After 11 Years at the Dock the SSS MORRIS Finally got Underway on her own Power on 12 May 2007!
Yes, we got her underway for a shake down cruise just to see if we could maneuver the ship on our own. We ran the propellers slowly at the dock first with the mooring lines still attached, and everything checked out okay. We then got underway for some maneuvering tests, but those short tests soon turned into a full sea trails cruise. The three hour cruise took us up and down the San Joaquin River out of Stockton, California. We ran her up to a flank speed of 14.4 knots- which happens to be the vessel's maximum hull speed. We sustained that top speed for one hour straight! The engines and generators performed magnificently.
There is still a lot to do to get the vessel in "ship shape", but the fact that we got the MORRIS underway is a great achievement and a cause for celebration! That's just what we did afterwards with a nice steak BBQ with all the fixings.
We even had a follow up cruise a week later to continue sea trial testing. We gave our anchor windlass more testing and trained Sea Scouts from our ship and that of the Siren Song.
Special thanks go out to our Skipper and Commodore Bob French of Ship 13, Capt. Marc Deglinnocenti of Ship 13, Skipper Carl Shellhorn of the SSS Chaser as well as Mates Jesse Whitlatch and Charlie Reidmuller of the SSS Chaser. Skipper Paul Hirsh of the SSS Northland was also on hand helping. Jennifer Juarez, Greg Manov, and Jim Eggelson of Ship 13 were on board too. We also thank our chase boat crew of Mate Bill Fillbeck, Commissioner Tom Herring, and Scout Master Ed Smith.
MORRIS Cruises to Safety @ Sea!
We cruised her from the Port of Stockton to the U.S. Coast Guard Station on Yerba Buena Island in beautiful San Francisco. That's where our Sea Scouts participated in various advanced training drills with Coast Guard instructors. This event was started in 1995 by Skipper Carl Shellhorn of the SSS Chaser of Napa, CA and Capt. Marc Degl'Innocenti of the Greater Yosemite Council, BSA. There are now five Safety @ Sea events throughout the country.
