Operating Amateur Radio from two different Tall Ships was a special opportunity for me.

  The HMS Bounty is legendary for it's story depicted in the 1960's movie, 'Mutiny on the Bounty'.  For several years it was owned by the City of Fall River, MA.  This is the ship that was built for the filming of the movie, and many others since.  She is a beauty.

The Special Event was held several consecutive years below deck, and for 24 continuous hours in conjunction with the Fall River Celebrates America festival.  Each year we (the Fall River club) were invited guests of the Fall River Chamber of Commerce.  On several occasions I was allowed to climb the rigging almost to the top, and have been aloft during several sailing trips around Mt. Hope Bay.  What a beautiful sight that was!

  Our antenna configurations varied from year to year, but the most successful for HF was connect my Kenwood AT-300 tuner to the steel guy cables (covered to look like authentic rope) from the tip of the bowsprit to make a random wire.  For 2M & 440, a Diamond X-300 was installed at the top of the main mast for us by the ship's crew.  The antenna installation was always difficult because this is a working, sailing ship, and anything we installed had to be clear of the ships rigging and sails.  The coax and control cable were run below deck through a bulkhead.  The operating position was in a slightly cramped corner below deck adjacent to the crew living quarters.  Our evening operations had to be extremely quiet so the crew could sleep just a few feet away.  A couple of my best memories of this ship was sailing into port past the Battleship Massachusetts while it was firing it's 5 inch guns!  What a sound!  Also seeing the massive fireworks display during the annual celebration from deck gave me a vantage point like no other.  

One year the US Coast Guard Barque Eagle arrived for the Parade of Sails in Fall River.  That particular year the Bounty could not return to it's home port of Fall River in time for the celebration, so arrangements were made with the USCG to operate from their prized training ship.  The Barque Eagle is a war prize from WWII, and was basically Adolf Hitlers personal yacht.   The USCG trains cadets on this ship, and makes plenty of public appearances every yer.  Our station on board was fairly simple and only lasted about 10 hours long, but it was fun to tour this historic ship and work with the well polished cadets, and extremely coureous officers on board.  This ship, and it's crew, is a real treasure.