Marlinspike #31

Summer 2021

Number 31

AJ Meerwald: Surf-Clamming Survivor Amistad’s Opportunity Dreamers Before the Mast Saving the Bald Eagle Plug Pulled!

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MICHAEL RUTSTEIN

Help Wanted For most of us, hiring is a seasonal struggle, akin to uprig or downrig. It comes together quicker some years than others, but despite a few bumps in the road, things generally work out fine in the end.

Not so much in 2021. Head boats and semester programs alike are reporting real difficulty filling crew spots this spring — especially entry-level positions.

This is partly the product of labor conditions in the US as we emerge from the pandemic. But as with so many other things, it’s a waste of time to expect the old normal, when the reality is a new normal: our industry has to devote more time and energy to workforce development.

This is an article for a future issue, but one interesting approach to this problem is the apprenticeship program recently announced by boatbuilder Harold Burnham, who operates the 49-passenger Ardelle out of Gloucester and is in the process of rehabbing the larger schooner Sylvina Beal (see page 38).

Burnham’s goal is to develop a pipeline of local young people aged 14-22 who are potentially interested in maritime careers and who might lack the money or connections to attend a four-year college, or start a career in another field.

As such, the program starts young, offers hands-on experience on Burnham’s boats and other commercial vessels in the busy port, and encourages apprentices to develop the appropriate skills and habits for a maritime career, such as marlinspike skills, log-keeping, and drug-program participation.

For operations lacking a liveaboard option, local hiring makes sense, and young people considering a maritime career might tend to stick around longer than college students and itinerant schooner bums. We’ll be sure to check in with Burnham at summer’s end to see what transpired.

In the meantime, let’s get out there and do some sailing!

MARLINSPIKE MAGAZINE Summer 2021 • Number 31 Michael Rutstein, Publisher Marlinspike is published quarterly for $25

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4 b Surf-Clamming Survivor

28 b Saving the Bald Eagle

The fascinating career of the AJ Meerwald of Bivalve, NJ

A small Gloucester schooner enjoys a second life

14 b Opportunity for Amistad Can the troubled schooner capitalize on this moment?

20 b Dreamers Before the Mast A brief history of the Regina Maris by author John Kerr

26 b Plug Pulled!

Um, did a schooner just get shut down by their insurer?

32 b 38 b 42 b 44 b 46 b

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Boats, Bars & Beaches Boatyards Sailing Opportunities Name That Boat Show Us Your Spike / Tattoo 3

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A. J. Meerwald

Surf-Clamming Survivor Nearly one hundred years into a career which has included harvesting oysters and clams under sail and power, a wartime stint as a fireboat, two bankruptcies, and some time spent on the bottom, the BayShore Center’s flagship is getting ready for a major rebuild in Maine

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The AJ Meerwald, New Jersey’s official Tall Ship, is a restored oyster dredging schooner. Launched in 1928, the Meerwald is today used by the non-profit Bayshore Center at Bivalve (NJ) as a traveling classroom and vehicle to enjoy the area’s waterways. A variety of public programs include Second Fridays (raw bar, beer and wine, live music, cafe open for dinner), Oyster and Wine tastings, a lecture series, and the OysterRoast fall fundraiser.

We spoke recently with Museum Curator Rachel Dolhanczyk, Captain Josh Scornavacchi, and Director of Education Ali Place.

Marlinspike: Let’s start with a little history, because I know that we’re getting close to the schooner’s 100th birthday. The boat was originally built in the 1920s for oystering under sail, is that correct?

Did she not have an auxiliary engine when she was built?

Rachel Dolhanczyk: She was built with an engine, because the Meerwald is a “new style” schooner. They could use the engine while working their own grounds, where they would plant the oysters, as opposed to working to seed beds in the spring, when they’d had to work under sail. Not allowing the use of engines was part of the conservation efforts.

couldn’t use the engine to harvest the oysters during that season. You could only use sails. That was an effort to intentionally make them less efficient at catching the oysters, so that they wouldn’t reduce the population past the point of recovery.

But after World War 2, there was a job shortage, and they repealed that law and then allowed you to use engines to harvest oysters, all the time.

MS: So in the 1930s and the 1940s, they’re already worried about over-fishing?

Rachel: From early on, there was definitely an awareness, because here, you have Rutgers’ Haskins Shellfish Research Lab. They have a lab here in Bivalve. There were already concerns, because they were importing seed oysters from the James River and that’s what brought Dermo to the Delaware Bay. MS: Brought what to Delaware Bay?

After a WW2 stint as a fireboat (top) the MEERWALD returned to fishing

Rachel: Dermo.

MS: What’s Germo?

Ali Place: Dermo. It’s a parasitic protozoan that kills the oysters, basically. It was introduced from, I guess, James Bay. But did it originally come from there? I’m not sure.

MSX was a disease that hit in the 1950s, that wiped out like 95% of the oysters. It came from Asia, maybe in the ballast water of commercial vessels, or it could have been US military vessels returning

MS: What were the “old style” schooners like?

Rachel: They had a clipper bow, and they were shorter: 50-odd feet. And they had a topsail.

The 1920s were good years for oystering. There were just a lot of oysters out there. But there was a move to a larger dredge. And the “old style” boats, as they call them, weren’t large enough for the larger dredge.

from the war.

MS: Your website says that, later in her career, the schooner was used as an oyster dredge under power. How is that different from oystering?

Josh: They were taking on ballast water in Asia to cross the ocean and then when they’d come into the river, they’d dump it out, so that they’d be more buoyant. And then they’re introducing invasive species.

Rachel: It’s still oystering, but no longer under sail.

MS: Um... am I hearing a parrot?

Josh Scornavacchi: You weren’t allowed to use the engine to actually go and harvest the oysters out of the Bay. You could use them for your own personal grounds, but you 6

Ali: It’s my bird. Do you mind? If he’s with me, he won’t scream like that. I’m really sorry. I’m just going to get him,

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Capt. Josh Scornavacchi describes the shallow, beamy schooner as a challenging boat to sail

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real quick. Is it okay, if he’s in this interview?

MS: Does he talk?

Josh: No. He just screams and bites.

MSX shouldn’t have taken off the way that it did, but they were also dredging at the time and that allows that salt to creep farther up the river. And so the protozoa was able to spread farther and affect even more oysters than it would have otherwise.

MS: So the backup plan was surf clamming?

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Rachel: The Meerwald family operated the boat for about five years after they built her in 1928. Then you get the Great Depression — not much is going on. In 1941, the boat went to the US Coast Guard, which operated her as a fireboat, along the Philadelphia/Camden waterfront for five years.

MS: Not under sail, obviously.

Rachel: No — you’d barely recognize the vessel.

MS: They cut off the rig?

Rachel: Yeah, and there’s water cannons and...

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Josh: They outfitted her with water pumps and a pilot

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house and then covered her in metal.

Rachel: After the war, there was a lot of back and forth between the government and the Meerwald family, over the compensation. They couldn’t agree, with attorneys involved and letters back and forth and so on. Finally, by 1947, a price was agreed upon and the Meerwald family was told to come and get the vessel, as is, where is.

grow his business. He had several boats, including a bugeye, the Lady Ray, from the Chesapeake, he had a shucking house... he had a lot going on. So, after he passes, then the business is lost to the bank — actually, for the second time.

The Meerwalds had lost the boat too. And that’s when the boat then goes into clamming.

MS: That’s where surf clamming comes in?

MS: Which was how and where?

Rachel: Yeah, because at that point, the oyster industry’s gone, because of MSX. There’s still some guys that oyster, and things come back a bit in the 1970s, but it just decimated the fishery. Anyone still working the water had to diversify and find other ways to survive and use their boats.

Rachel: Up near Camden. They had given up their schooner and she came back as this ironclad... I don’t know what.

Nine months later, the Meerwald family sold her to Clyde A. Phillips. And since at this point there’s no masts and no sails, he uses her for oystering, under power.

MS: And he renamed the boat after himself?

Rachel: Actually, his wife did. He wasn’t planning to change the name, but the wife did the paperwork. She named both the boat and her son after her husband.

MS: So what does surf clamming look like?

It was a challenge just keeping her afloat (top).

Founder and Director Meghan Wren with John DuBois and John Gandy (bottom)

MS: How much longer was she oystering then?

Rachel: For about 10 years, under power, with the Phillips family, until 1957. As Josh had mentioned, that’s when MSX hits, in September of 1957. Captain Phillips actually died the night before the season opened. They already knew that there were problems, because they would go out and test their grounds and do a little dredging, just to see how the oysters are doing. So his son always says, even though people say, ‘MSX can’t kill a human,’ he knew several men who died because of MSX! Rachel: Phillips had taken out a loan for $750,000 to 8

Ali: (parrot on shoulder): Surf clams are a type of clam. When you’re surf clamming, you’re catching surf clams.

The bottom, in the Bay, is pretty much all mud. The oysters grow on top of rocks, or on top of other oysters, or built reefs. But clams are different — they like to dig underneath the sand or the mud. So the strategy to catch them is a little different. With the oysters, you can drag or rake along the top of the sand, to get them out. But the clamming nets have to dig down into the sand.

As a result, it’s really, really strenuous on the boat. The clamming vessels usually have big outriggers on them, to support all of the heavy gear that’s involved, whereas the oyster boats don’t have so much of that. That’s part of the reason that the Meerwald fell into such disrepair after a while — surf clamming is just not good for the boat.

MS: How long did that phase of her career last?

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Rachel: Into the 1970s.

MS: Where did the money come from? Was it a lot of small donations or were there a couple of big sponsors who wanted to see this program succeed?

MS: Still called the Clyde A. Phillips, right?

Rachel: Yep. She was actually the Clyde A. Phillips, longer than she was the A.J. Meerwald.

MS: So why did the BayShore Center decide to go back to the original name, if she was the Clyde A. Phillips for longer?

Rachel: Because it was decided that the boat would be restored back to as-built, in 1928, when she was the A.J. Meerwald.

But the boat was idle a lot. By 1978, anyone who owned it was just using it for the license. So for maybe 20 years, from ‘58 to ‘78, she wasn’t active every year. And then from ‘78 to ‘88, she was just sitting in Salisbury, Maryland, in the mud.

MS: So, how was she saved?

Rachel: There was a man, John Gandy, who we’re still friends with. He always had dreams of owning an oyster schooner. And he knew the guy, Donny McDaniels, who had bought the Clyde A. for her clam license. And he kept saying, “Donnie, what are you doing with that boat?”

One day Donnie said to John, “Well, you want it that bad? Sold!” And for a dollar or whatever, something crazy, John Gandy gets the boat. This is in ‘86. He and his son, who was a teenager, would go down to Salisbury, and just try to do some caulking or whatever, not getting much accomplished. But he wanted to bring the boat back here, to Bivalve and do something.

So then the story goes, that by 1988, after two years of putzing around doing this, Gandy and another guy are chatting at the shipyard where Meghan Wren, who was to become our founder and director, was working. She was about 23 at the time. She heard them talking and got interested. She wanted to get involved as well. Later that night, she’s tending bar and who comes in but John Gandy and a couple of friends and they keep talking about the boat. So it went on from there, forming a nonprofit and so on. But John’s the one who brought the boat back, paid to bring the boat back from Maryland and towed to Bivalve.

For the next several years, it was all about fundraising, trying to form an organization, and gathering resources and volunteers. In those early days, they were just trying to get all the weight off of her, all the metal sheeting, and the pilot house — there was so much weight. They were trying to offload what they could, because the boat would sink and the fire department would come and pump it out.

Rachel: The first five years or so, it was just little, little things: donations, people just volunteering, just wanting to see this boat come back to life. The first big grant came from the New Jersey Historic Trust and then there were some other grants as well, that Megan wrote, that came in. It was really those state grants that made it happen.

I mean, people donated money, and became plank owners: if you were an original member, you got a piece of wood, the plank! And then really early on, they had an art auction at a local country club and that first auction raised something like $6,000 and that paid off the original yard fee, for when the boat first got hauled out. And they were just trying to caulk her, so she would float!

Meghan was telling me that one time a reporter called her up and said, “I want to talk to you about the state of the boat, the fact that she’s sunk again.” And Meghan was like, “Well, that was last year. Everything’s cool.” And the reporter said, “No, no. I mean, right now.” And Meghan’s like, “What?” It was a recurring problem.

But eventually they got the weight off her and they were able to hire professional shipwrights and focus on the restoration.

The head shipwright, Mill Edelman, he said he had to keep reminding himself, they weren’t trying to build a better boat — they were trying to build the same boat.

MS: How long until the boat was relaunched and sailing and able to run programs?

Rachel: She was re-launched in September of ‘95. The rebuild lasted from ‘88 to ‘95. But it was really the last year and a half when most of the work was accomplished. And then May of 1996 was the beginning of our first season.

MS: That’s a real labor of love.

Rachel: Meghan dedicated her life, for 30 years, to the

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organization. It was her passion. Once the grant money came in, that last year and a half, shipwrights were hired and professionals came in to lead the charge. But for all those years leading up to that, it was a struggle just trying to keep the boat afloat.

The cool thing was, the old, old, old-timers were still around, who remembered seeing the boats under sail. So, in addition to research, Megan did a lot of oral histories with the old timers, who remembered what things should look like, so forth. Even the sails — someone donated an original set of sails from the Sheppard Campbell, that worked under sail. The Meerwald’s sails were cut from that original pattern.

And Meghan and the others, they would go digging around the old boneyards, looking for gear and measuring things.

MS: Tell me about the programs that you were running when the boat started actively sailing in ‘96, as opposed to the programs that you’re running now. Has there been any evolution there?

Rachel: The programs early on, it was just the boat.

There were always school programs, field trips and public sails. The same formula has persisted. Traveling to different ports around the state, participating in different events, that’s all kind of been the same, all these years.

One thing that’s changed is that we’ve acquired the Oyster Shipping Sheds built in 1904 by Central Railroad of New Jersey for packing and shipping oysters. The sheds now house our Delaware Bay Museum and the Oyster Cracker Cafe. This is our home port.

Ali: Like Rachel said, we have the building, so we have the museum now, which is awesome.

Rachel: I should mention that, from the late ‘80s, early ‘90s, the organization started collecting artifacts, information, oral histories, to help document the schooner.

Ali: I wasn’t around in those earlier years, so I can’t speak too much to what they were doing then. We focus a lot on

environmental science and marine biology. Our curriculum is updated for current scientific understanding, of course, but it remains largely unchanged. It’s been so successful over these years. We’ve added to it and built upon it, but the foundation that they built in the very beginning days, we’re still using that.

We talk about watersheds and we have a net that we catch animals in and teach the kids about the animals that we find in the river and in the Bay. We have microscopes on board, so the kids can look at plankton, stuff like that. It’s all very hands-on. I don’t think we have any workshops where the kids don’t have their hands on something. That’s important, because they don’t get that very much in school. They’re sitting in a classroom and looking at a chalkboard. For the kids to be able to come out and actually see what they have in their own backyard, I think, is the most important thing.

We have a lot of kids that are from Cumberland County and we ask, “Okay, where’s the Delaware Bay?” And they’re like, “Oh, it’s in Florida.”

Rachel: And a lot of times, it’s their first time out on the water too.

Ali: First time on a boat. First time seeing a bald eagle.

You see a bald eagle almost every day. Catch horseshoe crabs and terrapins and fish and eels, all kinds of fun stuff.

Josh: The education program that was already in place, prior to us getting here, was the main reason that I decided to come to the boat. I worked on Clearwater prior to this. I heard that this was a similar program, and I really like environmental education. We went to school for biology, so our passion for animals and teaching about the environment and how to protect it and teaching kids and adults, that is really important. But we have added some programming, especially these past two years.

Ali: With COVID, things had to evolve quite a bit, obviously.

Josh: So now we have some online videos on our website and on YouTube, where you can look at some of our stations, virtually.

The quality is not great, because we filmed them with a GoPro, but it’s a start. We also are going to be hopefully partnering with Boy Scouts, Sea Scouts, hopefully all the scouts.

And doing scout-specific programming, where we help them advance in rank, get merit badges and things like that.

MS: The Surf Clamming badge is not something you can earn just anywhere.

Well, tell me about the sailing. I’ve only seen pictures and she looks very wide, with a

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shallow draft. I know she’s got a centerboard. What is it like sailing a boat like that in a tidal river? It must be challenging.

Josh: Single screw, yep. We did just replace the propeller.

The previous one was older than the boat. But it was too big.

MS: Do you take her outside the Bay much?

Josh: Horrible. So, she’s stable, very wide, like you said — 23 feet of beam. So, I haven’t gotten seasick on it, but it’s about three and a half feet of freeboard, only 20-something degrees on your rudder. She draws six feet. If you want to turn around, it’s really hard to do a 180, with that boat.

Especially in the river, it takes a big area to do it. Doing tight maneuvers in a river is pretty difficult.

MS: Single screw, I assume?

Josh: Like Rachel said, before COVID, we’d go up to Atlantic Highlands, near New York. We’d go up the Hudson River to Albany. We’d go into Atlantic City, Cape May, down to the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race.

A lot of times, we’ll take the Bay to Baltimore and then race to Norfolk, but then we’ll run up the coast to get home.

It’s a wet ride and you have to be careful about taking any waves on the beam — she gets swamped really easily. It’s challenging, but it’s also fun.

Driving around a 93-year-old wooden vessel is pretty exciting.

MS: I understand that you guys are headed up to Maine, after this season, for a major restoration by Clark and Eisele. Tell me a little bit about the work that’s going to be done.

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Josh: They’re replacing the entire deck. Most of the topsides, really. The aft cabin, though I’m hoping that they’ll be able to save a lot of the original interior woodworking, because that’s all from the original boat.

They’re going to be replacing the old winder box cabin top [where the motor for the dredge was mounted] and the main hold and focsle cabin tops, basically all of them. And then some of the topside planking, some of the hull planking above the waterline, is going to be replaced.

We’re hoping to send some of our crew up there as well, to get some much needed bosunry work done, since the masts will be down.

Hopefully they’ll be able to service the stays and the chafe gear up there, the leather work — all of that can get taken apart and gone over really well. We’re not sure yet, but we might get some electrical work done — it depends on the budget — and maybe some spar work.

MS: Tell me about the choice of 11

Clark and Eisele. I mean, Maine is a long way from you guys.

MS: You will have to pick your spots, to move the boat from here to Maine, I assume.

Josh: Clark and Eisele are just really fast, efficient, effective shipwrights. Last year we had an issue with our rudder, where it cracked at the rudder post, and Clark came down.

Josh: We’re going to be stopping at Point Pleasant — at least that’s the plan — for about two weeks and hopefully doing some programming. Sails, public sails, dockside programs. And then from there, we’re going to go straight to Belfast. It’ll be five or six days, if the weather’s good.

Rachel: Dropped everything and ran down here.

Josh: Garrett Eisele, yeah, on a minute’s notice, he drove all the way here from Maine.

Took the measurements, drove back to Maine, grabbed the lumber, drove back again, fixed it in less than a week and then drove home.

MS: And then he said, “By the way, you guys need a major rebuild on this boat.”

MS: Knock on wood. We only have about a minute left before Zoom cuts us off. I’d like to hear more about your parrot, Ali.

SETH BEAUMONT

Above, Ali Place works with young scientists at the Bayshore Center. Below, Ali’s parrot Tinga

Rachel: We were planning that already; we’ve been planning this for almost two years, now. We got funding from the New Jersey Historic Trust, once again. That grant was written almost two years ago, but it’s a long process. And so, during COVID, we were doing conference calls, making decisions, so wood could get ordered. Not everything was ordered before the prices went through the roof.

But Clark and Eisele had started coming down — when was that, Josh? It’s been a few years now. The past several Novembers, they were coming and spending a month or so and doing work and making a punch list of future projects.

MS: Does he sail?

Ali: No. I don’t think he can handle that.

MS: That would be a good look, you on the boat with the parrot on your shoulder.

Ali: I think he’d freak out and fly into the water.

Josh: They came down on to replace a few planks and we thought it would take months, but they did it in weeks.

They’re just extremely efficient.

Ali: Very high quality work.

Josh: And they worked long hours. There’ll be out there at night, sometimes, just getting it done.

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Ali: His name’s Tinga. I got him when I was 10, for my birthday.

And he is like having a toddler for 20 years. As you can see, every time I get on the phone, he’s noisy. He can’t stand it.

He just wants to be on my shoulder, bugging me.

Rachel: One cool thing about going to Maine, we’ll get to see two of our sister ships, Delaware Bay oyster schooners, that are working the Windjammer trade. The J. & E. Riggin and the Isaac Evans.

MS: Now the Boyd N. Sheppard.

Rachel: The Ada Lore was one of ours too, that was lost a couple of years ago. She was restored here in Bivalve, not long after our boat. She was one of the new-style schooners. The Boyd N. Sheppard is an example of an oldstyle schooner. b

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CARYN B. DAVIS PHOTOGRAPHY

Opportunity Knocks for Amistad Social and racial injustice remain a red-hot topic as the pandemic fades. Can Discovering Amistad seize this tailor-made moment and build a sustainable future?

The trials and tribulations of the Amistad replica have been well documented; currently the vessel sits idle at Mystic Seaport.

We recently spoke to Robin Hogen of Discovering Amistad’s Board of Directors to see what was being done to capitalize on the present opportunity.

Marlinspike: It’s been six years since Discovering Amistad picked up the mantle from the previous organization entrusted with the schooner. In some ways, this seems like the best of times and the worst of times. On the one hand, social and racial injustice are in the forefront of our national dialogue right now. And yet the pandemic made it difficult for your organization to engage with the public on these issues that are central to your mission.

Robin Hogen: The way we position it, Mike, this is a story with a ship, not a ship with a story. We put the mission ahead of the boat. We use the boat as a vessel for teaching students and adults about the legacy of slavery of this country over the last 400 years.

So we start at 1839, but we fast forward to talking about what’s going on in your neighborhood, your community, your church, your university, your high school. And we have these courageous conversations, which are curated by our staff, in schools and increasingly in corporate boardrooms and community meetings, as more and more communities are awoken to the lasting legacy of repression that has affected people of color in this country.

You’re absolutely right — this is the worst of times, in that the way the ship’s configured, you’re always in close quarters. We couldn’t bring people on the boat safely this past year. This summer, she will be tied up at Mystic for at least the next couple of months. RJ and his team have got quite a bit of work to do on the boat. But we do use the boat on the wharf there, right next to the wharfmaster’s shack.

There’s a lot of foot traffic. People ask about her all the time, and we have a placard outside the boat that says, “This is the Amistad” and lists what her tonnage is, her length and beam and so forth.

We use the ship as a teachable moment. We have edu-

cators on the boat every weekend, during the summer, when the Seaport is full of people who are very interested in this story. They saw the movie, or they read about it, or they thought they knew the story, or someone told them they should read the story. We engage a lot of people in conversations just having the boat sitting there.

I’m a sailor, and it kills me to go on that boat and not be able to throw the lines and go down the river. But that’s probably going to be the reality until late August.

Our plan this summer is to have RJ lead the restoration of the ship. It’s not in terrible shape; it was hauled last year, and the bottom’s in great shape. It’s really just a lot of varnishing, a lot of topside work — there’s 129 feet of mahogany from one end to the other. It’s a monster job to get it to where it should be.

We hope to take her to Hartford in late August, early September. Getting our COI, getting a crew, getting a temporary captain and bringing her to Hartford, probably without passengers. Taking her up the river and using her again as a platform in Hartford, to bring people together and talk about the history of racism in this country.

We are planning to do an experiment where we bring together kids from urban and suburban districts, in one room, to talk about racism and to have, frank conversations about this charged topic. Mixing kids from say, West Hartford and North Hartford — two very, very different places. Mixing kids who would never be, and have never been, in the same room; who almost speak different dialects, talking about this very important topic. And if a 15-year-old can’t talk about it today, what’s he going to do when he’s 30?

We are going to be in the same mess we are in today.

MS: Tell me, how do you manage those conversations?

All these kids know the names and the stories of Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. In your programming, how can you connect the dots between the Amistad Uprising of 1839 and police murders in contemporary America?

Robin: I’m not an educator, and it’s probably best that

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Elegant and fast, AMISTAD is also complex for a schooner, and challenging to sail.

CARYN B. DAVIS

one of our very skilled educators tell you that story. But my layman’s understanding is Amistad is a story about resilience.

It’s about leadership. It’s about bravery and persistence, and all of those qualities are important today in everything we do. We really can teach a lot about how to live your life as a change agent in your community.

If you look back at the Mende people and what they did to survive and get back to their country… it’s an amazing story, one that is still inspiring today. If it’s good enough for Steven Spielberg, it’s a hell of a story, right? And, it creates a kind of a Switzerland because you’re talking about something that’s really a charged, emotional issue. It’s a lived experience.

If you go to Conard High School in West Hartford, and you’re a White kid, you don’t really know what privilege is, because it’s all around you. It’s like oxygen. Kids in North Hartford are just the opposite. Every day, they wake up and their parents say, “Be careful when you walk down the street, don’t keep your hood down. Don’t run. Don’t go for a jog, because they’ll assume you’ve stolen something or you’re running away from someone.”

I mean, they live in an entirely different world. And we have to have those conversations that we’ve swept under the rug for too long.

MS: There’s been much discussion the last two years over the lack of diversity in the tall ships industry. You don’t see many people of color at the Tall Ships America annual conference, or frankly on the decks of our vessels, as passengers or crew. And here we are, three White guys, having this 16

conversation about the Amistad. Can this be changed? What can we do to change this?

Robin: We should have an all-Black crew. Let’s be frank. I mean, it’d be great. We should have a Black captain.

Our executive director is a woman of color. She’s just been hired, and she’s going to be terrific, but she’s been on the job for literally two weeks. RJ has got more seniority than she does.

What we have done is brought thousands of kids on the boat who’ve never been on a boat before. Who’ve never seen Long Island Sound, and they live in Bridgeport or they live in New London or Stamford! They literally didn’t know there was an ocean out there. It can be transformational.

We need to start tracking those kids as they get into to be teenagers and young adolescents and recruit them into some kind of a training program, so that they can become young mariners. You know the SoundWaters program in Stamford?

MS: Sure, that was Len Miller’s program.

Robin: Len started SoundWaters, and he’s now chairman of Discovering Amistad. He’s a glutton for punishment.

MS: And he’s the guy who knows how these programs are run.

Robin: Exactly, and he knows that you’ve got to plant-

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ing seeds now, so that you can get a Black crew in three or five years that have the skills to sail a tall ship. The Amistad is not easy to sail. She is a very big, heavy boat.

Robin: No, it actually was built after. The movie came out in 1997, I believe. And a bunch of leading Black Connecticut residents saw it and said, “Hey, this is our state!

These are our people! This is a fabulous story! Let’s raise $3 MS: The Baltimore clipper-style topsail schooners are million and build a replica of the Amistad. She’ll be the flagnotoriously challenging to sail. ship of Connecticut. We’ll sail her to Africa, we’ll sail her to Cuba.”

Robin: But we aspire to having a much more diverse It got a lot of people excited. There was a great deal of crew. For a brief time, we had on our board the only woman money raised by the state, by churches, by foundations all of color in the country licensed to captain a tall ship. She over the state and by wealthy individuals. had to step down because of other duties at her full-time job.

But frankly — and this is a very unfortunate part of the And she lives in New Jersey. It just wasn’t a good match, but story — they ended up feeling burned. They felt they were we’re on the hunt for more peodeceived, and that there was misple like that. management, which there clearly was. And there was a bad taste in MS: Robin, tell us a little bit everyone’s mouth who was about the transition between involved with the original organiAmistad America and zation, when they went belly-up Discovering America. How is the in 2014. But the Governor at the mission and business plan of time, Dan Malloy, said, “This Discovering Amistad different boat is not going to be cut up for from Amistad America? junk on my watch.”

Some people still feel that Robin: I wasn’t involved at Amistad should be taken out in all in Amistad America. But my Long Island Sound and scuttled. understanding was that they built It’s just a hole in the ocean that a ship without a clear mission. we’re going to keep pouring They didn’t have education at money into. Why do we need their core. It appears that their this? We’ve got deficits. We’ve vision was, “Let’s build this gorgot people that are lining up to geous replica of the Amistad and get free food. And we’ve got this sail her around the world. The expensive boat into which we’re ship will be an Ambassador for pouring hundreds of thousands of Connecticut. We’ll go back to dollars a year, for maintenance Sierra Leone. We’ll go to Cuba. and crew.

We’ll go up to Detroit. We’ll take So, there was a real conversaher up through the Great Lakes, tion back in 2014 that Len CARYN B. DAVIS visit the Heartland. And this will Miller ended up leading. What be a wonderful message for the do we do with the ship? Do we AMISTAD has struggled to recruit scuttle it? Do we sell it? Do we people of Connecticut.” officers and crew of color Well, that sounds great. give it to Mystic? Or do we try to Problem is, it’s very expensive. revive it with a new name, a new There’s no revenue play. There’s no real education program. board, a new mission, and then really use her as an educaYou’re not bringing kids on the ship and explaining and cretional vessel? To make a long story short, that’s what hapating a curriculum around the ship, you’re just sailing her. pened.

Again, that was a laudable goal, but I don’t think they But almost every meeting we attend, whether it’s with had a strategic plan. And over time… it took about 14 the Connecticut Humanities Council or with a foundation years… there was a steady decline in the maintenance of the in New Haven or a wealthy individual in Greenwich, they ship: in the programming, in the fundraising, in the manage- say, “Wait — didn’t you people go out of business? Didn’t ment, everything went south. And when the boat was finally you walk away from a lot of bad debts?” taken over by the state, it was in receivership. It was in very sad condition.

MS: Has that debt stuck to the boat?

MS: This is me being ignorant, but I thought the boat was built for the Spielberg movie.

Robin: No, the boat is free and clear. There’s no overhang. We have a new 501c3, a new name, a new board. But you don’t lose that unfortunate story, that legacy, quickly.

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People have a long memory in this state.

So there are a number of donors, a number of foundations, who have not forgotten that they wrote big checks 20 years ago, and they feel that they were betrayed. And they’re all sitting back and saying, “Well, let’s see if you guys can pull this off.” You know: “Can you make this work? Can you afford to keep that ship going? Can you develop a program that has a revenue stream? Can you manage your affairs?”

There’s a lot of wait-and-see out there.

MS: That’s quite a stigma to overcome when you have no operating revenue — when you’re entirely dependent on philanthropy and on government funding to operate.

ready, when we can sail safely. I mean, the ship can only sleep 12-15 people It’s a big boat, but it doesn’t have a lot of overnight capacity. So day sails that are curated with educators on board, talking with people who are leaning into that conversation and know they have a problem in their company — we can be a solution, and we can charge for that.

MS: Now for those programs, obviously, you need a Certificate of Inspection. So what’s the status of the schooner, along those lines, right now?

RJ: We’re having this conversation about four hours too early. I’ve got a phone call with the primary inspector who’s been assigned to the vessel later today. Unfortunately, he went on vacation right after I started here, and I’ve been trying to get ahold of him ever since.

All of the [USCG issues] have been taken care of. There is some rot, in a bulkhead, that needs to be addressed. That hasn’t been documented by the Coast Guard, but they’re aware of it. We need to create a plan around that. I think with the conversation with this inspector today, there is a significant likelihood of building a good enough relationship that we may have a temporary status as a dockside exhibit. But once we take care of the bulkhead rot, which is probably a month’s worth of work for a couple guys, we should be able to transfer that COI into carrying passengers

Robin: The state of Connecticut, just to be clear, has been very generous. They are funding the program and giving us bonding for repairs.

Without the state, that boat would be sitting at Mystic, probably, permanently.

There would be no programming. There’d be no sailing. It would permanently berthed there.

MS: Do you see a future where the vessel might generate significant revenue through operations?

Robin: I do. I think that the untapped area is the corporate sector. I mean, that ship is made-toorder for a 20-person executive committee or boardCARYN B. DAVIS retreat or departmental meeting, to go out in the morning and sail a vessel like Amistad as a team — raise the sails, trim, learn about navigation, spend the day, and maybe the night, on Long Island Sound.

You could charge $10,000 for that experience. And we’ve never done that. I think there’s a huge potential revenue play there, again, if you build it around implicit-bias training. Imagine having an implicit-bias workshop in the middle of Long Island Sound, on the Amistad. “Where do I sign up? How many people can I bring?”

That’s a conversation that we have to have when we’re 18

while underway.

Robin: The ship was sailing last summer. We called it ‘A Tour of Enlightenment’. We took her to Bridgeport and New Haven and Oyster Bay, on a three-week tour: skeletal crew, no passengers, all programming was done dockside, but it was very well received. It was right after the murder of George Floyd. We had a Black Lives Matter flag-raising and we hosted ceremonies on the stern of the boat in all those cities. It was a great opportunity to tell our story.

But again, because of the expense of maintaining crew

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and programming without a revenue stream, we brought her back to Mystic in July, and she’s been there ever since. Still, it’s not like she hasn’t sailed for two years.

MS: Are there any plans to get the boat out of Long Island Sound and venture a little farther afield?

Robin: One of our long-range goals is to bring her to Washington and to do a program with the National Museum of African-American History and Culture. And to have our Connecticut delegation host a series of meetings on the ship when she’s tied up in Washington, D.C. We would also stop at Philadelphia on the way south and go through the canal into the Chesapeake.

That’s something that takes a lot of planning, and we’d need sponsors in both cities. But that’s certainly something we’ve talked about.

RJ this summer, kind of in our own backyard. We were scratching our heads saying, “How can we get this boat back to Bristol condition without bankrupting the organization?

We can’t spend $60 an hour on skilled deckhands, varnishing and working on the rigging, and doing saltwater washdowns, and everything else that has to be done almost on a daily basis. We would just be bleeding the organization.

Then RJ popped into our lives, thank God. We’ve never had a Shipkeeper. We’ve had to rely on a fully-crewed boat with five people working in the spring — full-salary, benefits, all of that expense load. Now, we’re flipping to a volunteer model for maintenance where RJ will be heading up a volunteer corps of guys and gals who love tall ships and who want to work on them. We are looking for men and women who don’t need to get paid and just want to be outdoors, working on the boat, to bring that boat back to where she should be, and maintain her at that level.

MS: You’ve got a large and impressive board of directors, but the majority of those folks are educators and consultants. Who are the sailors in your organization? You have Len Miller, who I’m sure is an invaluable asset.

Who are the other sailors in your organization? Who’s going to get this boat from where it is to where you want it to be?

MS: RJ, let’s finish up with that, then. What’s your work list look like this spring?

Robin: There aren’t a lot of sailors. The emphasis has been on education. This reflects Len Miller’s vision which is: this isn’t about sailing, this isn’t about a CARYN B. DAVIS ship. It’s about a story. It’s about civil rights and justice. He really de-emphasizes the ship. He doesn’t want a bunch of old white guys sailing this beautiful boat around Long Island Sound. That’s the wrong message.

So he comes back to this story with a ship, not a ship with a story.

Ours is a very diverse board. It’s about 40% people of color. And really no one else on that board owns a sailboat or is an amateur sailor. There are some people on the board who have never been on a boat. But they’re on the board because they’re educators with a passion for our mission.

We have a PhD from the University of Arizona — a long way from water! — but he’s an expert on the Middle Passage. He’s written a book about the children of Amistad.

There’s a large community around the country of Amistad scholars. The Amistad story has spawned a lot of research and a lot of conversations. And that’s what it’s supposed to do.

But looping back to the ship. We were fortunate to find

RJ: Well, I keep on falling back to the old cliche “How do you eat an elephant?” The answer is “One bite at a time.”

The primary issue right now is making sure that there’s a plan for that bulkhead and getting the rig back in pristine condition. I’ll be working with Matthew Otto on that.

MS: When you say bulkhead — is the vessel subdivided?

RJ: Yes. MS: So this is a subdivision bulkhead, a watertight bulkhead we’re talking about. Okay, sorry, you were talking about the rigging.

RJ: Yeah, we’ll be working with Matthew Otto. I’m going to be doing some training courses with him, so I can come up to speed and not always have to hire Matt for everything. I will be doing simple things like seizings and other stuff. And, as you know from the article [in Marlinspike #28] that you so graciously published for me, I know a little something about wooden blocks.

So, the work list is an immense amount of varnishing, taking care of that bulkhead, getting the rigging back in order, and just generally organizing the vessel, so she is ready to sail by mid-summer. ❂

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While she met an ignominious end in a Long Island harbor, Regina Maris provided inspiration to generations of seafarers, scientists, dreamers — and at least one author.

John Kerr’s self-published book Dreamers Before the Mast is an operational history of the famous sail-training and ocean research vessel Regina Maris, with many contributions from the owners, crew, scientists and students who sailed her. The book is both inspiring and terrifying, as after many adventures, the brigantine becomes increasingly unseaworthy in her old age.

Marlinspike asked Kerr to draw up a summary of the long career of this storied ship.

The story of Regina Maris began with a dreamer.

Olof Bengtsson was born in 1866 in Sweden. In the 1890s he had some success panning for gold in Australia, and by 1899, Bengtsson was back in Sweden. Being from a

A two-year, spare-no-cost rebuild provided the brothers with a ship — now named Regina Maris — that would achieve their dream of rounding Cape Horn as their father and grandfather had done. Learning to sail the barquentine was difficult, making the voyage south challenging for the crew and owner-captains. A mutiny was averted only by the cool thinking of the first mate, Peter Wilson (no relation to the owners).

Peter Wilson recounts the 1967 rounding of the Horn as follows: At daylight we were approaching the awful pinnacle from the east … Throughout the morning it loomed ever larger as we

Dreamers Bef seafaring family, he went right to work as skipper of a schooner he had purchased with some of his Australian gold.

By 1907 he planned to build a ship and start a shipping company.

To get his ship built, Olof traveled to Svendborg, Denmark, where he contracted with the shipbuilder Jorgen Ring-Andersen to build a three-masted schooner. This ship was the 100th hull that Ring-Andersen would produce. The two men walked the woods of Denmark selecting white oak trees to be used in the construction. Ring-Andersen believed that for a ship to be strong, all her curved lines were to be made from timbers that had grown into that shape.

The new ship was named for Jorgen’s wife, Regina. For 57 years she sailed the Baltic, North Sea and North Atlantic, fishing and carrying cargo.

In 1963 Regina was carrying a cargo of kerosene in the Baltic when a fire started in the engine room and spread rapidly. A passing Russian freighter rescued the crew and extinguished the fire, but the damage was so great the ship was condemned and slated to be used for grain storage by a local farmer. The fire ended that period of her life, but she soon became the dream barquentine of the Norwegian brothers John and Sigfried Wilson.

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approached under full sail … I could only think of countless bones lying deep in that cold water.

We were at a distance of less than a mile. Few ships of old were foolhardy enough to venture as close, and many Cape Horners have never set eyes on this monument to the cruelty of nature.

“Let’s get the hell out of here; we’ve been lucky so far!” I said with a slight shudder. We continued into the afternoon, getting well past the Cape, until the current sent us toward the coast to leeward.

A deep moan, like a siren, started up. The sea turned completely black, and white horses (in the waves) were being whipped in from the South. The wind was rising so fast that there was hardly time to think.

Leaving the captain to the wheel, we all rushed forward to reduce the headsails so that she might be more easily luffed and put about. With the wind rising, the task of coming about was proving hopeless, and the captain decided to wear ship, paying off towards the land, and come up onto the new tack. As she gathered speed towards the all-too-near rocks I remember thinking: only God can help us now!

Slowly she came up again, the wind heeling us right over as the pressure now hit her from starboard. The buntlines required

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fore the Mast

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every available hand — a group of men on deck and another group on the galley roof all hauling the same line — yet we could only sweat them in an inch at a time. And how we pulled up! We pulled our hearts out, our lives depended upon it.

The wind was a full gale Force 10 and nothing could be heard above it. Getting the mainsail in was almost too much for us.

When we finally got the brails into the mast, the belly of the sail was flogging so badly, I thought the mast might break. It took five men an hour to finally get the mainsail snug. The topgallant mast had parted and the mizzen topmast sprung.

The wreckage was cleared away, and we continued on “baldheaded.” After some time, we had her down to just three sails; two fishermen’s stay-sails and lower topsail. With the onslaught we were sliding eastwards at a fast rate. Soon Cape Horn itself passed up to weather and we were back in the Atlantic again, but at least, there were no more lee shores.

The seas were now very high and we had big waves coming in on the beam.

Beside the green water flowing aboard, foam would come off the waves in sheets and be flung over us at terrific speed. This water, although atomized by the wind, felt like lead shot for the men working at the rails knee-deep in spaghetti of lines. The deck was constantly awash with icy water. Rain and hail were ever present and the temperature was around 2 Celsius.

After three days of being blown east, we were able to turn and head west around the Horn again, back into the Pacific. But this time 200 miles further south of the Cape.

In 1969, under the Wilson brothers, Regina Maris was engaged to retrace Captain James Cook’s 1770 route of discovery to Australia for the bicentennial of that historic voyage, representing the Queen of England and her Royal Navy.

En route, however, she suffered a dismasting 1400 nautical miles off Funchal, and was towed back to Norway for a rebuild. A fast passage by way of the Cape of Good Hope and the Indian Ocean brought her to Australia just in time for the bicentennial celebration.

Later, a mutiny occurred after leaving Pitcairn Island.

The captain and loyal crewmen gave in to the disgruntled crewmembers’ demands, changing course to return by way of Panama rather than Cape Horn.

Regina Maris was sold in 1970. Transformed into an adventure-cruise vessel, she sailed the Pacific, visiting French Polynesia and Mexico multiple times, surviving two hurri22

canes only a week apart, and providing memorable adventures for hundreds of voyagers.

In 1975 the Polish film director Andrzej Wajda walked down a jetty in Southampton, England and, upon seeing Regina Maris, exclaimed, “Fantastic, fantastic, exactly what I want!”

Wajda was looking for a square-rigger to use in a movie of Joseph Conrad’s story “The Shadow Line,” for Thames Television. The movie was to be filmed in Bulgaria, on the Black Sea, where a dock in the small port of Baljik was transformed to resemble Bangkok.

Mike Willoughby, then the owner-captain, set a course from England through the Mediterranean, the Aegean Sea, the Sea of Marmara, and the Bosporus to Bulgaria.

He had interesting memories of sailing past minefields left over from World War II, and of filming behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. After a month of filming, a large ocean-going military tug came into the harbor. Mike was told that the film crew was going take the tug and film Regina Maris as she sailed to the larger port of Varna, 20 miles away.

On the day of the filming, the wind was northerly at Force 7, ideal for scenes showing the ship, wild wind, and heavy seas. The tug waited for Regina to set her sails, but Mike waited for the tug to head out to sea because he knew that with all sail set the ship would quickly leave the tug in her wake.

This was explained to the Comrade Captain of the tug, who was adamant that Mike set sail immediately. He did so, and Regina took off at 12 knots.

The scene called for no one on deck except for the actor playing the helmsman, dressed in period garb. Mike and the rest of the crew were hiding below decks. After half an hour, Mike saw that the tug was two miles astern and pounding badly. Relieving the actor helmsman, he put the helm over, and the tug caught up.

Another attempt was made, with the tug struggling to keep up and with some very seasick cameramen trying to film the ship. The wind had increased to Force 9 by the time they reached Varna, with the tug far astern.

In 1976 Regina Maris was reincarnated yet again as the research vessel of the Ocean Research and Oceanographic

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Society (ORES), founded and run by Dr. George Nichols of Boston.

As RV Regina Maris, she provided the platform from which scientists and students documented the singing behavior of the humpback whale and catalogued these whales’ unique fluke patterns. This work made it possible to document the whales’ migration through the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, from the Arctic to the Galapagos and Greenland to the Caribbean.

In the following account, Dr. Hal Whitehead, professor of biology, speaks of his favorite place on the ship.

Regina had many special places, and in each there was a different way to see the ocean she sailed. But, for me, the most special was the royal yard. The royal was the highest square sail on the foremast, and the royal yard was the horizontal timber from which it hung.

The attractions of the royal yard included its height above the sea and remoteness from the rest of the crew down on deck. The royal, the smallest square sail, was the easiest and most satisfying sail to furl alone. The royal yard was also a fine place for watching whales. Throughout the winters of 1978 and 1980 two of us would sit on the royal yard as Regina sailed transects across Silver and Navidad Banks, the breeding grounds of the humpback whale in the West Indies.

Sitting on the yard, one each side, our backs against the foremast, we scanned for humpbacks. We saw breaches in the distance and tiny calves nestling by their mothers’ sides, we saw the dark green

coral heads of Silver Bank, and the spatial patterns of the whales scattered over this strange remote patch of ocean. At times when we were not censusing, the royal yard gave a distance from the research. I would climb to the royal, and watch the whales as a human, not a scientist. Far above, I would try to find a perspective on the research, the extraordinary animals we were studying, the wide ocean and, of course, the great old wooden ship on which we lived.

In 1988, the ship was to become a restaurant in Boston’s Marina Bay, but on the coldest night of the year, due to a malfunctioning bilge pump, she sank. She was refloated, but the experience took the will out of her propertydevelopment owners, prompting sales to a series of owners. Hurricane Bob in 1991 necessitated an intentional sinking in her new home of Greenport, New York.

In 1998 the Greenport Village Board commissioned a survey by “Giffy” Full. The verdict was grim, and for the hard-working volunteer members of Save the Regina Maris Ltd. and its director, Merlon Wiggin, devastating. At their next meeting The Village Board voted to have the ship removed by the end of August. Regina had lost her berth.

Wiggin said, “Without the support of the village officials, I don’t see how we can proceed. I feel we have no choice but to finalize the plans for at-sea disposition. But I have until August 26 when the insurance runs out, to find her a new home.”

Errol Weston, a film producer and operator of the Weston restaurant chain, expressed interest, with several pledges from $10,000 to $50,000. But this opportunity, with the pledges, evaporated as the August deadline approached.

The local newspaper Dan’s Papers provided a lead to another possible — and unexpected — source of support, when it published a firsthand account by an individual who claimed Regina Maris had been the rescue vessel for him and others fleeing the Holocaust.

This information, although later disproved, caused a great Continued on page 43

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Photo by Nigel Pert

L’HERMIONE is a modern replica of a 32-gun frigate, built in Rochefort and launched in 2014. The original 1779 vessel achieved fame by carrying General La Fayette to America during the Revolutionary War. Construction began in 1997, and as far as possible, traditional construction methods were used. British Admiralty lines taken off a captured sister ship, CONCORDE, were used. The cost was estimated to be $22 million.

L’HERMIONE crossed the Atlantic and visited the United States in 2015.

Plug Pulled!

After a June inspection of their schooner Spirit of Dana Point, Ocean Institute got a rude awakening — not from the Coast Guard, but from their insurance company Dan Goldbacher, Director of the Maritime and Campus Facilities for Ocean Institute, spoke to Marlinspike in June.

Marlinspike: Dan, my understanding is that the Coast Guard gave you a work list with some hard deadlines, but left Spirit of Dana Point operational for the season. You then shared that work list with your insurer, which sounds like a prudent thing to do. And your insurer turned around and said, “If you don’t fix these things in 30 days, you’re uninsured.”

without insurance. And our plan is to get the work done. So, we’ve been working with Marine Group down in San Diego to get the decks repaired. And we’re going to do an overall restoration of the boat. We’re going to go through all the systems. We’re going to do a restoration of the boat so we can have her for the next 20, 30 years.

MS: Is your insurance company the same firm that insured the Pilgrim?

Dan: No, it’s a different firm.

Dan Goldbacher: Basically.

MS: And these are not 30-day projects. You don’t replace a deck in 30 days.

Dan: No, you don’t. Basically what happened is we’ve been working with our insurance on Spirit. We got our work list from the Coast Guard. They gave us one year, so we planned on pulling the mast in December. And we had two years to replace the decks. So, we were looking at a couple of different options for 2022. We finally were able to get back to our mission, and that was our focus. We were like, “Okay, we can start teaching kids about sailing we can start doing our school programs. We can start doing all of these things with the boat. And we can start fundraising.”

We planned on doing that to coincide with our Tall Ships Festival in September, and raise the money to get the decks done starting about September of 2022, which is what the Coast Guard wanted. I shared all that with our broker, told them about our plan, approved by the Coast Guard.

And they said, “You know what? We’re going to drop you, because it’s not getting done. You’ve got 30 days.”

MS: Otherwise, the boat is not going to sail this summer. And the programming that you have lined up is not going to happen — at least not on the Spirit.

Dan: At this point, we’re accelerating the process to make it all happen now. We can’t have the boat at our dock 26

MS: Still, it’s hard to imagine that loss is not playing a role here.

Dan: It’s not like that’s not known. You know what I mean?

The decks definitely weren’t a surprise. We knew it was something that we had to do within the next couple of years.

The Coast Guard gave us a deadline. We said, “All right, we’re going to move forward and make these plans to do this.” And they gave us till 2022 and then yeah, our insurance said that’s not fast enough for them. So we’re going down to the shipyard in the next two weeks.

MS: Is the money there? I saw that some of your hardcore funders immediately came forward, but not with enough for the scope of work you have to do.

Dan: We’ve got enough to get going, which is absolutely amazing. With any project, you don’t know what you’re going to find until you start uncovering. So we’re preparing for what we could find. We’re hopeful that it’s going to be just the decks, the mast, the rigging repair, but we’re ready to fix whatever needs to be fixed, to make sure the boat is 100% ready to go.

I’m bummed that we’re in this situation that we’ve had to rush this so quickly. We’ve made alternate plans for all of our camp programs. We’re partnering with the Curlew, who’s also in Dana Point Harbor here.

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They’re going to be doing some sails with us to keep our summer camp programs going. It’s nice to have great partners in the community, to be able to still meet our mission, support another organization who is coming out of the pandemic too, and be able to give these kids the experience, because that’s the goal. And then our goal is to get our boat back to where she needs to be.

MS: It was just over a year ago that you lost the Pilgrim.

I’m guessing that there are going to be people in the media, certainly on social media, who are going to conflate those two instances and make unkind inferences about whether the ships are a priority at Ocean Institute… or whether you guys know what you’re doing… or whether Ocean Institute just lacks the funds to maintain their ships.

Having plans for every year, every five years, every 10 years: what are we expecting?

MS: Are you in the same Coast Guard inspection region as the Conception, the boat that burned two years ago?

Dan: Yeah, I’m pretty sure they go from Santa Barbara to basically us.

MS: They’ve got to be very sensitive at this point, that office.

Dan: Yeah. The Conception is definitely still on everybody’s mind down here. We partner with Santa Barbara Maritime. We go up there and do school programs with them. When we go up there, we berth right next to where Dan: Yeah. It’s unfortunate. We didn’t want Pilgrim to the Conception used to dock. happen. We were trying to fundraise, we were planning on We know the Coast Guard is still sensitive to it, still getting to the yard with learning from what hapPilgrim in January, and pened there. So, that’s SPIRIT OF DANA POINT we got bumped. That definitely a part of it as was really sad, but now well. It’s not going to get the opportunity that easier to maintain, we’re looking at, we’re insure, and manage these going to take the boat to boats. The more prethe yard, do all of the pared we are, the better restoration that needs to off we’re going to be. happen to make sure I mean, like we that we have Spirit for talked about, with the years to come. It’s just Pilgrim? We’re still fightunfortunate that the ing that. I think about insurance company is that boat every single forcing our hand a little day. But I’m excited that bit quicker than we were we get to look towards anticipating. the future. We got a little bump here, but that MS: Is there a lesbump is getting the boat CLIFF WASSMAN son here for the decirestored. sion-makers at Ocean Institute, that it would behoove them We’re looking forward to seeing the community that to be more proactive with ship maintenance? talked about how they want to support the Pilgrim, want to support these boats… We’re looking forward to seeing them Dan: To be honest, I think it’s a lesson for everybody. step up to help us be able to do it. Cause we can’t do it withYou know what I mean? It’s not going to get easier to insure out our community. If communities want these boats, they wooden boats. It’s not going to get easier to maintain woodhave to support them. en boats. Being on top of all of your maintenance is really important as you move forward. I think for everybody that MS: We talk again and again in the magazine about operates one of these boats, you need to have every one of how much easier it is to raise money for a new build than it your ducks in a row, because the Coast Guard is watching is to raise money for programming or maintenance. But if closer after all the things that have happened over the last the Pilgrim showed us anything, it’s that you cannot defer couple of years. maintenance on boats indefinitely.

Insurance companies are looking closer at everything. If you’re an operation that isn’t paying attention ... I think Dan: We always say “Time or treasure, whatever you future planning is really important. It’s something I know can give.” If they want to see these really amazing ships and we’re going to be looking at. What are we going to do, every keep these programs going, the entire community needs to single year, to make sure that this boat is well maintained? be involved. ❂ MarlinspikeMagazine.com

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Savi

GEORGE BEKRIS

M

y husband Paul and I always had thought that owning a wooden boat required either a lot of experience and knowledge, or a big budget to hire people with a lot of experience and knowledge. But we were able to fix up a schooner and sail her with some knowledge, a little experience and a notso-big budget, because of the wooden-boat community here on the North Shore of Massachusetts. People here are excited about and engaged with traditional craft, and they were willing to go out of their way to bring us along.

[ The Rotty Boat Our story started in the 1990s. Every summer we took our kids to Hiram Blake Camp, a rustic camp on Cape Rosier, Penobscot Bay, for a week or two.

One thing we would do is walk down the road to a field where sailboats were stored. There was a Haven 12 ½ that was amazing to our eyes. When the kids were a little older, we trailered up a 12’ O’Day and sailed as far as the Pumpkin Island lighthouse at the west end of Eggemoggin Reach. Paul had sailed as a boy, and my family had had a series of small, used sailboats for lake sailing.

One day we happened upon a 1930s wooden sailboat — like a small Wianno Senior — for short money, and impulsively bought it. Harold Burnham was fastening trunnels on the Lewis Story when we met him at the Essex Shipbuilding Museum. We asked if he would take a look at what would come to be known as the “rotty boat” in our side yard.

After a visit, Harold said, “It would take more money to repair her than to build a new one. But if you’re interested in this size boat, I have one you should look at.”

At Harold’s yard, we climbed aboard Kim, a 22’ Friendship sloop that Harold 28

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ing the Bald Eagle The decision to save a decrepit schooner from a Cape Ann tidal marsh is not made lightly, survived easily, or forgotten quickly

By Judith Nast had built, and fell in love. Harold and his dad Chuckie always pointed us in the right direction when it came to maintaining and sailing a gaffrigged wooden boat. And I’m sure we provided some entertainment for them. It seemed that the first year, whenever we made mistakes — like going down the Essex River on a falling tide, or getting hung up on a rock in Gloucester Harbor — Harold would be there to offer advice and wry commentary.

On Kim, we sailed between Maine and Gloucester for a few years, and we started thinking that a bigger boat would give us more space, and make longer cruises possible. Then, in 2002, Paul saw Bald Eagle tied to George Sibley’s wharf on Rocky Neck.

Paul thought she was beautiful, despite having a deck so rotted it was impossible to stand on. A beautiful derelict that he thought we could bring back to life. I was little more cautious. Paul talked to Harold about her, and Harold promptly called me to say, “Do you know what your husband is thinking? Bad idea!”

But after a closer look, Harold thought that she was worth saving. As we were towing her up the Essex River to Harold’s yard, a boat going downriver called out, “Yo! You’re saving Bald Eagle! All right!”

[ The Restoration

GEORGE BEKRIS

Bald Eagle was in need of substantial work. She was a classic SS Crocker design built by Bud

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McIntosh in 1955, influenced by the design of 19th century The evening after the launch, as she sat on Harold’s moorfishing schooners. Luckily, she had kept her shape as she ing, more than a dozen people came out to toast her new languished on a tidal mooring. life with drink and music. It was a memorable evening after We documented Bald Eagle’s condition. Her masts were 14 months of work. removed, along with the rotted deck, deck beams, and cabin For years after Bald Eagle was re-launched, people made top. All the bronze deck fittings, blocks and Wilcoxa point of letting us know how happy they were that she Crittenden bronze opening ports were removed and had been brought back to life. Our kids grew up on the labelled. Years of fresh boat. For 15 years, water incursion had we sailed to rotted the tails of all Penobscot Bay and the white oak frames. beyond from our One by one, replacemooring in Smith ment frames were cut, Cove, Gloucester and steamed and fitted in. enjoyed Cape Ann As the boat had sails with friends and been left in the water, family. the hull planks were in better shape. 30% of [ The Return the 1” mahogany planks were replaced.

In 2017, Bald The hull was refasEagle returned to tened with bronze, and Harold’s yard for the the iron keel was replacement of the dropped and reinkeel bolts, sternpost stalled with new deadand rudder. Geoff wood, keel bolts and Deckebach, who had mast steps. The stern recently restored the Above: hauled out at Harold Burnham’s yard underwent a total schooner Strombus, did in Essex; below, the deck has been removed rebuild, with the anguthe work. In order to lar transom common access the keel bolts, in Crocker designs the temporary interior being replaced with was removed, as was an elliptical transom the engine, which that to many eyes had went out for servicmore balance and ing. grace and referenced For 15 years we Gloucester fishing had sailed with a schooners. The cockroughed-out interior, pit was made larger, but now we had both with excellent engine the time and money compartment access. to address this. A An old but previvisit to the Herreshoff ously unused 21Museum to see the horse Westerbeke interior of Torch diesel was installed, served as the inspiraand the original worm tion, along with many gear resumed its place friends who generousin the wheel box, ly showed us the intepaired with a new bronze wheel from Lunenburg. New riors of their boats to help us see what was possible. standing rigging was created by Stanley Dulong, who had Michael Lipton, a skilled furniture-maker, built a classic rigged many of the Gloucester fishing vessels of the previinterior of raised white paneling with mahogany trim. He ous generation. The blocks were restored. Bob Brophy, an produced the bulkheads, 24 cabinet and compartment artist and carver whose work is in the collection of the doors, and the frames and counters that went with them.

Cape Ann Museum, did the bow scrollwork, trailboards Paul laid out full-sized templates to get the panel door and and transom lettering. bulkhead proportions just right. I wove the panels for cabiFinally, Bald Eagle was re-launched in September 2002. nets needing ventilation out of reed, a basketry material, 30

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and finished all the work. Paul installed the interior.

Additionally, the boat was rewired with new electronics and LED lights. The final additions — companionway stairs and a salon table — were newly installed in 2021.

We were delighted with the aesthetics, the economical use of space, and the increased comfort of the design. The small galley works just as we had hoped, and the salon is a cozy and comfortable place on a cold, wet day with its little wood stove. All the cabinetry was sized to accommodate ventilated storage containers, so efficient stowage is a snap. Our choice to go with minimal systems onboard has allowed us to cruise simply, but in comfort.

How does she sail? Like many Crockerdesigned, McIntosh-built boats, Bald Eagle sails beautifully. In a 25-knot breeze Bald Eagle has reached at eight knots, making for a happy crew. At the Gloucester Schooner Festival, she reliably places in her class.

[ Lifelong Learning As anyone who owns a wooden boat will understand, the maintenance and sailing of Bald Eagle has been the rhythm of our last 20 years. We’ve learned from our mistakes and from our friends — people like Al Bezanson (Schooner Green Dragon), who we met on the fuel dock in Port Clyde in 2003, and Daisy Nell (Schooner Redbird), last seen circling Burnt Coat Harbor with a deck full of musicians at the Sweet Chariot Music Festival. We know how fortunate we are to be part of this wooden boat and sailing community, where ingenuity and encouragement are readily available.

And we have always felt at home in the salty port of Gloucester, where there is no shortage of other schooners to play with. Tom Ellis of the Schooner Lannon once said of Bald Eagle, “It’s like the Lannon had a calf.” The annual Gloucester Schooner Festival, sailing with the good cheer and experience of Amanda Madeira, Mike Parker and Roy Downs, remains our favorite weekend of the year.

But after a couple of years of thinking about a move, the pandemic pushed us to be closer to our kids. A move to California is in the works. Bald Eagle should remain in New England, where she’s spent the last 66 years, so she is currently for sale.

Our hopes for the new owners are twofold: that they enjoy sailing her, and serve as stewards who will take good care of her so she can continue to be one of the sweetest little schooners around. b

M. RUTSTEIN

Above: BALD EAGLE frolicking at the annual Gloucester Schooner Festival; Below, a view of the schooner’s new interior, facing aft

Bald Eagle’s full listing can be found online via WoodenBoat’s “Boats for Sale” page where she is listed as a 37’ Crocker Schooner.

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❂ MAYFLOWER II during sea trials after her recent restoration at Mystic Seaport. The replica vessel is now back at her berth in Plymouth

32

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❂

Mayflower II has been named a recipient of the 2021 Paul and Niki Tsongas Award by Preservation Massachusetts. Since 1988, the Tsongas Award has recognized the people and projects that have displayed the highest level of commitment to historic preservation in the Commonwealth.

The accolade highlights Plimoth Patuxet’s successful four-year, multi-million-dollar restoration of the reproduction of the ship that in 1620 carried the Pilgrims to the land known to Indigenous people as Patuxet and to the English as Plymouth.

“People from all walks of life feel a sense of connection to Mayflower II and the stories of perseverance she embodies,” said Whit Perry, Plimoth Patuxet’s Director of Maritime Preservation and Operations. “We deeply appreciate the support of our friends around the world who chose Mayflower II as their favorite from among several outstanding preservation projects.”

Built in Brixham, Devon, England from 1955 to 1957, Mayflower II memorializes renewed international alliances during World War II. The reproduction vessel arrived in Plymouth under sail in 1957 to great fanfare. Since then, under Plimoth Patuxet’s stewardship, millions of visitors have crossed her decks.

Despite routine maintenance, the ship succumbed to deterioration over the course of 60 years. Plimoth Patuxet embraced the opportunity to preserve the vessel and, in 2015, embarked on a collaboration with Mystic Seaport to make her seaworthy once again.

Nearly 70% of the ship’s timbers, planking, structural frames, knees, and beams were replaced, using six types of wood from eight states

Read the true story of the

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Apply online at www w..MaineW WiindjammerCruises.com PLIMOTH PATUXENT

or Call 800-736-7981 ENTREPRENEURIAL CAPTAINS TA WA W ANTED! MarlinspikeMagazine.com

33

BLUENOSE II

M. RUTSTEIN

and as far away as Denmark.

Following her return to Plymouth on August 10, 2020, Mayflower II was named to the National Register of Historic Places.

Fundraising continues to cover the cost of the restoration, with $1.8 million still to raise. Plimoth Patuxet aims to exceed that goal and establish a fund for Mayflower II ’s future maintenance. ★ Back in March, Bluenose II celebrated the 100th Anniversary of the launching of the original Bluenose. That schooner went on to become the pride of Nova Scotia, a Canadian icon and an international symbol of excellence.

Once again this summer, Bluenose II is sailing around her home province of Nova Scotia. Her first cruise is already underway, with the schooner leaving Lunenburg June 7 and scheduled to visit North Sydney, Baddeck, Nyanza Bay, Groves Point, Iona, Sydney, Louisburg, Gabarus, Canso, and Whitehead before returning to Lunenburg at the end of June.

Visit Bluenose.novascotia.ca/schedule for the full schedule and a location tracker.

In July she’s setting out again and heading west to Digby, Grand Manan, Yarmouth, Pubnico, Clark’s Harbor and returning to Lunenburg around July 17. A late-July trip is scheduled to bring Bluenose II to Terence Bay, Sambro, Bedford, Indian Point, Mahone Bay, Chester, Head Harbour, 34

French Harbour, and Hubbards. More trips are planned for August and September.

While the schooner is docked at Lunenburg, the crew will doubtless be enjoying the new Bluenose 100 Commemorative Ale by the Saltbox Brewing Company.

Described as “light, crisp and refreshing,” the Bluenose 100 Commemorative Ale was brewed using Canadian malt, noble hops, and the desire to honour the legacy of the fabled fishing and racing schooner Bluenose. ★ Up in Camden, Maine the lovely brigantine Oliver C. Wyant, later called Actress, is being rebuilt by Capt. Ray Williamson of Maine Windjammer Cruises. Capt. Ray is going to run her as a three-cabin, six-pack windjammer, and sell off the current vessels in his fleet: Grace Bailey, Mercantile, and Mistress.

The brigantine is to be renamed after Captain Frank Swift, who founded Maine Windjammer Cruises back in 1936. She has been the apple of Capt. Ray’s eye for decades.

“It was early 1990s and we had just purchased Maine Windjammer Cruises,” recalls Capt. Ray. “Having undertaking a full restoration of the landmark schooners Grace Bailey and Mercantile, we were fully committed.

“Sailing into Pulpit Harbor on a foggy afternoon we came upon a stunning vessel, the Oliver C. Wyant. This beautifully proportioned pocket brigantine made a lasting impression. Designed by Murray Peterson in 1937 and built

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in 1983, she served as a private vessel for her builder and owner Scott Kennedy out of East Boothbay.

“She recently returned to Penobscot Bay, now named Actress, where she briefly operated as a charter vessel. But her open layout was not well suited well for this purpose.

“Having been in the windjammer business for over 30 years, I knew that she would make a fantastic six-passenger overnight vessel. Much larger than our current six-pack schooner Mistress, she would offer three more spacious cabins, all with private heads, and tons of deck space for that size crowd.

“This past fall, she was on the market again. Having considered retirement for several years, but not wanting to be without a vessel, this seemed to be the perfect solution. We would acquire her and put our other three windjammers up for sale.” (See page 36) The availability of the three schooners accelerates the already notable turnover in the Maine windjammer fleet.

Since this magazine was founded seven-plus years ago, the Isaac Evans, Heritage, Victory Chimes, and J. & E. Riggin have all changed hands, while the Bowditch was rebuilt and returned to her original name, Ladona, and the American Eagle has been for sale for several years now.

For more on the work being done to the Capt.

Frank Swift, see page 38. ★ Maurice Smith and Gordon Laco submitted this tribute to their friend Francis MacLachlan after his passing this spring.

CAPT. FRANK SWIFT “The world lost a giant in sail training on April 18, 2021 with the passing of Francis MacLachlan of Kingston Ontario. He was the naval architect who designed the sail training brigantines St Lawrence II, Pathfinder and Playfair among other vessels in Canada, the USA, UK... and inspired thousands with his cheerful nature, sound leadership, and love of seamanship.

“Roll on, Francis.

“The sailing vessel approach to leadership training has been very successful internationally and continues to be so.

On the Great Lakes the success of the first of Francis’ brigantine, Kingston-built and -based STV St. Lawrence II in 1954 led to the construction of two others for Toronto. STV Pathfinder in 1964 and TS Playfair in 1973. There is over 150 years of combined service in the three brigs.

“All were designed by Francis MacLachlan and Mike Eames, essentially the same successful design but with variations reflecting the needs of their non-profit operators.

This month we offer a grog recipe from a 45-yearold account of a pleasure cruise along the North Shore.

Grog remains inextricably tied to sailors and sailing, although if you walk into a yacht club and order it, you might only get a blank stare.

Grog nowadays is mostly mixed and drunk for re-enacting or educational (!) purposes, with everyone telling their own version of the origin story: Jamaican rum, scurvy, and Admiral Vernon’s grogham cloak! I have to admit, my efforts to make and sell an authentic-ish grog on board Fame (muscavado, water, freshly squeezed limes, Pusser’s) have met with failure.

Guests much prefer Cruzan’s three-year-old amber rum mixed with commercially-made lime-ade! — MR

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for Schooner BAY LADY 85’ LOA steel hull launched 1987. COI for 87 + 3.

Located San Francisco, CA. Business purchase also an option. Asking $425,000.

Schooner AMAZING GRACE 58’ LOD ferrocement schooner, built 1991 by McQuiston & Sons in San Diego. New engine, rigging, electronics. COI for Lakes Bays & Sounds, 33 + 2. Located San Juan, PR. Asking $450,000.

GRACE BAILEY Schooner ALLIANCE Three-masted schooner, 1995, steel hull built by Treworgy.

COI for 49 daysails, 12 overnight. Located Yorktown, VA. Boat and business for sale. info@sailyorktown.com Topsail Schooner WINDY 148’ custom steel hull, 1995, COI for 150, 36 overnight.

Located on Navy Pier, Chicago. Ship and business for sale, or ship only. Asking $2,100,000. Tallshipwindy@aol.com.

Schooner ATYLA Wooden hull built in Spain, 1984. EU certification for 24 trainees & crew. Located Spain. Asking 1.2 million Euro ($1,433,000).

Schooner MERCANTILE 1916 wooden-hulled schooner in the Maine Windjammer trade. LOD 79', COI for 49, 29 overnight. Brand new sails. Located Camden, ME. Asking $350,000.

Schooner WIND DANCER 63’ LOA Colvin-designed steel schooner, 1988. COI for “21 souls, total.” Located Grand Haven, MI. Asking $240,000.

Schooner CAPT. KIDD 55’ steel schooner, 2000. COI for 28. Located Seabrook, TX. Asking $190,000.

ALLIANCE

Schooner HALIE & MATTHEW 2006, fiberglass hull. Located Maine. COI for 100 on deck, 50 overnight. Asking $1,250,000.

Schooner AMERICAN EAGLE Bald-headed schooner in the Maine Windjammer trade. 1930, oak on oak. Located Rockland, ME. COI for 56 daysails, 28 overnight. SOLAS, PSSC. Asking $750,000.

Schooner MYSTIC WHALER 110’ steel schooner, built 1967. 97 tons. COI for 60, 15 cabins sleeping 34 overnight guests. Asking $680,000.

Schooner GRACE BAILEY 1882 wooden-hulled schooner in the Maine Windjammer trade. LOD 81', COI for 54 passengers, 34 overnight.

Brand new sails. Located Camden, ME. Asking $450,000

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Schooner RED WITCH Cypress hull built by Nathaniel Zirlott in Alabama, 1986.

77’ LOA. Current COI for 49. Located Kenosha, WI. Asking $149,000.

Schooner MISTRESS Built 1960, wooden-hulled schooner in the Maine Windjammer trade. LOD 46', successful six-pack windjammer. Located Camden, ME. Asking $110,000

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This is Isla Tigre Honduras in the Gulf of Fonseca.

We might have only loved it because it was the first beach we had visited after floating in a brown estuary in Bahia Del Sol, El Salvador, for months.

The people of Isla Tigre were very welcoming and the mountains were so pretty. The sunset was bright and colorful every single night, and the days always had rainbows. I love this photo because it really shows what cruising is like. A private beach to ourselves with our buddy boat. Dinghies on shore and our floating homes in the distance..

— Kim Bizjak, S/V Litha, “Life Off the Deep End” Podcast & YouTube Channel

“Francis’ advice as a naval architect was felt in the formed to organize a race for small, medium, and large United Kingdom and the United States, especially with the schooners the next year. The second Schooner Festival took famous British Sea Cadet brig Royalist. Francis continued to place on Labor Day weekend in 1986, with Pilot taking the be consulted on the philosophy of the leadership he exempli- Cup. Medium sized schooners compete for the Ned fied and has been taken up by a Cameron Cup, and smaller vessels range of successors internationally, race for the Betty Ramsey Plate. many of whom may not know it is This year’s Great Chesapeake Francis MacLachlan’s wake they are Bay Schooner Race will take place following. in both the real and virtual realms.

“Francis was the proud recipient Last year’s first-ever virtual event, of Lifetime Achievement Awards which raised close to $67,000 for from both Tall Ships Canada and educational and environmental Tall Ships America.” organizations, will be reprised on ★ August 25-28.

The late spring in the United In the virtual event, each States saw a steep decline in COVID schooner partners with the noncases and deaths, opening the door profit organization of their choice for the return of such beloved fall which fits into the GCBSR mission events as the Gloucester Schooner of preserving the Bay’s history and Festival, the Great Chesapeake Bay ecology. Educational vessels with Schooner Regatta, and Sultana’s 501c3 status can raise money to Downrigging Festival in support their own programs. At the Chestertown, MD. start of the race on August 25, parAll three were cancelled in ticipants can donate to their favorite Francis MacLauchlan 2020. schooner. At the end of the race on The 37th annual Gloucester August 28, the schooner that raised Schooner Festival will be held as usual over Labor Day the most money wins. weekend, Sept 3-6.

The traditional race down the bay from Baltimore to The annual races held during the Gloucester Schooner Norfolk will return, in person, on October 5-11.

Festival began with the first Festival in June of 1985, a threeTall Ships and Bluegrass are at the heart of Sultana’s day rendezvous between the American and Nova Scotian annual Downrigging Festival. Scheduled for October 29-31, Schooner Associations. About 40 small and medium Downrigging attracts thousands of visitors to Chestertown schooners participated. The schooner Fortune won the inauto sail on the assembled fleet of ships, listen to great music, gural race for the Esperanto cup. and support the Sultana Education Foundation’s education The event was such a success that a committee was programs. b MarlinspikeMagazine.com

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MARYLAND DOVE

GEORGE SASS

According to Joe Connor, CBMM’s Lead Shipwright and its Construction Manager on the Maryland Dove project, fall will be a very busy time for his team, as they work toward getting the ship in the water so that rigging and engine work can begin.

For months, CBMM shipwrights have been hard at work on the ship’s planking, which will culminate in August with the whiskey plank going in the shutter strake. The team will then move on to caulking and installing decking and the interior and deck furniture.

Work on the ship, a representation of the vessel that accompanied the first European settlers to Maryland in 1634 that is owned by the State of Maryland and operated and maintained by Historic St. Mary’s City, is being completed in full public view, primarily Monday–Friday, with some light work done on the weekends.

To learn more, visit marylanddove.org.

H From the Jungle Shipyard in Costa Rica, Jeremy Starn writes: “The shipyard is buzzing with the approach of the rainy season on the west coast of Costa Rica. Several large announcements were made in the last month including our plans for building a second identical ship.

“This decision was made out of increased demand for 38

our zero emission cargo services. The northbound voyages for both ships have already been reserved by exporters who have signed letters of intent to ship with us. This has given us a lot of security in knowing that people want to be a part of what we do. All of this is made possible by the hard working carpenters, shipwrights, metalworkers and support teams that make everything run smoothly.

“Along with big announcements, construction is going quickly. The largest single structure to be installed this year has been successfully hoisted into place. The samson post is a giant 12” x 12” x 7 yard piece of tropical hardwood (L. Hymenaea courbaril, common names: Jatoba, Guapinol). The timber has many functions and overall is a very important structure in the ship. It’s notched into the forward deadwood, secured by the top deck beams and bolted through. It will secure the anchor chain and will be the forward point for towing.

“Tween-deck beams were recently installed which allowed teams to reach the upper frames where the sheer clamps and shoulders are being put into place. The sheer clamps are 15 inches thick and run the length of the ship.

The ballast keel, which is two steel I-beams, are being welded together. These will be attached underneath the ships frames and bolted through over 2 meters of material.

“At the same time, a team is treating all of the frames

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with cold pressed linseed oil with a tar and thinner mixture.

This will help preserve the wood against rot. The sawyers are switching to milling interior wood as most of the large timbers have been cut.

“Wood is now being delivered for the second ship, named Pitaya, and will dry while it waits for the construction of Ceiba to wrap up.”

H Maine’s First Ship, the pinnace Virginia, is scheduled for a Spring 2022 launch. May 13 and June 4, 2022 are the suitable high tide dates being considered.

Meanwhile, the Jane Stevens Visitor Center will be open again this summer from Wednesday through Sunday each week from 10 am to 2 pm through Labor Day weekend. The Visitor Center is located at 27 Commercial Street in Bath and Virginia’s spars are there for your inspection in the same shed.

MFS is also sponsoring four summer lectures, part zoom and part live, on topics such as cod fishing, illness on ships, and the conservation of archeological artifacts. Check mfship.org for more information.

H The latest from the Burnham boatyard in Essex, MA, where they are gearing up for a total rebuild of the 1911 sardine carrier Sylvina Beal: “After overworking on the sawmill early this spring, Harold needed to go on light duty for a couple of months and rest up. This meant catching up on a lot of aspects of the

business (and life) we had been putting off for rainy days, including plenty of project management, planning, and program development.

“Among the most exciting things to come out of this downtime is a new Maritime Apprenticeship Program we developed with our partners at Maritime Gloucester that will help aspiring young mariners get started into maritime careers.

“For the rest of the crew, we have been busy getting the Ardelle ready for the season, finishing up work on some small boats in the yard, and completing some repairs to the tug Wallace Foss at the Gloucester Marine Railways.

“Apprentice KD has been plugging away at learning design, creating zoom presentations about her apprenticeship (https://www.essexshipbuilding.org/newsletters-talks), and starting work at the Essex Shipbuilding Museum, where she was recently hired in the role of Operations Manager.

“The Beal is stable in the creek and we are starting to get ready to begin lofting her once the sailing season is done.

We picked up the rest of her sails, bought a bit more bronze, and have a whole slew of fresh logs to start milling. We can’t wait to get the gang back together!

“You can read more in our blog, Time, Tide and the Rehabilitation of the Sylvina W. Beal at SchoonerArdelle.com or register for KD’s monthly zoom presentations through the Shipbuilding Museum’s site, EssexShipbuilding.org.”

H FUEL delivered Shenandoah to the Henry B. duPont

CEIBA

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SHENANDOAH

IAN RIDGEWAY

Preservation Shipyard at Mystic Seaport back in November upon receiving the donation of the historic ship from Captain Bob Douglas. Over the winter she’s had a lot of work done, much of it on her stern.

The Shipyard staff has finished planking and fairing on the port side. Some caulking and puttying remain to be done on those planks. The aftmost frames on the starboard side have been fully replaced and a few futtocks in other frames.

The work now is to finish planking, then fairing and caulking the starboard side. The staff cut most of the new deck planks that had to be removed to access the stern timbers and will be installing those this week.

The bulwarks removed behind the wheel-box are back together, with all associated hardware back in place. The staff will build a new wheel-box once the decking is complete.

The work is happening with urgency since Shenandoah's season was supposed to start June 6th.

FUEL Executive Directoer Ian Ridgeway reports, “Our comprehensive campaign has been successful. We have secured the capital funding for Shenandoah ($370,000), the start-up capital for FUEL ($330,000), and are now working on finishing the program development and tuition assistance portions of the campaign ($300,000).”

H Work on the Ernestina-Morrissey continues at Bristol 40

Marine’s Shipyard in Boothbay Harbor, ME. Currently the yard is completing finish work below decks, while final details are being finalized for funding the final push and completion of the rehabilitation. The main engine and gen sets have been installed, and bunks are nearing completion.

Sails are being sewn by sailmaker Nathaniel Wilson and crew, with several already completed.

The Schooner Ernestina Morrissey Association is holding a GoFundMe fundraiser for the sails: “Ernestina Sailing Forward”.

Mass Maritime’s Craig Dalton says “our completion date will realistically now be in the spring of 2022 due to many factors, including COVID-19- caused availability and delivery issues, as well as price increases being experienced worldwide.”

H As reported elsewhere in this issue, the brigantine Oliver C. Wyant, later called Actress, is being rebuilt by Capt.

Ray Williamson of Maine Windjammer Cruises. He plans to operate run her as a three-cabin, six-pack windjammer.

The brigantine will be named Capt. Frank Swift, after the founder of Maine Windjammer Cruises.

“We took possession Thanksgiving weekend,” writes Capt. Ray, “sailing her back from East Boothbay. Returning under full sail — ten sails in all — we had a glorious trip.

We immediately downrigged her, stowing her sails and spars

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FRANK SWIFT FRANK SWIFT

ERNESTINA in our various barns, and built a winter house over the vessel.

Gutting the interior was the first order of business along, with removal of the defunct 471 Gray Marine diesel.

“A large skylight was removed, and a handsome sliding hatch built to fit on the same coamings. This provides access to the three passenger compartments. Two have double beds with en suite heads and sinks. The third is a larger family cabin with three bunks, one which can be used as a double.

It also has a sitting area and a private head.

ERNESTINA

“A new 110-horsepower Yanmar replaced the 471. With a much smaller footprint, this also added to the available interior space. The galley was removed, and the area is being converted to a saloon. The original head was enlarged to include a shower, and the galley is being moved to the after house. Above deck, all rigging and layout will remain as original, which is her outstanding feature.” b Got an update for Boatyards? E-mail us! Boatyard updates get lots of hits on our popular facebook page!

ERNESTINA MarlinspikeMagazine.com

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A select list of sailing opportunities open to the public.

WEST COAST Call of the Sea, Sausalito, CA (415) 331-3214 * CalloftheSea.org Educational programming aboard schooner Seaward and the new brigantine Matthew Turner.

Grays Harbor Historic Seaport, Aberdeen, WA (800) 200-5239 * HistoricalSeaport.org Sailing aboard the Lady Washington.

Los Angeles Maritime Institute, Los Angeles, CA (310) 883-6055 * LAMITopSail.org Sail-training for school and youth groups.

Maritime Museum of San Diego, San Diego, CA (619) 234-9153 * SDMaritime.org Day sails on Californian; coastal cruises on galleon San Salvador.

SALTS, Victoria, BC (888) 383-6811 * Salts.ca Sail training for youth, day sails for all, on two large schooners Schooner Adventuress, Port Townsend, WA (360) 379-0438 * SoundExp.org Overnight programs for teens, adults, seniors, and families.

Schooner Zodiac, Bellingham, WA (206) 719-7622 * SchoonerZodiac.com Windjammer cruises in the San Juan Islands, April-October.

Schooners North, Friday Harbor, WA (360) 378-2224 * SanJuanSailCharter.com Cruises from the San Juans to Alaska on the schooner Spike Africa.

GREAT LAKES Appledore Tall Ships, Bay City, MI (989) 895-5193 * BaySailBayCity.org Day-sails, charters, ed programs, and overnight opportunities.

Brigantine St. Lawrence II, Kingston, ON (613) 544-5175 * Brigantine.ca Sail-training programs on the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario.

Traverse Tall Ship Co., Traverse Bay, MI (231) 941-2000 * TallShipSailing.com Education, day-sails, charters, and multi-day windjammer cruises.

US Brig Niagara, Erie, PA (814) 452-2744 ext. 214 * FlagshipNiagara.org A wide variety of programs aboard Niagara and Lettie Howard.

EAST COAST Barque Picton Castle, Lunenburg, NS (902) 634-9984 * Picton-Castle.com Now planning World Voyage 8 for Spring 2021!

Brilliant, Mystic, CT (860) 572-0711 * MysticSeaport.org Brilliant is an offshore classroom for Mystic Seaport’s ed programs.

Discovering Amistad, New Haven, CT (203) 498-8222 * DiscoveringAmistad.org

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Dockside tours and ed opportunities aboard replica slaver.

Liberty Fleet of Tall Ships, Boston, MA (617) 742-0333 * LibertyFleet.com Windjammer-style Caribbean cruises; day sails from Boston.

Maine Windjammer Association, Midcoast Maine (800) 807-WIND * SailMaineCoast.com Nine, count ‘em, traditional sailing vessels on the Maine coast.

Maine Windjammer Cruises, Midcoast Maine (207) 236-2938 * MaineWindjammerCruises.com Three traditional sailing vessels offering multi-day cruises in midcoast Maine from mid-May into October. This business is for sale.

Ocean Passages, Portland, ME (855) 212-0123 * Ocean-Passages.org Long-form sail-training aboard the schooner Harvey Gamage.

Oliver Hazard Perry, Newport, RI (401) 841-0080 * OHPRI.org Workforce development and other sailing and dockside programs.

Pride of Baltimore II, Baltimore, MD (410) 539-1151 * Pride2.org Paid crew opportunities, educational programs and dockside events.

Schooner A. J. Meerwald, Bivalve, NJ (856) 785-2060 * BayShoreCenter.org Day and overnight Maritime Camp programs for children 13-17.

Schooner Adventure, Gloucester, MA (978) 281-8079 * Schooner-Adventure.org Public sails, private charters, and educational programs.

Schooner Alliance, Yorktown, VA (757) 639-1233 * SailYorktown.com Public sails, private charters, and educational programs.

Schooner Ardelle, Gloucester, MA (978) 281-0470 * SchoonerArdelle.com Public sails, private charters, and educational programs.

Schooner Fame, Salem, MA (978) 729-7600 * SchoonerFame.com Public sails, private charters, ed programs, and sail training.

Sloop Clearwater, Kingston, NY (410) 539-1151 * Clearwater.org Day sails, youth & adult programs, environmental activism.

Schooner Sultana, Chesterton, MD (410) 778-5954 * SultanaProjects.org Week-long “Chesapeake Adventures” programs for ages 11-14.

World Ocean School, Boston, MA (340) 626-7877 * WorldOceanSchool.org Education programs in Boston Harbor on board Roseway.

Sea I mester, Sarasota, FL (941) 924-2900 * Seamester.com Semester-at-sea and gap-year programs for college students.

SEA Semester, Woods Hole, MA (508) 540-3954* Sea.edu Accredited semester-at-sea programs for college students.

Sylvina Beal, Essex, MA (978) 491-7666 * BurnhamBoatbuilding.com 1911 sardine carrier currently being restored by National Heritage Fellow Harold Burnham to offer a variety of sailing programs. ❂

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Continued from page 23 upwelling of support in the Jewish community of Long Island.

Two Danish organizations learned of Regina’s plight from the Dan’s Papers article and contacted Wiggin in late August. They offered to invest $4.5 million to restore the ship in Greenport, or take her back to Denmark so the work could be done at the RingAndersen Shipyard.

This all came too late for Greenport and Regina. The ship had to leave the village by the end of August. The timing was good, however, for Glen Cove, some 90 miles west of Greenport.

Mayor Thomas Suozzi, felt Regina could serve as the star attraction for Glen Cove’s $20 million waterfront revitalization project.

By the end of July, 2001, Regina was afloat at Glen Cove — but only with the aid of constantly running pumps. There was the continual danger that a pump would fail, a storm would sink her again, or both, so Bay Crane of Hicksville was hired to REGINA’s figurehead lift the ship and build a cradle under her. Then the ship was to be completely rebuilt.

On September 8, with one 500-ton crane, instead of the three that were probably necessary, Regina proved too heavy to lift. The cables slipped and cut into the hull and bulwarks, crushing them with loud reports. The stern-most cable slipped off her steel shoe, cutting deeply into the wood of the weakened stern. This opened up the hull so that no amount of pumping could keep her afloat.

In 2002, the ship was destroyed, with only her masts, figurehead and a few other pieces preserved in a public park in Glen Cove.

Even that apparently safe resting place proved transient, however — the park was sold for private development in 2017.

All remnants of Regina Maris were destroyed except for her figurehead, which is currently on display at the Long Island Maritime Museum in West Sayville. b Regina Maris came into John Kerr’s life in 1971 when he sailed on her as a working passenger from Los Angeles to Papeete. In 1991, when he was head sailing instructor for the Yacht Club’s youth program, Regina floated back into his life as she arrived in Greenport. Kerr and his wife Penny became involved in her preservation as co-directors of the nonprofit Save the Regina Maris Ltd. Kerr became the ship’s historian, and Dreamers Before the Mast is the culmination of research begun in connection with that position.

The book is available on Amazon as a 300-page paperback or an eBook.

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A popular feature on the Marlinspike facebook page is NAME THAT BOAT, where readers are asked to identify tall ships and sail-training vessels of the past & present.

A

How many of these vessels can you name?

8/9 — Admiral of the Ocean Sea 7/9 — Commodore 6/9 — Captain 5/9 — Master & Commander 4/9 — First Mate 3/9 — Seaman, Able 2/9 — Seaman, Ordinary 1/9 — Swabbie 0/9 — Tourist

DAN STONE

ANSWERS: A) Corwith Cramer, B) Alma, C) Aquidneck, D) Kruhzenstern, E) Lady Washington, F) Virginia, G) Brilliant, H) Young America, I) Phoenix.

B

C

F

D

BENSON LEE

44

M. CARSTA

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ANJEN

E

G

ANDY PRICE

H

RICK HORN STUDIO

I

THOR AARGARD

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I was sailing from Cuba to Mexico. I had my night watch, very choppy sea, and as always during my nightwatches there is a lot of time for self-reflection. When the flying fish hit me in the eye, it literally opened my eyes!

A fish that makes unexpected jumps, adapts to situations and adapts by using unexpected strategies. After checking with my flashlight what it was what hit me, I threw the fish quickly overboard.

This tattoo reminds me to keep my eyes open, because you never know what's around the corner, even out at sea.

— Saskia Poelman

Here are the finished knives that my son Carlton and I made last week at Med Chandler’s class in Auburn. I have Marlinspike to thank for taking this course — you had shared the link on facebook and I signed my son up. After realizing that I didn’t want to drive 1.5 hours each way twice a day, I signed myself up as well. My son will get way more use out of his; he is a deckhand this summer on the schooner Surprise in Camden. Med, as well as Derek and Isaiah from the school, were fantastic in their teaching of how to make both the spike and knife. I had never done any blacksmithing and was amazed at what I was able to make out of a piece of flat steel. My handle is black walnut and Carlton’s is spalted maple. Ship’s Coy Forge as well as New England School of Metalwork are top notch!

— Chris Richmond

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Visit the historic seaport of Salem, Mass for a cruise on our replica of the 1812 privateer schooner FAME! Sailing daily all summer from our downtown dock!

978.729.7600 * SchoonerFame.com