Local Ship Resumes Operations After Nearly Sinking During School Field Trip

The following article was written for and published by THE LONG BEACH BEACHCOMBER NEWSPAPER.

LOCAL SHIP RESUMES OPERATIONS AFTER NEARLY SINKING DURING SCHOOL FIELD TRIP

     Children's Maritime Foundation director Helen Clinton remembers the day American Pride, a 130-foot long tallship her foundation operates and her son captains, took aboard over a foot of water some six miles off the coast of Long Beach.
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     "The ship was in bad waves out there," she recalls. "Some of the caulking above the waterline was lost so water got on board."
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     Clinton wasn't necessarily afraid for her son. She'd been aboard when he fought his way down the treacherous eastern sea board one summer, through strong gale winds and out of Hurricane Margo. She had confidence in him. What worried her now were the thirty-five high school students also on board. To make matters worse, several news helicopters had heard about the boat full of children taking on water on a slow news day. As they hovered over the scene of a 66-year-old tallship in distress, one thing seemed to reverberate in Clinton’s mind.
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     "This was bad for business."
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     On the way in from a five day Catalina Island field trip in early October 2007, Captain Greg Clinton and his crew of students were making their way into Long Beach harbor when suddenly the floorboards burst open. Within five minutes of the Capt. Greg’s distress call, a nearby ship quickly brought pumps aboard to help rid the American Pride of what was now 14 inches of water and rising.
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     "My son eventually got the boat under control and brought her in under her own power," said Clinton. "So it was really nothing, just a bad media hype."
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     Clinton may brush off the ordeal as overhyped, but rescuers took the episode seriously. A coalition of rescuers, including the Coast Guard, Long Beach and Los Angeles Fire Departments, Long Beach Police Department, Los Angeles Port Police, and Los Angeles County Lifeguards all scrambled to the ship’s aid. To Clinton, it seemed all of local media outlets rushed in as well. As the American Pride sailed back into its Rainbow Harbor home near the Aquarium of the Pacific, news helicopters zoomed their cameras in on children laughing, waving, and strapping on orange life vests. School administrators ordered students to avoid speaking to the media once they reached shore. Several students cheered and gave thumbs-up as they were led away in single file lines into their awaiting school buses.
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     The U.S. Coast Guard immediately placed a travel ban on the ship. For the very first time during its long history at sea, the American Pride was ordered to stay off the water. According to Helen Clinton however, the ship was quickly repaired, hosting an event for children at sea outside the harbor only two days after taking on water.
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     "She has always been a good ship," says Helen Clinton. "The restoration added a third mast making her much more stable."
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     .Ordained the official tallship of Long Beach, operations of American Pride have been running normal ever since. The tallship, also known as a schooner, was built in 1941. One of only five tallships left sailing in the world, the American Pride was for forty years used as a commercial fishing boat in and around New England.
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     The American Heritage Marine Institute bought the ship in 1996, which ten years earlier was gutted down to a bare shell, built back up to specifically meet higher Coast Guard standards for passenger vessels.
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     Clinton and her foundation host educational programs throughout the year. Although the ship is mostly used for living history lessons geared towards children, American Pride has been used for everything from fish dissections to funerals.
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     "Our prime objective is to take kids out on the boat and to experience history firsthand," says Clinton. "But we're available everyday except Christmas to host any event a patron wishes."
The ship is also a familiar sight at sea festivals throughout Southern California such as the annual Tallship Festival at Dana Point, and Catalina Island's annual Buccaneer Days. American Pride has also made appearances for the television show Jag, whose plot was based around the lives of US military officials.
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     For Clinton, the American Pride’s vulnerability showed when it took on water that day. Wooden vessels require continual maintenance, and since the mishap Clinton says she has gotten offers from dozens of people around Southern California who want to volunteer their time in keeping the American Pride afloat.
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     "We have a wonderful crew of people who just want to see the ship hold the test of time," says Clinton.
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     "This is living history.