October 19

It is easy to see that Annapolis is a sailor's Mecca. There are literally hundreds of masts in this creek and it is only one of many in the area. We are actually in Eastport within walking distance of Annapolis. Today we rode with Walt and Pat to a dock at the end of Fourth Street and walked to town. We had to wait for the bascule bridge to close at Spa Creek. My objective was to locate and purchase a Honda generator for the boat to keep our batteries charged and use some of our A.C. powered appliances. Fawcett Boat Supplies had a great selection and was able to answer my questions about the use of the generator on the boat. We got a 2000 watt generator which will power any of our A.C. devices including high wattage items like the water heater. We have only spent one night in a marina since we began the trip and keeping the batteries charged when we are without shore power and not leaving an anchorage every day means running the boat motor. That is not a great option for the generation of electricity.
After some more shopping in the downtown area and a crabcake sandwich, we headed for a tour of the Naval Academy. One of the highlights was the chapel on campus. It is a beautiful building with Tiffany-designed stained glass windows, many of which celebrate the exploits of Naval heroes.
In the basement of the chapel is the crypt containing the remains of John Paul Jones. He was born John Paul in Scotland and was a ship master before he was 21 years old. Of course, he began many of the traditions of the Navy. His remains were found in the early 1900's buried in Paris where he had died. They were returned to the U.S. and this tomb created for interment.
It was Homecoming Weekend at the Academy and, even though it was a Friday, there were already many people on campus. We saw many people with badges identifying them as members of a class having a reunion year. One of the traditions on campus is the decoration of this statue. It is called Tecumseh after a famous Indian chief. Actually, the statue is copied from a figurehead from the bow of an old sailing vessel, the Delaware and portrayed a Delaware Indian chief, not Tecumseh.
I am certain we have all seen old goats but just in case I include this picture of two examples. This is a statue of "Billy", the Navy mascot. The story about how it came to be the mascot is interesting. The first game with Army was at West Point and midshipmen attending were climbing the slopes up to the game site when they spotted a goat in front of some living quarters. Having no mascot, they decided to appropriate the goat and take it to the game as the Navy mascot and the tradition was begun.