Columbia River
All day long we cruised up the Columbia River. Though we did not get ashore, it was a day packed with activity. The morning of the first full day of our expedition was a time for safety drills. The ship’s crew successfully extinguished a mock fire located in the historian’s cabin. Following this, all guests participated in an abandon ship drill and learned how uncomfortable the “horse-collar” style lifejackets are; but we are all grateful for our crew’s attention to safety.
Later in the morning, expedition historian Carlos Schwantes gave a slide-illustrated talk on the Lewis and Clark expedition. His overview traced the course of the expedition from the time it took shape in the mind of Thomas Jefferson until it reached the Pacific Ocean and wintered at Fort Clatsop in 1805, and then returned to Saint Louis in 1806. After lunch, guest historian Daniel Usner of Vanderbilt University discussed the controversy surrounding the discovery of the remains of Kennewick Man in 1996. His thought-provoking presentation stimulated all of us to think about the history of the sometimes troubled relations between Indian and non-Indian peoples of the American West.
Still later in the day we had a special ceremony raising a fifteen star flag over the Sea Bird, a flag flown earlier at Fort Clatsop and identical to the one that the Lewis and Clark expedition flew in this region some two-hundred years ago. Today’s photograph shows deckhand Hadley Owen folding the fifty-star flag after raising the fifteen-star flag. After a group toast to our ship’s new historic flag, guests moved along to the serious business of sampling the wines and various edibles of the Pacific Northwest.
All day long the sun smiled down on our journey up the Columbia River and into its tributary, the Snake River. I always enjoy the daylight cruising, but there is something special about cruising these historic waterways at night. I’d like to think that the stars overhead in the dark sky are the same ones that Lewis and Clark noticed on their journey West, which commenced from Saint Louis this same month in 1804. Perhaps as we ponder the heavenly space that defines our solar system from Mercury to Pluto, we can think about Lewis and Clark traveling through terrestrial space from Saint Louis to the Pacific. Cape Kennedy is today the launching pad for exploration of heavenly space, while in the days of Lewis and Clark the young settlement of Saint Louis was the launching pad for exploration of the American West.
All day long we cruised up the Columbia River. Though we did not get ashore, it was a day packed with activity. The morning of the first full day of our expedition was a time for safety drills. The ship’s crew successfully extinguished a mock fire located in the historian’s cabin. Following this, all guests participated in an abandon ship drill and learned how uncomfortable the “horse-collar” style lifejackets are; but we are all grateful for our crew’s attention to safety.
Later in the morning, expedition historian Carlos Schwantes gave a slide-illustrated talk on the Lewis and Clark expedition. His overview traced the course of the expedition from the time it took shape in the mind of Thomas Jefferson until it reached the Pacific Ocean and wintered at Fort Clatsop in 1805, and then returned to Saint Louis in 1806. After lunch, guest historian Daniel Usner of Vanderbilt University discussed the controversy surrounding the discovery of the remains of Kennewick Man in 1996. His thought-provoking presentation stimulated all of us to think about the history of the sometimes troubled relations between Indian and non-Indian peoples of the American West.
Still later in the day we had a special ceremony raising a fifteen star flag over the Sea Bird, a flag flown earlier at Fort Clatsop and identical to the one that the Lewis and Clark expedition flew in this region some two-hundred years ago. Today’s photograph shows deckhand Hadley Owen folding the fifty-star flag after raising the fifteen-star flag. After a group toast to our ship’s new historic flag, guests moved along to the serious business of sampling the wines and various edibles of the Pacific Northwest.
All day long the sun smiled down on our journey up the Columbia River and into its tributary, the Snake River. I always enjoy the daylight cruising, but there is something special about cruising these historic waterways at night. I’d like to think that the stars overhead in the dark sky are the same ones that Lewis and Clark noticed on their journey West, which commenced from Saint Louis this same month in 1804. Perhaps as we ponder the heavenly space that defines our solar system from Mercury to Pluto, we can think about Lewis and Clark traveling through terrestrial space from Saint Louis to the Pacific. Cape Kennedy is today the launching pad for exploration of heavenly space, while in the days of Lewis and Clark the young settlement of Saint Louis was the launching pad for exploration of the American West.
