Sultana Projects

Last weekend, the schooner Sultana  sailed into neighboring Onancock, VA where it docked before heading to a tall ships event in Cape Charles, VA. Sultana is a “nearly” exact replica of a 1768 British revenue cutter that patrolled North American waters prior to the American Revolution. The original ship was the smallest schooner ever registered on the British Royal Navy Lists.

Based out of Chestertown, MD, this recreation sails as the “Schoolship of the Chesapeake.”  Sultana is a floating classroom for learning about colonial maritime history. It sails the Chesapeake Bay providing hands-on education in the history and natural environment of the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed.  Since its launch in 2001, an estimated 45,000 students and teachers have sailed her decks to learn about the history, culture and natural environment of North America’s largest estuary. Several times a year, Sultana is open to the to the public for dockside open-houses, which usually coincide with a public festival in which the vessel is participating. During its weekend docking in Onancock, we boarded and toured her. Below are images from our visit, image processing done in Picasa.

Masts in “pencil sketch”

Ropes in “neon”The above images using “heat map”

The choices in Picasa’s image processing edits create impressive imagery from ordinary photos. These were done by simply selecting a photo in Picasa and then clicking to edit it — it’s fun and best of all FREE. (And, those are two of my favorite words.)