columbian ship, Gloria.

Just for a bit of scale regarding the heights of the mast, I took a shot of Nick and Charlene on the other side of the t'gallant with the Charleston Maritime Center below.

Looking down to the fore tops'l below us, you can see the number of people it takes to haul these big sails up and furl them correctly.

The Rose reacts in fear as the giant trainee prepares to take a bite out of the bowsprit.

And just for the sake of all those who didn't think I was really there, here's a shot of your favorite shantyman beside the grand lady of the seas, the "HMS" Rose.