ABOARD THE SORLANDET — In space Don Lind orbited the Earth 110 times.

"From space you can see the seas and even the wake of a large ship," said Lind, the payload commander of the 1985 Challenger mission.

"I never thought then that I would be out in the middle of the sea in a ship," Lind said. "I'm absolutely enjoying this experience."

Lind of Smithfield is aboard the Sorlandet, a tall ship traveling with Sea Trek 2001, a private venture retracing the 19th century overseas migration of converts to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Sorlandet left Liverpool, England, Tuesday bound for Portsmouth, England, sailing through the Irish Sea, Celtic Sea and English Channel. Many of the 1,400 Sea Trek participants have purchased passage for just a few stops on the European leg of the journey, but some will travel all the way to New York, where the two-month voyage is to end Oct. 4.

Lind, who is traveling with his wife, Kathleen, and four family members, including his son Daniel, just released from service as a LDS missionary in the Boston Massachusetts Mission. In fact, the Linds themselves have just been released after 18 months service as public affairs missionaries in the church's Europe West Area.

The Linds have pioneer ancestors, many who left England from the port of Liverpool. "When our family heard about Sea Trek 2001 and the re-enactment of tall ships of the migration of people from many lands, we were just thrilled," Lind said.

Aboard the Sorlandet, the former astronaut enthralled passengers and crew with an account of his time with NASA.

As a payload commander, his role was to supervise 15 experiments on board. He also served as part of the rescue crew for the second Skylab mission. Lind trained for two other space missions and was scheduled to be the 16th man to walk on the moon, but the missions were cancelled due to budgetary cuts.

Although he flew as a Navy pilot, often landing on aircraft carriers, and trained extensively training for space flight, Lind found that sailing on the Sorlandet out of Liverpool became the first time he has ever had motion sickness.

Notwithstanding that small problem, Lind took the helm of the Sorlandet, "I'm an enthusiast of sailing. Sailing to me is man against nature with no intervening electronics."

Lind wasn't the only seasick passenger. Twelve hours out of Liverpool, the ship rocked back and forth and rolled from side to side, struggling against a contrary current, heading through St. George's Channel in the south Irish Sea toward the southern peninsula of England, where the ship will round Land's End.

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The accommodations and dining galley below stairs resembled more of a makeshift hospital than passenger accommodations. Most of the new passengers were ill, either lying in bed or under the stairs to the fore of the deck.

Wednesday, in their afternoon study class, the group was able to empathize with the 1853 account read to them of Frederick Piercy, LDS author of a published account of the Mormon Trail. The 23-year-old Piercey wrote humorously of his not-so-humorous experience leaving the port of Liverpool bound for New Orleans aboard the "Jersey," with 313 Mormon emigrants:

"Then the deck became deserted, as the motion of the ship began to affect the heads and stomachs of men and women, hitherto used only to steady Terra Firma. I confess I was affected very soon. The contents of my stomach began to rebel, and at last after much threatening, and, as I thought, much unnecessary noise, jumped overboard. They seemed to say, 'You may leave old England, but we won't.' But whether they ever reached the land, I cannot say. I have a gloomy suspicion that they met with a watery grave."


David M. W. Pickup is a barrister from Burnley, Lancashire, England, sailing on Sea Trek from Gothenburg, Sweden, to Portsmouth, England.

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