March is said to come in like a Lion and leave like a Lamb – this old idiom held true when a fierce March storm yanked the steel fishing vehicle “Artemis” off its perch and threw it across the harbor, grounding it on the two-mile-long breakwater.
Nor’easter – a macro-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast.
The rusting hulk of a ship now seems fragile, broken and defeated but like all things it was once new and full of promise, cutting through the waves around Cape Cod, dropping fishing nets and bringing home the bounty of the sea.
Named after the Greek god Artemis (The daughter of Zeus and sister of Apollo) most likely because it is the Greek goddess of hunting and wild nature. But ironically also of chastity as such Artemis was regarded as a patron of girls and young women and a protectress during childbirth.
Protector of chastity but not a protector from nature’s wrath as the 42 foot red-hulled, defunct fishing vessel, broke free from a town mooring near MacMillan Pier at about 9 a.m. on Friday, March 2, at the start of the storm.
Stuck on the breakwater, the ship became somewhat of a tourist attraction until the town hauled it away for scrap.
Oddly picturesque in its decrepitude. In this town of artists and poets, it was doubtless the subject of countless photos and reveries.
https://capecodwave.com
I came across the Artemis and another ship crushed against the breakwater by chance. We were hiking and photographing in Truro, took a spin by Providence and spotted the ship out on the breakwater. Even though the wind was howling across the harbor and the sun was going down quickly, I knew I had to get a shot of this dramatic scene.
Crossing Provincetown’s West End breakwater to Long Point is a tall task. Over a mile one-way on giant uneven boulders. With high tide lurking to swamp or strand you!
http://capecodonline.com/things-to-do/crossing-provincetown-breakwater/
The hike across the harbor on the breakwater is a daunting task. From the start, it doesn’t look that far but you soon realize the challenge of avoiding getting stuck in an ankle-breaking gap among the boulders. Constantly looking down to carefully hop from a giant block of granite to the next all the while keeping your speed as fast as possible in order to make it the ship and back before the sun goes down or the waves come up.
Once I reached the wreck, got my shots, I turned to head back to the car as soon as possible as I was freezing from the exposure in the cold late winter afternoon, totally exposed seven feet or so above the low tide harbor.
Then I saw my college kid and my wife coming towards the end of the breakwater. I had expected them to turn back to the car but they were also determined to see the Artemis up close so I had to hunker down between a couple of rocks to get out of the wind as they reached the halfway point. Then we three battled the wind for a mile over the rough rocks back to the car.
Was it worth life and limb to get this shot? Yeah, baby!