Norfolk to Baltimore to Camden to Boston

Baltimore, to Camden, to Boston

Thursday, 30 August 2007 - Baltimore, Maryland

We left Norfolk and had perfect weather for our trip up the Atlantic Coast to Baltimore. The days at sea are great but we’re also looking forward to our next port and a little time ashore.

Our fellow passenger, Jack, has been staying in his cabin around the clock. Each mealtime, we ask Gani if Jack has been to the dining room or if he’s asked for food in his cabin. Gani says that he just sleeps all day. He calls him at breakfast, lunch and dinner times but he either says he’s o.k. or he doesn’t answer his phone. If he doesn’t answer, Gani goes to Jack’s cabin and checks on him. We thought at first he just had the flu but now believe it’s something more serious. He told us that he has diabetes but doesn’t take insulin for it. He also told us that, as a result of the diabetes, he has already lost some sight in his right eye and also has some problems with loss of feeling in his feet. We’re all quite worried about him.

We arrived in Baltimore early in the morning and, after breakfast, called a taxi to take us to the Inner Harbor where we spent three delightful hours at the National Aquarium. We first toured the underwater viewing area to see “wings in the water” which included various types of rays and lots of sharks. The next level had to do with Maryland sea life and from there we moved up to creatures from sea cliffs, the kelp forest, Pacific coral reefs and the Amazon River Forest. The top floor houses an upland Tropical Rain Forest and the hidden life there. The other wing of the aquarium houses an exhibit titled Animal Planet Australia: Wild Extremes, which has a variety of very unusual and seldom seen aquatic species. There were exotic snakes and frogs, rainbow lorikeets, freshwater crocodiles, and frilled lizards. Such fun!

After a tapas lunch at a Spanish restaurant on the harbor, and a little shopping, we headed back to the ship.

We had arranged for Sondra & Dan Bannister (from McLean, VA) to be put on the visitors’ list at the gate and after a three-hour drive in rush-hour traffic, they arrived at the ship about 6:00. We showed them around our little “home”, including a tour of the Bridge, which they really enjoyed, before leaving for dinner at nearby “Jimmy’s Famous Crabs”. What a seafood feast we had - oysters on the half shell, crab cakes, fish, and a few hard-shell crabs; mixed in with a lot of laughter and stories. I would highly recommend “Jimmy’s” (and our waiter, Paul) if you’re in this area sometime.

The next day, Friday, there was no sign of Jack - either at breakfast, lunch or dinner - but Gani said he checked on him and he still says he’s o.k.

We had anticipated leaving for Camden sometime in the afternoon and thought we might be able to wave to Charlie and Ricki Ryan as we passed their cottage on the Delaware-Maryland Canal. Unfortunately, we didn’t get underway until around midnight so we passed their place around 3 AM. Needless to say, I was sleeping and I suppose they were as well.

Saturday, we awoke just as we were coming into Camden, New Jersey. We’re just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, so took a taxi into the city to have lunch at Macy’s. Martha’s parents, Alice and Tom, met us there and we ate in the store’s tea room. This Macy’s store was originally Wanamaker’s and is quite a landmark building, which houses a huge pipe organ in it’s seven-story atrium. In 1909, John Wanamaker bought the organ for his store and it took thirteen freight cars to transport it from St. Louis and installation took two years. It was first played on June 22, 1911, at the exact moment when England’s King George V was crowned at Westminster Abbey. Despite its immense size, the tone was inadequate to fill the huge space so Wanamaker opened a private pipe-organ factory in the Store’s attic, employing 40 full-time employees to enlarge the organ. The largest pipe is made of Oregon sugar-pine three inches thick and more than 32 feet long; and the smallest pipe is only a quarter-inch in length. More than 8,000 pipes were added to the organ between 1911 and 1917; and over the next 12 years an additional 10,000 pipes were installed, bringing the total number today to 28,482. There is a massive console with six ivory keyboards and 729 color-coded stops. There are 168 piston buttons under the keyboards and 42 foot controls. It’s really amazing to see, and the many of the world’s most famous musicians have performed concerts here. You can still hear it being played each day at noon.

Martha went home with her parents for a two-day visit, and Doug and I did a little walking tour of the historic section of Philadelphia. There’s a lot to see in this old city that was the first capital of the United States: Declaration House (where Thomas Jefferson wrote The Declaration of Independence), The Liberty Bell (icon of American freedom), Independence Hall (known as America’s birthplace), Congress Hall (former U. S. Capitol and site of two Presidential inaugurations), Betsy Ross House (where the first Stars and Stripes was sewn) and Franklin Court (home of Ben Franklin). In spite of our cab driver getting lost, we made it back to the ship in time for dinner.

Sunday morning there was still no sign of Jack so Gani called his room but he didn’t answer. He checked on him and he was sleeping. By late afternoon, the Captain decided something needed to be done so he asked Doug and I to go to Jack’s room and see if he wanted to see a doctor. (The Captain is Polish and has a heavy accent and wasn’t sure Jack would understand him.) Gani reported that Jack was lying in bed nude and incoherent so Doug went in to speak with him and asked if he wanted to see a doctor. He got no response other than a few mumbled and slurred words but Jack repeated the word “doctor,” so it was decided that a doctor would be called. Since it was felt that Jack wasn’t able to walk, a 911 call was made and paramedics arrived a little after 7 pm. They put Jack on a stretcher, took him out to the side deck and lowered him in a cage by the aft crane to a waiting ambulance. We felt better knowing that he was in the hospital and would get the care he needed The paramedic said that his blood sugar level was about 20 and it should be 75 or 80. Before transporting him, they administered a sugar solution and he slowly began responding, so it’s likely it was related to his diabetes. Sure hope he’ll be o.k. and able to return to the ship before we leave for Boston.

Monday night at dinner, the Captain regaled us with true tales of pirates in the Asian countries of Indonesia and Singapore, etc. who attempt to come aboard ships and demand the Captain open the safe and give them whatever valuables are inside. Or some who try to highjack the ship. After many stories, he finally admitted that this never happens anymore since in the last few years the ships have an electronic device that allows the ship to be tracked and the shipping line knows where we are at all times. Also, there’s a button on the bridge that alerts the local Coast Guard that we have a problem. There’s also a button in the Captain’s cabin, in case he’s not on the bridge. So, that made us feel better but I’m not sure why he tells us these tales. I suppose it’s what he knows about and it’s his life. We all talk about what we know.

Tuesday afternoon, Martha and I went to Cooper Memorial Hospital in Camden to visit Jack. We were surprised to learn that he was in the ICU and the nurse, Robert, told us that he hadn’t even been able to tell them his name since he was admitted Sunday night. He also said that because of Jack’s extremely low blood sugar level (about 20) he most likely was apoxic (lack of oxygen to the brain) and could have severe brain damage, and that his condition was deteriorating. We could hardly believe that could happen. Jack was sleeping, with an oxygen mask over his face and we each called his name but he didn’t wake up. I rubbed his arm and told him we were there. We said we’d pray for him and hoped he would get better. Robert said that we were the first people who had been to see him and he was anxious to have us tell him all we knew about Jack, i.e. where he came from, what he was doing in Camden, how long he’d been ill, etc. We told him what we knew and that we were surprised that no one from the ship had given them any information. We know that Jack’s luggage was packed up and taken off the ship but it still hadn’t shown up at the hospital. The hospital had no contact information, so his wife still didn’t know that he had left the ship and was in the hospital. The Captain had said he has no contact information for him and it’s up to Rickmers and the port agent to take care of it.

I called Doug from the hospital to see if he could give us a phone number for the Rickmers office, which I gave to the Hospital Administrator, Oliver, when he came by. No one knew where his passport might be (it was with him when he left the ship) or his luggage. Doug checked with the Captain who gave him a phone number of the car service that picked up the luggage. Apparently they tried to call the hospital to see where it should be delivered but no one would talk to them, so they still have the luggage. I gave the name and number of the car company to Oliver and he promised to follow up and locate the luggage. We said goodbye to Jack and sadly left the hospital.

That night at dinner, Martha and I told the Captain that we’d visited the hospital and what we’d learned. I asked if the Captain would send an email to Rickmers office asking them to contact Jack’s wife as soon as possible, and to confirm that it had been done. Hopefully, that will happen tomorrow.

At 8:00 this evening we left the Camden dock and headed down the Delaware River to Cape May where we’ll head up the coast to Boston.

Wednesday morning at breakfast, the Captain said he’d sent my email and also received a copy of an email that the Port Agent had sent to Rickmers, requesting that they contact Jack’s family. I hoped we would some day find out how Jack is doing, but had my doubts that we ever would. We all felt that we’d done everything we could for Jack, but still sad that things turned out the way they did.

The seas are very calm for our trip to Boston, though there’s a lot of wind on deck. I’ve had a bit of a sore throat so have been taking some decongestant and drinking hot tea with lemon. I expect to feel better soon. I’m sure it’s just a little cold.

Thursday morning I received a call from Oliver, at Cooper Hospital, letting me know that they got the information they needed. He spoke with Jack’s wife, Mary Herring, and put her in touch with the nurse in ICU to talk about Jack’s condition. He thanked us for our help in tracking down his family. It made us all breathe a little easier to know that his family was notified and that we’d done all we could do.

Though we’re only in Boston for one day, I contacted Julie’s friend, and former roommate, Maureen to see if she and the boys (Jack and John, ages 2 and 5) wanted to come over for a tour of the ship and I put their names on the visitors list at the gate. Maureen called about 11:00 and said they were at the gate but the guard wouldn’t allow the boys to come on the dock. Apparently they feel it’s too dangerous to have children around all the cranes loading and off-loading. We went out to the gate to meet them and Maureen drove us into Boston where we parked at Boston Common and talked while we walked around the city a bit. She and the boys left to get sandwiches for a picnic in the park and we headed for the Seafarer’s Club to use the computer. I had called a number in the Seafarer’s directory and spoken to a very nice lady at the church (where I assumed the club was located). Unfortunately, we got there to learn that the Seafarer’s no longer existed at the church and they had no information about where they might be. Since it was now lunchtime, we went to Legal Seafood and had some of their local specialties: lobster roll, clam chowder and lobster bisque. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Museum of Fine Arts and could have spent much more time but enjoyed: a special exhibit of “Drama and Desire - Japanese Paintings from the Floating World 1690 - 1850" and many of the permanent exhibits. Some of my favorites were: Ed Rossbach’s fiber art, Chinese sculptures and ceramics, paintings by the European masters, and a fantastic collection of impressionists of the 20th century - Monet, Degas, Renoir, Gauguin, van Gogh, Picasso, Cassat and Rodin.

We stopped at a Starbuck’s specifically to connect to WiFi, which we thought was available at all Starbuck stores, but that one required a T-Mobile card. They sent us to a pizza shop that was known to have internet connection but that didn’t work either so we gave up and caught a taxi back to the ship. It’s not easy traveling and trying to stay in touch.

Tonight, September 6th, we depart for our eight-day trip across the Atlantic to Hamburg, Germany, and we’re looking forward to our European ports.