One of the most locally historic Christmas cards to arrive this holiday season was sent by Capt. Brian H. Hope, a member of the Association of Maryland Pilots, former chairman of Project Liberty Ship and a self-taught artist.
As chairman of Project Liberty Ship, Hope led the volunteer effort that brought the SS John W. Brown, one of the nation's two surviving operational World War II Liberty ships, to Baltimore. In his spare moments when he is not bringing ships up or down the Chesapeake Bay, he enjoys painting maritime scenes in the studio of his Ellicott City home.
This year's card re-creates a scene from a snowy Fells Point morning in 1922. The Association of Maryland Pilots' new pilot boat, the Maryland, with coal smoke rising languidly from its single-black funnel, is about to get under way for the Cape Henry pilot station at the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay, near Cape Henry, Va.
With its striking gray painted hull and white superstructure, the Maryland is shown tied to a pier at 914 S. Broadway, next to an Old Bay Line lighter, while an old flivver pulls up with last-minute items, including a Christmas tree, to help brighten the holidays for the pilots who are on duty and away from their families.
Founded in 1852, the Association of Maryland Pilots is the oldest "state codified organization of pilots in the nation," according to a history of the organization. It maintained offices at 914 S. Broadway from 1887 to 1937.
The Maryland, powered by a 750-hp compound steam engine, first sailed into local waters in the spring of 1922. The elegant vessel with its straight bows and clipper stern, 160 feet overall, was designed by Cox and Stevens and built at the Tebo Yacht Basin yard of the Todd Shipbuilding Corp. in Brooklyn, N.Y.
"At the after end of the main deck house is a large smoking room, forward of which are the chief engineer's and assistant engineer's staterooms. The steering engine is located on the main deck just forward of the machinery compartment," reported The Sun.
"Below deck, the pilots' main living quarters occupy the after part of the vessel and are unusually large and comfortably arranged. In this compartment are accommodations for 16 pilots, each having a separate bunk and locker space for clothes. There is in addition to a bathroom and ample wash facilities as well as a storeroom and baggage room for the use of the pilots."
Operated by a crew of 18, the Maryland took up its position at Cape Henry, and for the next 27 years was a nautical landmark for inbound and outbound steamers.
"This farthest outpost of the Port of Baltimore," was described by The Sun as the "roughest pilot station in the nation" due to weather and the ceaseless powerful undulations of the Atlantic.
"Because it is completely unprotected on all sides, the Cape Henry site - where the Maryland and Virginia pilots wait on their converted yachts to board freighters bound for Baltimore and Norfolk respectively - suffers from the rigors of storms anywhere in the vicinity," observed The Sun.
During its career, the Maryland managed to survive a raid during Prohibition, endless storms and even a world war.
In 1931, Prohibition agents raided the vessel, docked at Recreation Pier, and confiscated six barrels of beer that had been smuggled aboard by its steward. The pilots' association denied any knowledge of the beer, according to a newspaper account.
Perhaps the most exciting moment in the Maryland's life came during World War II in the treacherous mine fields off the Virginia coast early one morning in July 1942.
Since midnight, a blacked-out convoy had been creeping through the mine fields 10 miles off the coast and where Nazi U-boats also waited for their prey.
"Nearly 4 o'clock and it looked as though they had made a good job of it. A crowd of masts and funnels already loomed faintly over the seas against the brightening sky; soon the tortuous passage would end; the pilot would leave the last ship and the engine room telegraph would jingle 'full speed ahead,' " reported The Sun.
A nearby British corvette struck a mine just as pilots aboard the Maryland, who had returned from the outbound vessels, were going below for breakfast.
With the vessel in flames and all hands lost, suddenly the William H. Tuttle exploded, just after the Virginia pilot had departed from the ship. Several moments after leaving the Esso Augusta, another blast shattered the stern of the tanker, which rapidly began to settle.
The three blasts were caused by acoustic mines laid by enemy U-boats, said The Sun.
"It all happened within six minutes - the worst minutes ever experienced by Maryland pilots.
"Almost without letup their staunch little pilot boat cruised at sea with red and white pilot signal lights gleaming on its masthead every night - an easy mark for submarines. And she was just as likely to hit mines as any other vessel. But the Maryland was not even scratched," said the newspaper.
The Maryland was retired in 1949 when it was replaced by the Rene, the former yacht of industrialist Alfred P. Sloan.