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isn't this some kind of act of war?
Jun. 11th, 2006 07:36 amthe united states navy fired upon me. on the high seas. (well, okay, boston's inner harbor) with the oldest comissioned ship in the united states navy.
see, i was out sailing. because when it's raining and barely 60 and winds not quite small craft advisory levels but having some impressive gusts... what better day to go take a sailing class? and roller furling jibs mean never having to try and find a storm jib while under sail.
but yeah, so, we're out sailing in the inner harbor, and what should come meandering along, but the USS Constitution, full of people who've won their turnaround cruise lottery tickets[1]. she wasn't under sail -- i didn't see any sails on her masts at all -- but rather being pushed by a tug. and she wandered out, accompanied by some three-masted schooner or other under sail. and then she came back, fire boats spraying water everywhere. and on her way back, they fired the cannons a few times about the time we were off their port bow. we were close enough that the boston harbor police waved us off to make sure we didn't get too close.
the cannons didn't have shot in them, but they were impressively loud and blew perfect round smoke rings when they went off.
definitely a nifty bonus. it was kind of cool being out on the water, looking thru the bit of fog from the rain and clouds at two tall ships heading out of the inner harbor - kind of gives a hint as to what it might've looked like back in the 1800's.
[1] literally. there's a lottery to get tickets for one of the periodic turnaround cruises. details on the navy's web page for the ship, iirc.
see, i was out sailing. because when it's raining and barely 60 and winds not quite small craft advisory levels but having some impressive gusts... what better day to go take a sailing class? and roller furling jibs mean never having to try and find a storm jib while under sail.
but yeah, so, we're out sailing in the inner harbor, and what should come meandering along, but the USS Constitution, full of people who've won their turnaround cruise lottery tickets[1]. she wasn't under sail -- i didn't see any sails on her masts at all -- but rather being pushed by a tug. and she wandered out, accompanied by some three-masted schooner or other under sail. and then she came back, fire boats spraying water everywhere. and on her way back, they fired the cannons a few times about the time we were off their port bow. we were close enough that the boston harbor police waved us off to make sure we didn't get too close.
the cannons didn't have shot in them, but they were impressively loud and blew perfect round smoke rings when they went off.
definitely a nifty bonus. it was kind of cool being out on the water, looking thru the bit of fog from the rain and clouds at two tall ships heading out of the inner harbor - kind of gives a hint as to what it might've looked like back in the 1800's.
[1] literally. there's a lottery to get tickets for one of the periodic turnaround cruises. details on the navy's web page for the ship, iirc.
