Friday, 8 August
Twelve-meters like Heritage can find wind when others can’t.
Nautical charts tend to have a lot of little numbers, wavy contour lines and the all-important symbols for buoys, lights and markers that help a sailor find his way. Every once in awhile, though, there’s an odd notation that catches the eye.
“Torpedo Range,” for instance.
There wasn’t much wind when Steadfast motored out of Newport Harbor today. Enough to coax out the sails for a bit but not enough to keep her going up the East Passage. So Little Red kicked in and pushed her smartly over a slick calm sea the ten miles over to Wickford on the western shore of Narragansett Bay.
The Navy hasn’t used the firing pier to test torpedoes since 1999.
But that meant passing by Gould Island which, for nearly half a century, was the principal site for the evolution of the modern naval torpedo. During the Second World War, it was home to the Torpedo Test-Firing Facility. First two floors of the firing pier remain, essentially a large platform from which torpedoes were launched into an underwater testing range up the east passage of Narragansett Bay. At its height, the Gould Island complex was capable of firing 100 torpedoes per day, operating seven days a week round the clock. But it lies dormant today, as it has since the last firing in the late 90s.
Boats in Wickford moor to pilings, the old school way.
Still, the chart notation gets one’s attention, especially while motoring quietly round Conanicut (Jamestown) Island to the western shore town of Wickford. It’s another one of those communities of which you’re beginning to tire, i.e, quaint, historic, charming, photogenic. Any other adjectives you’d like at add?
It’s just hard not to like Wickford. More than 300 years old—“Ante-bellum” up here means pre-Revolution—it boasts a snug little harbor to keep in mind in a blow. And the village—really part of the town of North Kingstown—is friendly and picturesque. No place to provision, or launder, or replenish the wine cellar. But a lovely place to spend the night.
And from all reports, safe from torpedo attack.
Steadfast out
At Sea with Steadfast 
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