Before they took away my car (good idea), I visited your offices – most pleasant bunch of people. Joseph Roper, age 93 Marblehead, Mass.
Who will take us for our last sail? I had to write and comment on what a beautiful piece of writing Dave Roper did on “The Last Sail” in the December Points East. I’ve always admired his writing, and David Buckman’s also, but Dave really excelled on this piece. It was especially poignant to all of us who are entering the sunset of our sailing years. I can only hope to find somebody as sensitive and understanding to take me on my last sail. Hopefully, that won’t be for quite a while! Keep up the good work Dave. My thanks go to Points East for publishing these unusual essays that deal with more than just the technical aspects of sailing and boats. Mike Pothier s/v Dragonfly
Granite-Stater is happy to re-up Your articles are great fun, and having it all available via both USPS and online is just plain terrific. Keep up the good work. I am happy to “re-up.” Fair winds. Malcolm Sandberg s/v Sparhawk Durham, N.H.
A century after Slocum’s death If you have a moment today, pause and drink a toast to the memory of Captain Joshua Slocum. Today is the 100th anniversary of the last time that he was
seen alive – Nov. 14, 1909 – as he sailed away from Martha’s Vineyard in Spray, with the intention of exploring the Amazon and other rivers. He was never seen or heard from again. According to Slocum’s great biographer, Walter Teller, Slocum was declared dead (it took some years – until 1924 – for Slocum’s second wife Hettie to get it officially declared) as of Nov. 14, 1909, the day he officially set sail from Martha’s Vineyard for the last time. He set out in his aging craft in a rising gale, and was never seen again as far as we know. He sailed every fall to the Caribbean and southern waters to avoid, he used to joke, the expense of having to purchase a winter coat. More probably, he didn’t like New England winters or the prospect of being cooped up for months inside in close quarters with Hettie. No doubt Hettie felt the same way about being cooped up with him. It’s a rainy, gray, dark, leafless, blowy day outside today – a nor’easter whipping by – the kind of day that makes one want to hoist sail and head for southern waters for the winter. What happened to Captain Joshua? Theories abound. One I read suggested that he was run down by a mail packet steamer at night somewhere down in the Caribbean – assuming that he got that far – near a place called Turtle Island. Slocum always hated steamers. It’s an odd anniversary because it is the last one of any kind related to Slocum that falls within the century mark. After this, regardless of the meaninglessness of dates, days or years following one after another, there is the sense that a boundary has been crossed. Slocum is now, I suppose, truly gone, adrift among old books, statistics, and sepia-toned photographs from another age; a certain finality descends on the legend and last mystery of Captain Joshua Slocum.
MAINE BOATBUILDERS SHOW March 19, 20 and 21, 2010 Friday and Saturday 10am to 6pm, Sunday 10am to 4pm
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Come see the finest boatbuilders in the Northeast! Sail, power, canoes and skiffs. 8
Points East Midwinter 2010
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