The Peacemaker

Today after church I drove into Alpena to tour another tall ship.  This time it was the Barquentine Peacemaker, which was tied up at the wharf on Thunder Bay River near the NOAA Shipwreck Sanctuary.  The vessel put in here on Friday, and will leave Monday for its next port of call.

Peacemaker, seen from aft, tied up in Thunder Bay River.

And a view from her bow.

Admission was $5.  Proceeds from tours and T-shirt sales
help finance the ship's visits to various ports of call.

Peacemaker was built in southern Brazil and launched in 1989.  Its original owner, Brazilian industrialist Frank Walker, planned to sail with his family around the world.  After an initial voyage in the south Atlantic, Walker's crew brought the ship to Savannah, Georgia, where they planned to rig it as a three-masted staysail schooner.

Talking with Adam, one of the crew, I learned that Peacemaker's aluminum masts had been built but Mr. Walker never had them installed.  Instead, the ship sat, largely ignored, in the boatyard at Savannah.  In 2000 the vessel was sold to the Twelve Tribes which then worked through the summer to make the ship seaworthy.  Late in 2000 they began looking for a home port.  In the spring of 2001, they settled on Brunswick, GA.  Several years of major restoration work followed.  The ship has been sailing regularly since 2008.

Peacemaker (originally christened Avany) was built as a yacht, and the ship's layout and appointments make it clear that the designer's goal was luxury.  The "master stateroom" at the rear of the vessel doesn't have a balcony, as do staterooms on modern cruise ships.  Instead, double doors open to a large balcony at the fantail.  This is several clicks above Motel 8!

Visitors check out the "master stateroom terrace."

Handsome woodwork is the hallmark of this vessel.

The sitting area in the "master stateroom."

As Adam explains it, the Twelve Tribes is a spiritual, but not explicitly religious, organization located in twelve regions (or tribal areas) of the world: four in the U.S., as well as Canada, France, Spain, Germany, England, Brazil, Argentina, and Australia.  Each tribal area has one or more communities where members live a communal lifestyle, holding property and money in common.  These communities support themselves by farming in rural areas, or by service businesses in urban areas.

Although he has spent much of the past 18 months aboard Peacemaker, Adam's home base is in England at Stentwood Farm, in the town of Honiton, County of Devon, in the country's southwest.  The group there supports itself with proceeds from a tea room and homemade food products.  As do all Twelve Tribe communities, its members meet together for worship, meals, and other activities.  They liken themselves to the first Christian communities described in the Book of Acts, although they do not consider themselves Christian.

A banner describes the ship...

...and crew members, like Adam, are willing to chat about
both the ship and their spiritual community.

I still have no desire to go scrambling up the masts.

The group's brochure states, "[W]e strive to maintain heart-to-heart fellowship with one another, and with our Creator, at all times.  To us, the only valid religion is one that expresses itself in daily, practical love and care for one another, that overcomes economic, racial, social, and doctrinal divisions."

The Peacemaker is a floating demonstration of how their community works.  They put in at various ports to help people learn about sailing a tall ship, and if visitors are interested, something about the Twelve Tribes' vision of a peaceable community.  They will sail around the Great Lakes until early September, and then move back down the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic and their home port in Georgia.

The elegant bridge reminds me of Captain Nemo's bridge
in 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.

Crew cabins are not as plush as the stateroom
at the stern.  This one serves two crew members.

A handsome salon serves as dining and meeting room.

Stained glass windows are just one of the
elements that remind you of the ships's yacht origins.

Adam told me that about 100 ropes (or lines) are required for all the sails.  Twelve Tribe members rigged the entire ship and made all of the canvass sails!  That is a lot of sewing!  About a half-dozen members who have special skills in sailing a tall ship are aboard all the time.  Another 14 crew persons are required to sail the ship, and this group tends to rotate from land to sea and back again.

Summer is Peacemaker's busy season.

It's really fascinating to explore the many ways in which people express their spirituality.  I would never have thought of using a tall ship for teaching the faith! •••