Ship's Location: Docked at Atlantic Salt on the Kill Van Kull, Staten Island.

Just a short entry today to conclude the ProLog. For two days, the Half Moon has been docked at Atlantic Salt on Staten Island while we transferred crew and resupplied after our transit voyage from Athens.

While the ship's senior crew has been busy preparing for the voyage, the Dutch student crew has been hard at work as well. Just a few days ago, in their home town of Heerenveen, they held a concert to help raise funds for their trip!

But back to the present!

This afternoon (or this morning, from our perspective in Eastern Time), the Frisian students and their teacher, Mr. de Leeuw, board a plane at Schipol, Amsterdam's major international airport. While the senior crew spends the day busy on board, and our American students attend school and pack back at home in northern New York, the Dutch students spend their day flying across the Atlantic Ocean (and six time zones) to reach us.

2045 hours

And reach us they do, arriving safely at the Half Moon after dark. One of the first sights to greet them is the Frisian flag fluttering atop the main mast — a gift from Mr. de Leeuw and last's year's student crew members.

The senior crew greets the new arrivals warmly and guides them on board.

Normally, when new crew members step on board, we leap right into orientation with a full briefing on safety and ship operations. However, thanks to jet lag, what feels like 9 PM to us feels like 3 AM to our new crew, so tonight we keep the introductions light and basic.

Captain Reynolds leads the students down to the orlop deck, which will be their home for the next week. During the second leg of the Voyage of Discovery, these students will move on to stay with host families in Rensselaer and attend a week of classes with the students they'll meet for the first time tomorrow.

We do still need to introduce the students to one or two vital concepts before we can release them to hit the sack for the night. Mr. Woodworth demonstrates how to use the marine head...

...while Mr. Hensel shows the new crew around the galley, including how to refill their water bottles and how to wash up for galley duty.

With the basics down, our new crew members roll out their pads and sleeping bags and are soon sound asleep. With the lights of Manhattan shining from the far side of Raritan Bay, the rest of the crew soon follows their lead. Tomorrow, the American students will arrive, and the true Voyage of Discovery will get underway.

Next Time: The Voyage Begins!

Robert Juet's Journal

The battered sloep crew returns to d'Halve Maen with John Colman's body. The crew returns it to shore for a proper burial, naming the site in his honor. Today, this location is generally regarded as being Sandy Hook, New Jersey. Returning to the ship, the crew hoists their support boat out of the water, turning it on its side to create an impromptu fortification. Feeling beseiged, the crew remains at anchor through another two nights. The day after the burial, another group of natives approach the ship for trade. These visitors are likely also members of the Lenape nation, and the crew stand poised for another attack. However, these people appear to be unrelated to whatever group attacked the sloep on the Kill Van Kull and have no knowledge of Colman's death.

On September 7th, 1609:

The seuenth, was faire, and by ten of the clocke they returned aboord the ship, and brought our dead man with them, whom we carried on Land and buryed, and named the point after his name, Colmans Point. Then we hoysed in our Boate, and raised her side with waste boords for defence of our men. So we rode still all night, hauing good regard to our Watch.

On September 8th, 1609:

The eight, was very faire weather, wee rode still very quietly. The people came aboord vs, and brought Tobacco and Indian wheat, to exchange for Kniues and Beades, and offered vs no violence. So we sitting vp our Boate did marke them, to see if they would make any shew of the Death of our man; which they did not.

— Robert Juet's Journal.