Video
Brooke Foran Ernestina-Morrissey Interview
Transcript
00;00;05;09 - 00;00;07;20
Speaker 1
I am Brooke Foran from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
00;00;07;20 - 00;00;11;07
Speaker 2
What made you want to work on ships?
00;00;11;09 - 00;00;31;08
Speaker 1
That's a good question. (laughter) I was in high school and Covid hit and everything, and it was in really awful time. And I was listening to a lot of folk music. And there's a lot about sailing, and there's an album called schooners, and I was like “Wonder what’s a schooner”. And just researching all of that. It kind of gave me hope again, and I wanted to go try it out.
00;00;31;09 - 00;01;01;22
Speaker 1
So like on Schooner Brilliant Youth Training and it started from there. I was working on another schooner, Schooner Tyrone in Booth Bay Harbor. And that's how Ernestina was hauled out, just across the water from us. And they launched and we're looking for crew. And my contract is ending. So I just emailed Captain Krihwan and came over. Um, when I first came on board after my interview with Captain Krihwan, I was just touring the boat before I decided to come on, it was unrecognizable to what it is, right now.
00;01;01;24 - 00;01;28;08
Speaker 1
like I said, everything is under construction. It's a completely different boat. Anything that was an idea back then is kind of real now. And the vibe is so different that I'm like, I can't believe this is the same contract. (Laughter) And it's crazy to see it go from almost nothing to fully under sail. Like, we got the main up for her first time, and I think since 2005, and that was an insane moment.
00;01;28;10 - 00;01;32;01
Speaker 2
What have been your duties on the Ernestina?
00;01;32;03 - 00;01;54;23
Speaker 1
A lot of everything. I'm a deckhand, so I just kind of go where I'm asked to help. When I first came on board, the academy wasn't letting us live on board yet. We were in a crew house because everything was under construction. The galley wasn't done. A lot of living spaces weren't done. We didn't have our gas, our fore boom or pretty much any of our rigging other than the shrouds holding the masts down.
00;01;54;29 - 00;02;19;27
Speaker 1
So I did a lot of rigging. I made um, some of the dory falls, some more sheets and halyards and then I came down below and I helped set this space up a little bit. The shipyard did most of the work on it, but I did the little finer details as told. The life jackets, and then finally we were shoving off from Maine and I stood the first watch she had in about 20 years, which felt great.
00;02;19;29 - 00;02;21;12
Speaker 2
What's it like living on a ship?
00;02;21;18 - 00;02;48;01
Speaker 1
It's really different from living in house, as you would think. It's a lot of close quarters of other people, which I don't know about others, but I got used to really fast. I grew up with a lot of siblings. It's close quarters then. Closer now, but whatever. Although a lot of the same chores, but they're always harder on a boat, especially when you're underway and you're below, so you can't see the waves coming. You’re like, “Oh, I'm over here now. Okay.” (background laughter)
00;02;48;04 - 00;02;59;03
Speaker 1
Or if you’re trying to cook and we’re swaying, the flame will go back and forth and it won’t cook even and water takes forever to boil and then doing dishes, it’s amazing.
00;02;59;05 - 00;03;02;14
Speaker 2
Do you have a favorite story from your time aboard the Ernestina?
00;03;02;19 - 00;03;22;03
Speaker 1
Yeah. On our way back from Texas, we went around the Keys and everything. I don't know where we were. Somewhere between Miami and New Jersey. A storm hit us on a night watch. So it was around 3:00 AM. It was me, the officer and our deckhand who was below deck at the time. No, she's at the helm. I was on watch.
00;03;22;05 - 00;03;44;06
Speaker 1
So, we have man overboard lights. If they're not facing directly down, they go off and flash a strobe. We were in such high seas in that storm that our man overboard light went free and was rolling on the dark deck all the way forward. I clipped into the boat and I started walking up there and I got thrown over, inboard thankfully,
00;03;44;08 - 00;04;02;16
Speaker 1
so I was still in the boat, but I ended up needing to crawl to this light that was blinding me and reattach it, and at that point we’re getting swung everywhere, getting dipped, a wave splashed me in the face because of course it did. And I could hear the bell ringing up forward. We're rolling so hard and I secure it and everything.
00;04;02;16 - 00;04;18;11
Speaker 1
I crawl back aft. I see it flashing again. So I crawl back forward like “I can't believe that came free”. It did not. We were just rolling so hard that in its secure position, it was flashing every so often and that was terrifying. But a whole lot of fun.
00;04;18;24 - 00;04;27;06
Speaker 2
The Ernestina has had multiple lives, fishing, exploration. In its current iteration, how would you describe her life at the moment?
00;04;27;09 - 00;04;48;16
Speaker 1
On the rise in 1947? There’s galley fire that broke out, and they had to sink her at a dock to put it out, and they rose her again. They called her the Phoenix ship. She’s the Phoenix ship right now. We're still working on the COI. There's still aspects of our restoration ongoing, but we set the main and we sailed to Texas and back.
00;04;48;19 - 00;04;49;25
Speaker 1
She’s the Phoenix ship.
Descriptive Transcript
The video begins with a black background. It then transitions to another black background with all text centered on the screen. The white text at the top reads: "Brooke Foran" Below it, a green horizontal line divides the text. The bottom line reads: "Schooner Ernestina-Morrissey" in white. The title page text shrinks to a smaller size and moves to the top left corner. The black background remains, and white closed captioned text appears in the center of the screen, double-lined in a large font size.
Description
In this video, Brooke Foran from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, shares her journey to working on ships, inspired by folk music during the difficult times of the COVID-19 pandemic. She details her experiences on various schooners, ultimately joining the Ernestina, and reflects on its transformation and her role as a deckhand. Brooke recounts the challenges of living on a ship, including a thrilling stormy night at sea, and describes the Ernestina's resilient history and current revival as the "Phoenix ship."
Duration
4 minutes, 49 seconds
Date Created
06/04/2024
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