Open the below pictures in a full-screen slideshow by Flickr
August 19th, 2009 – Jenny Lind Bay, Queen Maud Gulf
by Herb McCormick
(August 19): As far as islands are concerned, one would think that the folks who market Jenny Craig weight-loss products would be extraordinarily happy to endorse the slim, trim and austere islet named Jenny Lind, the primary bay of which the crew of Ocean Watch is currently ensconced therein. Jenny Lind is devoid of anything resembling attractive topography; is flatter than the proverbial pancake; and of interesting features to investigate and explore, boasts none whatsoever. Visually, geographically and intellectually, Jenny Lind represents the starvation diet of travel and exploration.
And we are very happy to be here.
After an overnight sail of a hundred miles from Cambridge Bay, conducted in a rising northeasterly wind and a seaway that became rougher and nastier with each passing hour, Ocean Watch dropped anchor off the southern coast of Jenny Lind at mid-morning today to take shelter from the (un-forecasted) weather and reassess the ever-changing and dynamic ice make-up directly to the east and north. We are currently in a very historic body of water known as Queen Maud Gulf, and a glance at chart 7083 published by the Canadian Hydrographic Service is a stroll through the figurative park at the cornucopia of garden spots right at our fingertips.
Look there, it’s Ambush Rock! Hey, how about a visit and maybe a picnic in Terror Bay? We’ve got time on our hands, let’s round up the family and enjoy a summer holiday at Starvation Cove!
Honestly, I’m thinking I should apply for the position of Director of Marketing for the Arctic Convention and Tourism Board. I already have the slogan: “You May Die Here…But You’re Not Dead Yet!”
But once again, I digress.
Luckily, skipper Mark Schrader is not prone to hysteria, as this latest entry from his personal Captain’s Log makes clear. We’ll pass the narrative to his steadier hands:
 |
| Byran Reeves, on the far right, chats with the crews from Baloum Gwen and Silent Sound. |
“Shortly before 1700 yesterday (5 p.m. local time) we said goodbye to Bryan Reeves and the crews from Baloum Gwen and Silent Sound and eased away from the pier at Cambridge Bay. With Dave Logan at the helm we motored out of the well-marked narrow channels in the bay and entered Queen Maud Gulf; hoisted the single-reefed main; unrolled the jib; and enjoyed the welcome sound of ice-free water splashing against the hull. Close reaching at 8 knots with a heading directly for the next waypoint on our way to Gjoa Haven – it was a great way to start what will be a challenging leg.
“By late evening the wind increased to a steady 25-28 knots and the seas became a little choppy so we exchanged the jib for the staysail, slowed ourselves down a bit and made the ride more comfortable – appreciated by all. Now that the sun actually sets and stays below the horizon for a few hours the late night/early morning hours are relatively dark, making it hard to spot the smaller ice floes. Our latest ice chart shows the first half of our route as ice free – the second half as having 1 – 2/10 ice in a couple of awkward spots.
“The route to Gjoa Haven from Cambridge Bay is approximately 230 nautical miles. The latter half between Jenny Lind Island and Gjoa Haven is a navigator’s nightmare – some 50 miles through sporadically marked narrow, shallow, rock-and-island strewn channels. David Thoreson has been here before and he expected this to be tricky. So, in his typical very organized fashion, he saved the waypoints he and the crew of Cloud 9 used to successfully transit the area two years ago and made them available to us. We’ve just plotted them on our electronic charts – and for some reason I’m seeing Gretel’s carefully dropped pieces of bread on the winding path through the forest – if ours don’t disappear we’ll be fine.
“With the wind rising, clouds looking more serious, weather generally ‘closing in’ and two known small areas of ice on our path, we thought it prudent to anchor for the day at Jenny Lind Island and then get a very early start on the second half tomorrow morning. In the narrow and shallow channels we’ll have very little room to maneuver around ice; calm conditions with excellent visibility would be advisable.”
 |
| Zeta, Mark and Herb work on a birthday cake on Jenny Lind Island. |
We’ll close today’s report with a brief nugget of maritime – and medicinal – lore. We’re not entirely sure who Jenny Lind was, but we suspect she was somehow related to Dr. James Lind of the British Navy, who in 1747 began conducting a series of experiments on the causes and prevention of scurvy, a disease that was wreaking havoc in the ranks of the Admiralty fleet. Today, of course, we know that scurvy is easily avoided by a daily intake of Vitamin C, but in the mid-1700s, it was a deadly affliction.
As we’ll see, Dr. Lind’s grasp on the matter, at least at the outset, was tenuous, at best. He decided to administer different possible remedies to a group of six separate pairs of sailors sick with scurvy. The first five pairings received, with no apparent thought to rhyme or reason, the following: cider, vinegar, seawater, garlic mustard paste and distilled sulfuric acid. Unsurprisingly, these “cures” had little effect.
The sixth set of sailors, however, was given two oranges and a lemon per day for six straight days. These lucky chaps were completely recovered before the week was out.
For some unclear reason, it was another fifty years before the Royal Navy made a daily ration of lemon juice (the Brits called them limes) a staple on their ships. And that’s how and why English sailors earned their nautical nickname: Limeys.
So, you want to lose weight? Stick to that regular regimen of citrus and lemon juice, and avoid the rest. After his dramatic discovery, we reckon they were regular staples in Dr. Lind’s household. So: Jenny Lind? Meet Jenny Craig.
- Herb McCormick and Mark Schrader with photographs by David Thoreson
This crew log submitted by Iridium OpenPort and Stratos
To add a comment to this story click on the comment link below the post title. Please direct your messages for the crew to crew@aroundtheamericas.org instead of submitting them here. Thanks for following the Around the Americas Expedition.
