Op Sail ’76: A Very Happy Birthday
Op Sail ’76 … It was 47 years ago tonight, July 3, It was a full moon and the Capt.Louie was offshore on a star-filled night. That was when I witnessed one of the most emotional, most inspiring, and most grateful events in a month that paid so much tribute to the birth of the nation’s 200th anniversary, and the pride in being an American.
My story in The Courier speaking about that moment began:
“It was just after midnight, the opening minutes of July 4, the 200th birthday of the United States. We were aboard the Capt. Louie out of Highlands, and had just visited the sixth of seven tall ships, bringing back cadets who had spent a few hours with families in Atlantic Highlands homes.
As the young cadets scrambled over the side of the Louie and onto the deck of their tall ship, they were aided by the officer standing watch and quickly joined other cadets lining the side of the ship.
And as the Louie pulled away, the cadets offered us our first celebration of a 200 year birthday…in English they learned on their way across the ocean, the youngsters sang out loud and clear, “Happy Birthday to you.”
It was an exciting and memorable salute to America…
What made it even more poignant and memorable was the fact the cadets were those of the Armada de Chile sailing to say Happy Birthday America aboard the Esmeralda.
Contrary to other opinions expressed in newspapers for the month preceding Op Sail, we found the Esmeralda a beautiful sleek, stunning four masted-ship breathtaking with or without sails. If at one time it ever had been used as a torture ship by other Chileans, there was no more evidence of that this week than there was aboard the Eagle that it had at one time been a Nazi ship, the Horst Wessel, and was confiscated by us as spoils after World War II.
The Esmeralda was one of two four masted schooners in the Op Sail tall ship parade, and one of only four, four- masted ships, along with the Juan Sebastian de Elcano of Spain, the Russian Kruzenshtern, and the Japanese barque, the Nippon Maru.
The Esmeralda and Juan Sebastian were sister ships, both built in Spain with the Esmeralda the older by 20 years. The figurehead of the Esmeralda is a condor with his wings spread, the national bird of Chile.
As beautiful as the ship is, it still doesn’t compare with the warmth and friendliness of the cadets who sailed her from their home port last March and hope to return again to Chile on Sept. 11.
There were eight Chilean cadets who enjoyed the hospitality of families in Atlantic Highlands when they were transported from the ship on the Capt. Louie to pier 5 at the municipal yacht harbor, to be met by hundreds of well wishers who gave the Chileans and cadets from eight other ships who came ashore here to a typical small town welcome.
They spoke warmly and freely of their experiences in Atlantic Highlands, glad for the opportunity to have a home cooked meal and most pleased about the friendliness of the American people.
If the cadets heard reports of some hostilities against them, they gave no indication of it and when questioned would only say, “politics and people are two different things.”
In Keyport about 200 local residents lined the sidewalk across from the Keyport Yacht Club to applaud and shout cheers of welcome to the Chilean cadets and their officers. The group outnumbered by more than four to one the out of city protesters who picketed quietly and orderly in front of the Yacht Club. Carrying placards denouncing the Esmeralda as a ‘torture ship’ the demonstrators walked in a circle in front of the Yacht Club throughout the afternoon.
During the dinner, one of the cadets came out of the yacht club, surveyed the protestors and recommended, “at least you should be happy you can do this in your country.”
Inside, officers and members of the Yacht Club started their ceremonious welcome with the national anthems of the United States and Chile, invocations and introductions and a welcome address by Commodore Viggo Melin, who also presented a gift to the Esmeralda crew. The barbecue and dock party which followed included barbecued steaks, lobster tails, shrimp and salad, and dancing on the dock with music by the Sloan family.
Luis Enrique Matus was typical of the Chilean cadets. He and others enjoyed the hospitality of the McCallum, Sundin and Ruddy families who staged a gala buffet for the boys.
The first thing they saw, Luis, who prefers to be called Henry, his middle name, was “the people are very friendly, very nice. They all planned such a good f time for us.
The cadets got their first samples of several new kinds of food they said, with his own favorite being turkey and Coca Cola. Watermelon was also delicious he said. Like the other Chilean cadets, Henry had brought a Spanish-English dictionary aboard ship with him, and practiced words and phrases with the boys so they could converse when they reached America.
The cadets on the Esmeralda ranged in age from 16 to 20 years, and for most, it was their first visit to the United States. They were among the first group of 1200 cadets who will sail the Esmeralda, Childe’s White Lady, to various ports around the world.
There are females in the Chilean Navy, the boys said, but not on the ships. “That would be too dangerous,” they laughed.
Henry said the United States is “almost as pretty as his own country,” but is better because “here the people are more free.”
The story went on for a few thousand more words with interviews with some of the cadets from the other ships.
It was the longest story I ever wrote for The Courier, and outside of the five books I’ve written, the longest story I’ve ever put on paper.
Still it was one of several stories I had both in that special edition as well as in the weeks before OpSail. Op Sail ’76 was the most glorious event to hit the Bayshore since Henry Hudson dropped anchor.
The earlier stories were much sadder, much more dramatic, much less like what the Bayshore is known for. Highlands Police Chief Howard Brey was concerned about the crowds that would be descending on his town, and talked about machine guns and bringing in military forces to help protect Highlands from all the visitors… and the hatred for the Esmeralda in particular.
On the other hand, members of Yacht clubs like Atlantic Highlands and Keyport were learning more about other languages and cultures, along with the ships’ histories, so they could prepare welcomes these young men would enjoy.
But the protests against the Esmeralda were the worst.
The ship had been reported on long before Op Sail by the US Senate, as well as Amnesty International and the Chilean Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a floating jail and torture chamber. Perhaps it was, especially when Augusto Pinochet was in power. That is why its international port visits were frequently met with the kind of treatment some United States left wing groups gave it here.
But it was not a torture ship when it was teaching these young cadets how to sail. Nor was it a torture ship when it participated in international regattas in 1964 or 1976, or even after Op Sail when it won the Cutty Sark Trophy twice or visited New Zealand in 2016 to celebrate that nation’s celebration of the Royal New Zealand Navy’s 75th year.
Those cadets learning to defend their country, to bring aid to others and to learn trades and professions at sea were never torturers. Why ever would Americans hold either the ship or the cadets to blame?
It bothered me then. It bothers me now.
The steel-hulled tall ship is 70 years old this year, and still sailing the seas as a training ship for cadets in the Chilean Navy
‘That is why its international port visits were frequently met with the kind of treatment some United States left wing groups gave it here.’
Simply not true. There were many groups. Not ALL were ‘Liberal’. As a historian it is sad to see your political bias show through. Politicizing and downplaying / overlooking reality in the passive tense.
Ironically, Chile is now Liberal just like the protestors you seem to point out in disdain.
Disdain is your judgment of my feelings, which of course, simply makes that simply your opinion. Nor do I know how many were tortured on the Esmeralda, I was not alive nor was I on the ship. I simply researched history from several different references, and from numerous newspapers of all leanings in the 1970s, that is left wing groups is how they identified those who pocketed, protested, and forgot to celebrate the birthday of the United States and the people who were coming here to celebrate it with us. I do appreciate your identifying me as a historian but I hope you realize you have absolutely no idea of any political bias on my part. And by the way, read carefully, I did not say they were the only groups that protested, nor that every group protested.. But thanks for reading and I do hope you enjoyed the story and the excitement of 1776 in the bayshore. Hope you enjoyed this year’s Fourth as well!.