I woke up last night to banging on my door. It opened gingerly and there was another cadet, “Come out and see the lights!” I rolled out of my rack so fast I nearly smashed my face into the desk. Still half trapped in my sleeping bag, I geared up in warm clothes as fast as I could and climbed up onto the aft 04 deck. For out there were the universal rays that I have only seen in dreaming.

The Northern Lights, Aurora Borealis, graced the night sky. Dancing around the grand state of Maine, and her ship of the same name, were hundreds of hues of greens and pinks. The entire shining sky of our home, the Penobscot Bay, was painted over in these magnificent colors. When I first got on deck, only one cloud shone pink. But as more midshipmen stirred and found their way outside, more and even more streamers of light appeared. The gleaming colors were so bright, that I had been fooled into thinking the cloud cover broke; but instead, they were simply shining through it. Not even a thick blanket of clouds could stop the show!

The Northern Lights were a massive boost in morale for the crew. Suddenly, being trapped at anchor didn’t feel so bad. For if we were down the coast as we planned, we would have missed the sun-storm. I was especially thrilled as I had always dreamed of seeing the Northern Lights. But that’s not all! Whenever I looked away from the sky, I saw the 03 deck filling. It felt like all the ship were coming together, waking each other up, finding each other, and altogether we saw the heavens gleam. What else could we have asked for? We are here, and we are together.

We may be at anchor for a few days more, but we are fired up to keep training, cleaning, maintaining, and keeping watch on our dear old vessel. The Northern Lights brought us closer together and boosted morale to a new level. We are ready for whatever the rest of Cruise 2024 has to offer!

Post by: Brooke Foran, 4/C, MTO, Charlie Company