Last Thursday I passed into nautical history and legend as the most well treated (accidental) stowaway to ever step aboard a seagoing vessel.
What other stowaway, accidental or not, has had the privilege of actually piloting the ship they’ve boarded with full permission of the crew, and the Lady Washington, no less?
But perhaps I should provide a little context before incriminating myself further.
Last week, the Lady Washington and the Hawaiian Chieftain were in port at Carillon Point. For those of you who don’t know, the Lady Washington was featured as the Interceptor in the Disney film Pirates of the Caribbean.
I went Thursday in the hopes of obtaining a front page worthy photo and a possible story, though the fact that it was a set piece in one of my favorite films alone would have compelled me to step foot aboard. I arrived at noon thinking there were self-guided tours on the ships, only to be told by crew on the Hawaiian Chieftain it was closed for maintenance until 4 p.m. Initially, I believed this applied to her companion ship, until I saw a long line of children and parents marching to the end of the dock and hopping aboard. On the ship, the crew was dressed more or less like pirates.
Eager to get a great shot of a kid talking to one of the crew, I climbed aboard and started snapping away. Suddenly, I felt movement below my feet. I turned and watched the dock shrink as the mizzen-mast sails unfurled above me.
It turned out the crowd of kids were from the Buena Vista Seventh Day Adventist School in Auburn on an educational field trip with their parents. While moving out into the middle of Lake Washington, they learned the basics of seamanship, such as getting the sails ready, learning all the calls and shouts, and navigational tools sailors used at the time of the original Lady Washington.
Eventually, both parents and the crew inquired as to my identity. Fortunately, they all seemed excited to have a reporter along. I made my way up to the helm, where to my surprise there was a tiller, a steering device commonly used aboard sailing boats, rather than the iconic ship’s wheel. There, the navigator used a GPS in lieu of charts to guide them out into Lake Washington.
At some point, the navigator turned to me and asked, “Do you want to steer it for a while?”
Does a Beatles fan want to walk down Abbey Road with Paul McCartney while singing a duet rendition of “Here Comes the Sun”?
It is a tribute to my self-control that I did not scream “Everyone remain calm! I am taking over this ship!” in my best Jack Sparrow impersonation as I approached the tiller. I also kept my mouth shut as the crew sang “Don’t Forget Your Old Shipmates” of “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World” fame.
On a side note, it allowed me to relive the glory days in Boy Scouts sailing from Yarrow Point to Blake Island as part of our annual trip.
The best part of it, though, occurred when a tour boat approached the starboard side, with the passengers lining the railing to take photos of the Lady Washington. I’m sure they were wondering what in the name of Blackbeard’s drunken ghost was the guy in the Hawaiian shirt doing at the tiller while surrounded by pirate-looking crew.
If you happened to be one of those people, now you know. It was me, the stowaway.
TJ Martinell is a Reporter with the Kirkland Reporter newspaper.
