Tina's Tale

by Mary Alice Wagner

Grade 3, Betsy B. Winslow School, New Bedford Public Schools
This little tale is about the Schooner Ernestina that was also called The Effie M. Morrissey in the past. Her name was changed by her owners when she was bought and sold. In this story we'll call The Ernestina, "Tina," and travel back one hundred years to a town called Essex in the state of Massachusetts. Tina's friends are the creatures of the sea and shore, the people that love the sea, and others who depend on it for their survival.

Through Tina let's learn about and understand the wonder of the sea and the rich history of the Ernestina.
Some hundred years ago a new schooner anxiously tried out her new sails on the waves. Tilting from one side to the other, she balanced herself upright. Little Tina slid smoothly along the waves. She was a beautiful sight. She loved to feel the wind fill her sails; it made her feel so strong!
She loved the wind. She depended on the wind to take her from port to port. When the wind blew fiercely; salt water spray misted the air with a clean and refreshing scent, like waking to a snow-covered landscape on a crisp winter day. Tina was tossed wildly; sometimes she was frightened. "Keep your bow straight," her friends had warned. Tina remembered their advice as she braved storms. Thank goodness, Tina's sails seemed to always catch the wind just right.

 
This two-masted schooner soon began the first of the three adventures in her life. She was named The Effie M. Morrissey after her first captain's daughter. Tina went fishing. Riding atop of her mast, an old gull remarked on the codfish catch after her first trip out. "She's loaded down, mates, at least 250,000 pounds she's carrying." To everyone's surprise her second trip was a record setting catch, 320,000 pounds!

 

Aboard her decks were fishermen from many different lands. Like Tina, they loved the sea. Fishermen appreciate the power and beauty of the sea. They harvest its bounty.  At times the ocean in sheer loveliness, with the blue sky and bright sun sparkling on the clear water, but in the winter it means long hours for these men, out in the cold, in an open boat, with hands always wet and the wind biting through the heaviest clothes.
 

In times of storms there are losses to all involved in the sea. These brave men fish the banks of the North Atlantic. It is a slow and hazardous job. The cod lines had many hooks which were baited by hand and coiled in tubs until they were ready to set. Then, when the time came to pull them in, the fishermen left Tina in their dories and pulled the lines by hand. In bad weather, the danger was great since there were no radios or other aids to navigation. Many ships and men were lost at sea. This also meant that fewer fish were brought in. The process of fishing was slow and uncertain.

 
But at night, when the work was done, "they" sang beautiful songs -- those "men from different lands, " that is, in strange but lovely languages. Her decks were always alive with song and activity. Sometimes the songs were sad. The fishermen sang fados (sad ballads) in Portuguese which told of their beautiful homeland and the sweethearts they had left behind. It almost seemed as if Tina swayed in the breeze keeping perfect rhythm to those tunes. Soon the fishing would become so good that not another fish could she hold.   Then Tina's captain would ring the bell out loudly. There was great celebration as the captain gave the order to head for home.

On clear nights, the stars guided her. The creatures of the sea followed. On the beach the little flocks of sandpipers looked up from running and feeding on tiny mollusks to greet her. Tina giggled as she watched them rushing along trying to avoid the waves coming into shore as if their life depended on not getting their feet wet. Tina knew home was just beyond the horizon. This part of our little schooner's life was very happy. As a fishing schooner, Tina provided hard-working men with a way to make a living, and the people on shore with wondrous treats to grace their dinner tables. There was halibut, haddock, mackerel, and codfish for the stews and cakes. The ocean was full of fish when Tina went fishing. She did this for twenty years.
 

One day Tina could not be found. All the creatures of the sea searched the oceans far and wide. They missed Little Tina and wondered what had become of her. They knew she needed to sail and be with friends.

A giant sperm whale, just happened to be on his yearly trip south in search of squid and warmer waters. He was about to use his sonar to dive into the dark deep ocean to fill his stomach, when to his surprise, there were the familiar sails gliding proudly over the waves. "Tina, wait for me!" he gasped. The great whale sounded in all the excitement, lifting its tail flukes clear of the water. As he approached her, he blew cold water through his blowhole and sprayed Tina with a refreshing mist of salt water. As this creature was lolling on the surface beside her Tina considered the wonder of this great mammal that could dive thousands of feet below the ocean, then leap and lob-tail over the waves.

Mr. Whale learned that Tina was happily on a new mission. Her new owners were scientists, sailing her to the North Pole to begin the second adventure in her life. They were gathering scientific information and knowledge to share with the world.   Tina was happily catching the wind just right in her sails, meeting this new challenge very well! Soon there were icebergs and the northeast storms to sail through. Polar bears watched the crew dynamite the ice to make a passageway.

 

Captain Bartlett wrote about his adventures in the National Geographic, a magazine which every month tells people about different places all over the earth. Tina always arrived with her cargoes until the day she disappeared once again.
 

The seagulls flew high and wide in search of her sails. The whales looked over the horizon as they breached as high as they could.  Not even the flying fish could catch a glimpse of her masts. Below the surface, the search went on. The tiny seahorses looked up and down. The eels looked around the rocks. The octopus searched the weeds. Finally, finally, a large old grandpa lobster found the sailboat at the bottom of New York Harbor.

The creatures of the sea soon learned that the new owners, the Jackson brothers, were puzzled as to what to do with the sailboat. Fire! Smoke! Gulp! She was burned and sunk to preserve her. Tina was distraught about her fate. In an effort to restore her self-respect, the sea creatures gathered around her. The crabs tapped their claws upon her decks to the rhythm of the waves breaking on the distant shore. The sea turtle swam to Tina's side proudly to tell her about all the eggs she'd left on the beach the night before.

Tina just was not interested in the least. She missed fishing and working with the scientists at the North Pole. Our little schooner felt doomed. The only thing she had to look forward to was the changing of the tides twice a day. Tina could feel the clams, shrimp, and the oysters tickling her in the sand, but there just wasn't anything that could lift her spirits, or stop her yearning for the fresh breeze blowing in her sails and feeling the salt mist upon her decks. Her tears were swallowed by the ocean.

Then one day Tina and her friends heard a great noise far above on the water's surface. A giant machine sent a cable into the water; it was attached to the sailboat. "Will they hurt our friend?" wailed the seal. "I believe the people on the surface are going to get Tina out of this mess," the flounder announced.

The creatures cheered and finally applauded as our sailboat was carefully raised to the surface. Tina had been bought from the Jackson Brothers by Captain Mendes who renamed her The Ernestina in 1948. He prepared her to embark on the third adventure in her life.
The Schooner Ernestina was once again catching the wind just right in her sails. She was sailing across the Atlantic Ocean to an island called Cape Verde. Once there, she sailed from one island to another carrying as many as 300 people and goods that were needed by the people on the islands. This part of the world was her new home.

The harbor porpoise followed, playing about in the water and going through acrobatics antics. These mammals breathe air through an opening on top of their head. Tina's passengers would watch them roll up to the surface and "blow," then duck under and roll to the surface later for another breath.

Tina was especially glad because one of her new duties was to take the children to school on the islands. The creatures of the sea noticed that the tapping of little feet on her decks was just as exciting for Tina as feeling the breeze in her sails, and the salt mist falling lightly on the decks.

The people of Cape Verde also sailed abroad, back to the land Little Tina knew well. These new island friends traveled far to find a better way of life. They spoke a familiar language that reminded Tina of her early fishing days and sang the songs again that had been sung on her decks long ago. These people loved the sea.
Tina was happy spending her days sailing among the islands and crossing the ocean she knew well.
Today, Ernestina is remembered as a great friend by all the people she helped along the way. She teaches about her greatest love, the sea and the creatures that live there. Great progress has been made at understanding the sea. Oceanographic institutions gather knowledge each year on the tides, ocean currents, plant life, animal life, etc. And the more that is learned the more there is still to know about this last frontier.
 

The Ernestina is equipped with modern devices for navigation, making the sea much safer and less terrifying than in the days of sailing. She uses aids to navigation, such as lighthouses, with beacons to guide the way and their fog horns which warn of dangerous rocks ahead.

Radio beacons, radar, and other electronic wonders of our time have made sea travel safer, but we will recognize that the sea, in its wildest and stormiest states, is a fearful adversary.
You can lean about The Ernestina's island friends who bravely settled in a new land away from family and friends to make a better life for themselves. She can show how the wind powers her sails and moves her gently through the waves.
 

The Ernestina can be found safely harbored in New Bedford, MA surrounded by other boats, the friends that take care of her, and, of course, the sea.
 
Illustration in "Tina," a children's book based on the history of the fishing schooner the Ernestina, done by 5th and 6th graders at the A. J. Gomes school in New Bedford. Supervised by Art Teachers Eleanor McCarthy and Kathy Branco.
Blaine Abaray, Elizabeth Pedro ,Brandon Pina, Kinski Medeiros, Arnold Pina, Luke Mandley, Jacey Fortin, Justin Miranda, Randy Lavoie, Ben Viall, Susanna Damgaard, and John C. Raposo.