Looking sun-baked and a bit fatigued, the 12-member crew of the Capt. John Smith shallop pulled into Annapolis City Dock yesterday morning to applause and the sounds of "Yankee Doodle."
Gov. Martin O'Malley, seated in the center of the 28-foot-long wooden boat, rowed with the crew for the final mile into Annapolis.
The shallop's crew is staying in the city for a two-day break during the 121-day expedition on the Chesapeake Bay. The trip inaugurates the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, which Congress approved last December as the first historic waterway trail.
Since May, the crew has paddled in a replica of Smith's wooden shallop for 750 miles, retracing the English explorer's journey in 1608.
As the shallop inched toward the dock yesterday, about 20 kayaks and boats, some full of photographers and curious onlookers, followed to get a glimpse. An entourage of boats followed -- two from the Maryland State Police, one from the Maryland Natural Resources Police and one from the Coast Guard.
With a 26-pound wooden oar in his hands, O'Malley, in a sleeveless gray shirt, chatted with crew members as the cameras focused on him. His 9-year-old son, William, wearing an orange life vest, watched from the back of the boat.
While O'Malley's rhythm was a bit off at times and his oar didn't lift quite as high as the rest of the crew's, he received compliments for keeping up with the pace.
"He picked up really quickly. He was following the person in front of him," said Forrest Richards, a 24-year-old crew member.
After his hourlong rowing venture, O'Malley said: "It wasn't hard because those other kids were so skilled and so well-practiced. So quickly, you stop being so self-conscious about which way your individual oar is going and become part of the team."
The Smith shallop's arrival in Annapolis marked the halfway point of the trip. The crew departed from Jamestown in May.
Since then, the shallop has traveled south to Norfolk, Va., and east to Phillips Landing, Del., using only oars and sails. In the next weeks, they are scheduled to visit Baltimore, Port Deposit and Havre de Grace.
The purpose of the journey is to promote preservation of the bay and bring awareness of the new historic water trail, said Drew McMullen, the president of Sultana Projects Inc. The nonprofit organization, which aims to preserve the Chesapeake Bay, developed the project, built the shallop with volunteers in 2005 and selected the crew.
"The trip comes with a fair amount of physical suffering," McMullen said. "It's basically 12 people and one 28-foot boat for 121 days. You need people to get along with each other, or it'll turn into some horrible reality show."
Since May, the crew has learned to eat, sleep and use the bathroom in the shallop. That requires the crew to use the Luggable Loo -- a toilet seat that snaps onto a five-gallon container.
"There's no privacy on the boat," said Rebecca Pskowski, a 24-year-old crew member. "When you want some privacy for the bathroom, we have a sheet. But mostly, people just avert their eyes."
Sultana Projects recruited members who not only had outdoor experience but enjoyed interacting with people --crew members field questions about their voyage when they land in new cities every week.
At night, the crew camps out in the yards of people who live by the bay. Crew members keep in touch with family and friends via a waterproof cell phone. They check radar and weather conditions using a laptop computer on the boat. The captain of the shallop files diary entries on the Sultana Projects Web site.
During rowing hours, the crew sometimes talks about food.
"Ice cream comes up a lot," Pskowski said. "We were talking about fish and chips, too."
The crew has endured rainstorms and the scorching heat. Richards, a crew member from Florida, said there is one benefit to being out in the sun all the time.
"I got a wicked good tan," he said.
Despite the obvious physical discomforts, one onlooker was a bit envious as he examined a map of the crew's expedition.
"It looks like an adventure. It involves sailing, and it's a new experience," said Nevin Dawson, 27 of Queen Anne. "It makes me think about what the conditions of the Chesapeake are."
After the shallop docked, politicians held a welcome ceremony and O'Malley handed certificates to each of the 12 crew members. O'Malley said the state would work with the National Park Service to increase access on the Smith National Historic Trail.
"There has never been a more heightened sense of urgency about our environment, about our natural resources, about conservation than there is right now," O'Malley said.
The Smith shallop expedition is scheduled to end in Jamestown, Va., on Sept. 8.
madison.park@baltsun.com
For the crew members' diaries and information, visit www.johnsmith400.org.