The Montevideo Guitar
I sailed the Scotia Arc passage on Bark Europa coming up for two years ago. Playing guitar and singing have been at the core of my life for over forty years.
And much of that has been on deck on tall ships. Around Australia. Across the Atlantic and Western Pacific. Around the Caribbean. And so on. I knew the ship did not have a steel string guitar and the idea of sailing for fifty two days without one was unthinkable!
I live in Fremantle, Western Australia. When I looked at the cost and risk of getting my travelling guitar from there to Montevideo and back from Ushuaia, it was crazy. So I hatched a cunning plan. I was arriving in Montevideo about a week before we sailed. I decided I would buy a guitar in Montevideo and donate it to the ship at the end of the voyage. I revelled in hunting out the music shops of Montevideo to find the right instrument. Not too big, rugged enough to stand the inevitable knocks of life at sea, easy to play, and sweet sounding. At the right price. I spent a joyful two days roaming around the music shops of Montevideo to find THE instrument. It was huge fun, both for myself and the store owners, who loved the idea.
It was utter heaven making wonderful music for the fifty two day Scotia arc passage with the significant musical talent aboard. Clara on banjo, Amelie on violin. Johnny and Seba singing Chilean folk songs with passion and gusto at the end of long hard watches or expeditions ashore. My two cabin mates Ian and Chris singing hearty shanties and folk songs, both of them keen singers back home. And myself being a part of that, weaving my way into the rich musical tapestry on board, playing the Montevideo guitar. We had some very fine times, and the ship seemed to soak it all up joyfully as well.
And then it was time to leave. I took the guitar back to my Air B&B in Ushuaia for a couple of days just to say goodbye, while Europa provisioned for the next voyage. Then I took her down to the wharf with Jael, my wonderful watch leader, and there was an emotional handover to Johnny and Seba on the sloop deck. We shared a song one last time, and then Europa and the Montevideo guitar sailed away.
And then I reunited with the ship and the Montevideo guitar in the Pacific last year, sailing Fiji to Auckland NZ via Vanuatu. There were some mighty musical days and nights with skipper Hans and Amelie on fiddle, plus I bought a mandolin along for some extra sparkle.
And now I am back aboard sailing Azores to Amsterdam for Sail Amsterdam. The Montevideo guitar has now been aboard for a little under two years. She has crossed the Drake maybe ten times. She has sailed across the Pacific twice. She has crossed the Atlantic three times. She has rounded Cape Horn, and she has crossed the line (though I suspect she escaped initiation!). Over 62 thousand sea miles. She has come a long long way from the little music store where I found her, and she has gathered her own scars and stories.
It’s fair to say she was in need of some care and attention when I came back aboard. It’s a hard life for musical instruments aboard ship. Salt, sun, cold, heat and humidity all take their toll. And a sudden swell and a guitar left unattended leaning against a table doesn’t end well. Two tuning pegs had broken, probably from falls. But, as with everything aboard Europa, maintenance had been attended to, and she had six shiny new tuning pegs fitted. But the guitar didn’t hold tuning. It took me a day or two of tweaking with tools borrowed from Engineer Eddie and some string changes from the new set Aste brought aboard in Horta to get her happy. And then the Montevideo guitar got her life force back, and was once more singing her heart out! Each day when the weather is right I sit up on the sloop deck and offer songs to the sky, the sails and whoever feels like coming to sit and listen. I have played countless hours on deck on different square rig ships across different oceans and I never tire of searching for the songs that fit the rhythm of the moment. And the crew gather to listen and contemplate, and maybe buy me a beer for my efforts.
And today it was wonderful to see Aste and Markus joyfully strumming away on the revived Montevideo guitar and singing their hearts out in Danish during their time off watch.
Soon we will arrive in Amsterdam. We will celebrate, and I will play a part in that with the Montevideo guitar. Then I will leave. And the guitar will remain aboard where she belongs. To be played by whoever has the passion, urge and capacity. To be enjoyed by whoever is listening, or perhaps to give a special moment of musical solitude for a player in a quiet moment. To continue roaming the oceans of the world bringing music and joy to the ever changing crew of the beautiful Bark Europa. A part of the ship. A part of life on board.
Who knows if and when I will be back aboard again? And how long the guitar will survive the rugged life of a musical instrument at sea. But as I go through my day back in Fremantle, I will occasionally cast my thoughts to the ship and the Montevideo guitar, and the joy that she brings to so many people. And I will smile. Sail on Bark Europa. Play on, and keep gathering your scars and stories, you sturdy little Montevideo guitar.