THE JOHN F. LEA VITT By Francis E. Bowker
The sea is an unrelenting adversary. On December 28 it took the new coasting schoonerJohn F. Leavitt. She was abandoned by her crew in what the owner called "unusual sea conditions" encountered on the edge of the Gulf Stream 280 miles southeast of Long Island. The lumber cargo she was carrying to the West Indies shifted, pumps failed, there was trouble with other gear on deck and aloft. "Inexperience did it, " said Captain "Biff" Bowker, master of Mystic Seaport's schooner Brilliant and a veteran of the coasting trade in sail. He agreed we should run this article on the schooner's prospects as he wrote it, before her loss. "A tradition has been broken, " he added. "We have to start over. It will take years, and maybe some losses."
The staunch schooner loads cargo at Quincy, Massachusells for her ill-fated maiden voyage. Pho!O: Giles Tod.
The schooner John F. Leavitt was launched in Thomaston, Maine on August 8, 1979. Since the beginning of this project there has been considerable speculation about her future and whether it is possible for an antiquated, engineless schooner to compete in a world that has raced generations ahead of the leisurely day in which sail transportation flourished. Eighty years ago there was good money made by active schooners and there was no extra money to be garnered by movie contracts or publication of books on how to build and operate a schooner. The captain was often his own agent, had big ears, a small mouth and a nose that could smell a charter either up wind or down wind. When there was work to be done, no social obligations stood in the way. When the going was tough, the captain was the toughest man aboard, though he might be seventy years of age. If a small schooner can be sailed by a captain, a man and a boy, as in the past, if cargoes can be loaded and discharged in small ports where the crew can handle cargo over the rail without gangs of union longsboremen to eat up the freight, iflabor Jaws will allow the crew to work whatever hours are necessary to operate a sailing vessel with a small crew at sea, it may be possible for a few such craft to earn their cost. Just as soon as a vessel reaches a size where licensed officers and certified seamen are required, the real trouble will begin. It is doubtful if there is a man under sixty years of age who has a valid license as Master of Sail, unlimited tonnage. There might be a few for 500 tons, actually gained in auxiliary craft. Mates with sail training would be just as scarce as are able seamen. There are probably just as many young people as there ever were who profess a desire to venture to sea in conventional SEA HISTORY, WINTER 1980
sailing ships. When I first started prowling the waterfront in search of a captain who would ship me, the first question was "What vessels have you sailed in?" The second was, "Do you have a strong back and a weak mind?" The first question was important to establish whether I had experience. The second was quite superfluous as the fact that I was coming back for more would provide the answer. Although veterans of dude cruisers and our few training vessels have some experience of sailing vessels and can provide strong backs, it is unfortunate that most of them have strong minds. The majority of these young people gain their experience during college vacations. Few of these would be willing to spend the years at sea necessary to become veteran seamen, for after they have read a few books, pulled a few lines (God forbid that we should call them ropes) they suddenly find that they know all there is to know about the sea and become teachers. Even in the heyday of the sailing coaster, life was not as leisurely as presently depicted. Many a coaster was launched with sails bent and rigging rove off, and often they were towed directly to a loading wharf or sailed for a loading port within a day. The word "hustler" had a different connotation in marine circles than on city streets. It denoted a captain who kept his vessel moving, his crew busy, plagued shippers and agents, would carry a poor cargo if it would bring him near a port where better freights might prevail. A hustler made money for himself and his owners and would proudly boast that his was the finest craft on the coast. Much has been written about this new, engineless, sailing vessel that is about to challenge the age of motorization, containerization, automation, unionization and, above all, astronomical fuel costs . If boldness of concept and persistence in ap-
plication has any chance of success, Ned Ackerman may set modern maritime technology, computerization and containerization back a hundred years. The John F. Leavitt, built to higher standards than were ever stipulated in the contract of any former coaster, should live a long life. Most of the success of this little vessel will depend upon the continued interest and innovative approach of the man responsible for her creation. Is the Leavitt just a new toy that can earn part of her way through such publicity as the movie already recording her story? There is a vast range between the concept of a dream and the end product of its practical application. The John F. Leavitt has progressed from concept to birth. It is now time for Ned Ackerman to show that he is a "hustler," that he is the best and is willing to prove it. Several generations have scorned the idea that commerce could be best borne on the wings of the wind. Many of us who served in sail during its demise, before World War ll, look back with rosetinted glasses to the hardships, low pay and slavery of love to ships we were proud to serve and mourned as they passed. Every person who has experienced the thrill of sailing on a windy day can picture the John F. Leavitt leaping through sunlit sea with a cargo of fish for Haiti or granite blocks for New Haven. Those of us who remember winter gales off Nova Scotia and hurricanes in the West Indies are inclined to see two sides of the matter and wonder if even a shortage of fuel will bring a quick revival of commercial sail. A few trades may be open and it will be great to see schooners again working the seas. Let's hope hands can be found to man such craft and refute John Masefield's requiem, "Earth will not see such ships as these again."
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