The FORT ARMISTEAD ADVENTURE
The year was probably 73-74 I was around 9yrs old.I was in classs and the teacher was talking about the History of the Battle Of The Baltimore Harbor and the 3 Forts that protected her.The most famous being Fort McHenry.Well then there was talk of Fort Armistead and Fort Carroll that sat in the miidle of the harbor,in modern day sits just off of the Francis Scoot Key Memorial Bridge.There was talk of a tunnel that went from Armistead out to Carroll under the harbor,both Forts have been shut down for many many years.So the wheels in this little adventuerers mind start turning.
I start gathering all the information I could on these forts and the tunnels in which the teacher spoke of, finding just where they are.So I head to the library(yes the library).There was no GOOGLE back then so i really had to research the info and find out all i could. I found some books showing some pics of Fort Armistead all fenced off and closed down.It was not the popular tourist spot like Fort McHenry,it was run down  closed down and not taken care of and so was Fort Carroll out in the middle of the bay.The more I read the more excited I got at the thought of finding the tunnel and going out to Fort Carroll. We had alot of experience in tunnels as kids we would roll up pieces of newspaper and set the end on fire making torches to follow the sewer tunnels from one neighborhood to another,(poor kids splunking.) I start gathering supplies that I think I will need for my adventure.
Gathering newspaper and rolling sections and wrap them with rubber bands making torches.Finding rope.My Dad had some boat lines in the basement..it was thick and hard to tie but i knew it would hold our wieght.Then to think about what food we would take for the day.Then to map it out and find out exactly where it was,what bus line it was on,what bus line to take,what time does it arrive at the closest stop,what time and where do i transfer downtown and finally what time do i grab the #8 bus from my neighborhood.All of these things had to go smooth because I was'nt aloud to leave my house until sunrise and had to be walking in the door when the street lights came on and all had to be done without a hint of where i had truly been. I got everything planned out to the T..Now to sell it to my older brother and his friends to make it sound cool enough that they would want to go.Luckily thier good friend Eddie had just moved over there so i called his younger brothers and got thier address and found out that they were just about a mile away so it turned out to be an easy sell.
The plan was made,saturday morning it would happen.Parents were told that we were going crawfishing following creeks for the day,which we were famous for doing.I spent the evening making sandwhiches and snacks double checking my maps and bus schedueles,making sure my alarm was set(as if I'd need it) I was so excited and nervous I did'nt hardly sleep a wink.

Eyes open,it's still dark i start waking everyone and out the door into the cool morning air and up to the bus stop.We board the bus for downtown to Howard St. to catch our transfer to Curtis Bay.Unfamiliar territory for us,might of been to the beach over there once but don't recall the area.Our stop comes up ,we hop of and start walking towards Eddies house,the only reason I got the older ones to come i the first place.Knock on Eddies door start telling him about our adventure and what I had in mind and he is not interested in going..do my best to talk him into it,not happening and now one of my guys decides to stay with him,so now I'm down to just us 3.
We take off walking to Fort Armistead,when we get there it's fenced off so I throw my bags over the fence and climb over.We gotta move quick and get out of site ,I'm pretty sure we are'nt supposed to be there.Everybody over we grab our bags and run for cover.We come up on the Fort,concrete bunker is what it looked like to me.Now I'm excited looking down into the the I get my ropes tied off and repel down into the dark wet shaft not really being able to see the bottom but trusting in my climbing strength.Not sure if there are water snakes or what might be down there.So many stories in Baltimore of snakes and alligators being released into the wild when people can't afford to feed them,so you never really know what you might come across.Luckily this time there was nothing waiting ing the bottom.We get everyone down ,I fire up some torches and check out the map.We start following the passage ways to the entrance of the tunnel.Walking thru the wet tunnels keeping our eyes peeled for water snakes and rats,after a half hour or so we make the last left to what should be the Entrance to the tunnel and it's a bricked up wall.Extreme disappointment comes over the team,especially me.All this planning and studying hoping to walk the long dark tunnel under the bay out to Fort Carroll.The explorer in me Shot Down In Flames.Heads hanging low we make our way back to the rope and have to dead pull ourselves up

We breakout our lunch and try to regroup.Eating our lunch we are looking out over the Bay to Fort Carroll talking about our Adventure and how cool it was to make it that far and how cool it would of been if the tunnel was open and we were on our way out to the Fort in the Bay.We start walking towards the water looking out at Fort Carroll and a thought crosses my mind.Let's just swim out to it and climb the wall.I did not come all this way and do all this planning to be denied.My brother and i start taking our shoes and socks off.I really can't remember if we were in shorts or if we stripped to to our underwear.Our freind Ronnie looks down and finds a 6 pack of beer stuffed in the rocks and says,I'm just going to wait here with these beers.

My Brother and I Slip into the water, it is a bit on the chilly side, waves crashing at the rocky shore line.Brother and I never have never had any swim lesons in our lives just swimming in the creeks and rivers and lakes.We head on out swimming steady I'm feeling fine considering we are swimming out in to the shipping lanes.Water is a bit choppy maybe 1 to 2 ft waves as we start get closer to Fort Carroll I see the waves crashing against the wall.I start to see clearly that these walls are around 20ft high.We have swam about 3/4 of a mile from the shore line.As I'm taking my next stroke I look to the left and I see an OIL TANKER about a mile or so up the bay headed our way.A chill runs up the back of my neck and I reach over and grab my brother and tell him..WE AIN'T SUPPOSED TO BE HERE.it is my belief that if we would of moved forward one more stroke that we would'nt be here today.I truly believe that.We turned back and started stroking across that water as fast as we could so not to be sucked under the downward current of that oil Tanker.

We got back to shore dried off got dressed,our buddy was a bit snookered from drinking all 6 beers.We got back to the bus stop got all the way back across the city caught our conecting bus downtown and back to our neighborhood and home just as the streetlights came on.I loved planning adventures as a kid and going places where my parents had no idea that I could find.I have many stories of our adventures as kids all the way to adults.This is the first of many stories to come