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how fortunate it was “to have many part-
ners, including Baltimore City’s Emergency
Management & Transportation Offices,
the Navy and the Coast Guard, to make
this work.”
David Thomas, the MPA’s Director of
Operations, added, “The most difficult part
early on was understanding the organiza-
tional structure of the entire event.” But
those concerns were addressed and the
level of cooperation among all the stake-
holders was “fantastic,” Thomas said.
It was during the War of 1812, some-
times called “America’s second war of
independence,” that Fort McHenry with-
stood a British naval bombardment lasting
more than 24 hours. By dawn’s early light,
the fort raised a huge American flag that
inspired eyewitness Francis Scott Key to
compose a poem destined to become “The
Star-Spangled Banner.”
As part of the “Star-Spangled Sail-
abration,” which kicks off nearly three
years of bicentennial commemorations,
Thomas noted that three U.S. Navy ships
and three foreign-flag navy vessels were
slotted to dock at North Locust Point,
with two more naval vessels berthed at C.
Steinweg, Inc.
The June 16-17 Blue Angels air show
was expected to draw about 50,000 people,
with many of them vying for a prime viewing
spot at Fort McHenry. The MPA also offered
seven acres at the South Locust Point
Marine Terminal for spectators. In addition,
Balterm relocated cargo to make more room.
Transit restrictions had to be imposed
for five hours surrounding the Blue Angels’
performance — nothing could move
underneath the jets in an area more than a
half-mile wide and a mile long. “No vessels,
no rowboats, nothing,” Schiappacasse said.
A cruise ship originally had been sched-
uled to leave at 4 p.m. on Sunday, which
would have conflicted with the air show, but
the Port rescheduled it to leave at 5 p.m.
The Coast Guard was providing an escort to
ease the cruise ship’s trip out of the harbor,
and also conducted extensive education
Fort McHenry’s Superintendent Latest in
Long Line of
WomenMaking History
and outreach to pleasure boaters wanting
to watch festivities from the water.
To address heightened security needs
during the event, O’Malley noted that the
Coast Guard worked with police agencies
from the Maryland Department of Natural
Resources, Maryland Transportation, Anne
Arundel County, Baltimore County and
Baltimore City.
The MPA provided technical expertise
to the city, which had to dredge portions of
the Inner Harbor for the tall ships.
“It’s a huge event for the Port and the city
and the state,” Thomas said.
As the Star-Spangled Sailabration approached,
plans had to be made around the Port of
Baltimore to accommodate international naval
vessels and a Blue Angels air show.
COURTESY OF VISIT BALTIMORE
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May/June 201 2
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28
persuading
a Maryland
congressman
to introduce the necessary legislation
in 1918.
Holloway was just one of many women
mentioned at the 13th annual Women in
Maritime History event held in March. With
a theme of “The War of 1812 and the World
of 2012,” the sold-out breakfast featured
keynote speaker Bert Hubinger, author
of
1812: Rights of Passage,
and honored
Tina Cappetta Orcutt
(pictured left)
, the
Superintendent of both Fort McHenry
National Monument and Historic Shrine in
Baltimore and Hampton National Historic
Site in Towson.
“The superintendent of Fort McHenry
is a living example of what women do
when it’s needed,” said M. Kathleen
Broadwater, Deputy Executive Director of
the Maryland Port Administration (MPA),
who introduced Orcutt.
In her speech, Orcutt took her audience
back to 1814 and events that occurred
E
very time you stand for the National
Anthem at a ball game, you can
thank Ella Holloway. As national
president of the Daughters of 1812, she
championed the movement to make “The
Star-Spangled Banner” America’s song,