ROCKPORT — The Rockport Navy Committee didn't get the ship's visit members had been hoping for — and duties over Harvest Festival weekend Oct. 17 and 18 kept many sailors invited from the Portsmouth Navy Yard from making the trip as well.

But Rockport Navy Committee organizers say the weekend Navy visit was still beneficial.

"Once again, the residents and businesses came together to make the Navy's visit memorable," said Navy Committee Chairman Roger Lesch. "Without their help it would not have been possible."

This year, the committee faced its first disappointment when it found out no Navy ship would be visiting Rockport, as vessels have in the past. Instead, the group invited crews from the USS Constitution and the Portsmouth, N.H., Navy Yard to be the town's guests — but, as it turned out, duty prevented many of the sailors from Portsmouth from attending.

The USS Constitution's master gun crew spent Oct. 17 giving demonstrations of the loading and firing sequence of an 18th-century Navy long gun along with demonstrations of how a pike team would repel enemies from boarding a naval vessel. Thanks to the generosity shown by local lobstermen and the Porter family, the committee was able to provide the sailors and crew with a lobster lunch at the Sandy Bay Yacht Club. Before leaving Rockport, the sailors visited the cannon which once belonged to the USS Constitution and now sits on the lawn of the Community House on Broadway.

Rockport children had lunch and a question-and-answer session with two sailors from the Portsmouth Navy Yard at the Rockport High School gym before playing a spirited game of kickball that Saturday. Four sailors from the USS Helena joined them just in time to get the game started. The children ranged from 5 to 15 years old.

That evening, the Portsmouth sailors managed to scrape together a softball team, including the wife of one of the sailors, to play in the annual game against Rockport's police/fire team, while, the next morning, the Navy Committee hosted a benefit pancake breakfast prepared by the Brackett family at Brackett's Oceanview Restaurant. Six sailors also went to Den-Mar Rehabilitation and Nursing Center to chat and share "war stories" with the veteran residents. The visit ended with handshakes and hugs from the present generation to the past.

To wrap up their visit, the sailors went to Pigeon Cove Wharf for a lobster lunch hosted by the Pigeon Cove fishermen.

Due to inclement weather, however, the lobstering tours had to be canceled.