ANNAPOLIS -- After 13 months at sea, traveling the Americas and dodging two hurricanes, Pride of Baltimore II -- a replica of a 19th-century Baltimore Clipper -- was due to arrive at the Inner Harbor today with all guns booming.
Patrick McGeady, whose older brother, Joseph, survived the sinking of the original Pride in a freak storm in 1986, has packed 60 charges for a four-cannon celebration. "We're going to be blowing cannons all the way up to the harbor," he said. "This is the moment I've been waiting for. Coming in."
When Pride II ties up today, crewman DeHaven Hairston Jr., from Garrison Boulevard and Liberty Heights Avenue, will be looking for his father and Bernice Hairston, the grandmother who raised him and took him to the Maryland Science Center on weekends to watch Pride II being built.
"I remember watching this boat being built and dreaming of sailing on the Pride," said Mr. Hairston, 20. "I said, 'Grandma, some day I'll sail on the Pride.' Now, she's the proudest grandma in the world."
During the voyage, Baltimore's floating goodwill ambassador sailed the East Coast, through the Panama Canal to Hawaii and Alaska, then along the West Coast of the United States and Mexico, back through the Panama Canal and home.
The crew ducked Hurricane Rosa in October, seeking shelter in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and Hurricane Gordon, which started up the East Coast two weeks ago before doubling back toward Florida as the Pride was about to leave Miami.
"I felt like the thing was after us. We had to keep dodging it," said Jodi MacDonald, a 26-year-old deckhand from Connecticut. been port-hopping all the way up the East Coast."
"It's been tough the last week," added Capt. Robert C. Glover III. "But now that we're in the bay, it's safe. We're almost home, and the frustrations that built up the last week are going away."
The Pride's crew celebrated a belated Thanksgiving Tuesday night in the ship's galley after arriving in St. Michaels a week late because of Hurricane Gordon. Now, they are looking forward to their homecoming.
Most of the crew of 12 joined the ship in August when it was on the West Coast. But Mr. McGeady, 26, of Severna Park, has been on board since January, nearly the entire voyage. He joined the Pride on Jan. 20 when it was in Jacksonville, Fla., headed south.
"A year straight, it does kind of wear on you," he said. "You tend to yearn a bit for some solitude, some time alone."
But it was the thought of bringing the Pride back to Baltimore that kept him going. "I wanted to bring the Pride home to Baltimore, to my home city," he said. "I daydreamed about that the whole trip."
Yesterday, the remake of a clipper -- a ship renowned for its speed -- crept across the Chesapeake in barely 5 knots of wind.
Captain Glover was hoping for a steady westerly wind to bring Pride into Annapolis with the sails full, but the weather would not cooperate.
"C'mon westerly," Captain Glover pleaded as he stood at the helm. "Where's my westerly?"
Finally, with Annapolis in sight, an annoyed Captain Glover gave up and turned on the engine so he could make his scheduled noon arrival.
As the boat entered Annapolis harbor yesterday, Mr. McGeady loaded the four 6-pound cannons with powder and stood at the ready.
"OK, Patrick. Let's wake up the academy," Captain Glover said as the ship passed the U.S. Naval Academy.
"Fire in the hole!" Mr. McGeady shouted as he lighted the fuse with a cigarette. The cannon let out a thunderous boom that set off the alarms of the cars parked along the academy's sea wall. It was the first of four blasts announcing the ship's arrival.
Nearby, Mr. Hairston, covered his ears and winced at the sound. His four months on board the Pride are the fulfillment of a childhood dream, which, he conceded, is a bit unusual for a kid from his neighborhood.
"Not too many inner city kids like boats, that's for sure," he said. But he remembers seeing accounts of the sinking of the first Pride and anxiously watching the new one being built.
Mr. Hairston was introduced to sailing at the Maritime Institute, which teaches boat building to Baltimore's inner-city youth.
He has sailed with the Lady Maryland Foundation's ship and said he wants to make sailing a career as a way of helping others who come from a background similar to his.
"One day I want to be captain on a traditional ship and work with at-risk youth," he said.
Sailing has taught him the value of teamwork and opened a world beyond West Baltimore. And he has been smitten with the spirit of adventure that keeps self-described "schooner bums" like Mr. Hairston and his crew mates coming back for more.
Most of them will seek jobs on other schooners and be back at sea after a short break.
"How many people can say they've been to Panama and Costa Rica?", Mr. Hairston asked. "How many jobs do you actually get paid to travel for free?"