needed a boathouse, and he was determined to see it through. The only way to get a boathouse was to lobby for it. Joe decided he must mobilize his club membership. H e was determined to teach these children of humble beginnings the meaning of civic action. The upper basin was dominated by th e MIT sailing pavilion on the Cambridge bankand the U nio n Boar Club on the Boston bank. Bo th MIT and the U nion Boat Club considered th e upper basin their private preserve. Ir was time for the tenem ent kids from the lower basin to force their way up the river, while learning a first hand lesson in how the American political system worked. Joe Lee was delighted to be their mentor. Joe and his yo ung "lobbyists" initiated their campaign during the prestigious Annual America n H enley Regatta, held at the Union Boat Club. While Boston deburantes socialized with the academic elite of MIT and H arva rd , Jim Marino lead a flotilla of 14 boars under the Longfell ow Bridge into the upper Basin. Labeled "river rats" by the MDC police, the scruffy boys with their scruffy boars were promptly rowed back below the bridge and ordered not to return. Bur return they did , o n a daily basis, with Joe rou tinely sending boars to every span of the bridge, trying- and succeeding-to drive the MDC patrol boar officers crazy. On weekends, the battle came to the streets of Beacon Hill with kids assigned to every street corner to as k local Beacon Hill residents to sign boathouse petitions. As che boathouse lobbyists and their oppo nents gathered momentum for an inevitable co nfro ntation, Mother Nature stepped in unexpectedly to offer her help. July of 1938 was plagued with torrential rains and severe thunderstorms that caused massive flooding along the Charles. 1he Charles River locks we re opened to alleviate the flood waters, making it imposs ible to sail safely in the lower Basin . Joe and his boys rook to the streets, marching through the West End, across Cambridge Street, up Temple, past Suffolk Unive rsity to the State House. Carrying homemade banners, petitions, and a sailboat named the Eugene C. Hultman that they "docked" on the floor of the State H ouse's H all of Flags; the noisy lobbyists were greeted by Governo r C harles Hurley. Jack D onovan, a Suffolk Law School student, stated the group's purpose and presented the governor with their petitions. 22
The kids tas ted their first small victo ry when Governor Hurley o rdered Hultman to allow the kids to sail fro m the public landing in fro nt of the U nio n Boat C lub. They had nor ye t achieved their d ream , but they were one step closer to ir. W hen the C harl es Ri ve r reced ed , the kids sailed thro ugh the spans of the Lo ngfellow Bridge, escorted by the MDC patrol boat that had once chased them o ut. While neither the MIT sailors nor the rowing crowd at the Union Boat Club welcomed their new neighbors to the Upper Basin, several of the elder Boston aristocracy
kept things relatively o rganized. "Ordinary seamen" stayed inside the breakwater and were easily visible as they we re o utfitted with colored sails. "Able seaman" could sail outside the breakwater. "Chief petty officers" am o ng the older kids formed the club m anagem ent and could sail the schooners. The club ended its third season with 600 permanent, year-round m embers. That year, the ride turned once again when Joe's cousin, Leverett Saltonstall , was elected governor. Joe had been biding his time, waiting for the perfect moment to advance his cause. He was determined to move the boathouse plans
embraced the kids. Admiral Richard Byrd, accompanied by his dog, charred with the C BC kids and bro ught his grandchildren down to the Basin to sail with them. H enry Shattuck, city councilor, encouraged them and Stephen Cabot befri ended them . In th e s umm e r of 1939, J oe 's Community Boat Club opened its third season up-river with an expanded fl eet of rwenty sailboats and four three-m as ted schooners. In addition to the sailboats, they had built a 24-fo ot gondola, co mpl ete with canopy, cushio ns, and a rowing stanchion for a standing oarsman in the stern . On hot summer evenings, passengers boarded fro m the granite steps near th e concert shell and were ferried around the Basin as music wafted across the water. Go ndoliers were chosen for their ability to sin g Italian so ngs, and the income from chis enterprise was used to defray the club's operating coses. That summer, m embersh ip swelled to over 1,000. A new club rating system
forward, and Salronsrall's election presented him with a perfect opportuni ty. Early in the spring of 1939, Joe had the kids name one of their three- mas ted schooners the Leverett Saltonstall, then he sent an invitatio n to the governo r fo r the for mal christening cerem ony. White hat in one hand and a borrle of champagne in the other, the new governor visited the bas in to officially christen "his" ship. The christening was a triumphant success, and it set in motion the kids' next move. As the governo r had now publicly decl ared his support for the C BC, Joe felt the rime was right to initiate the next step in the group's campaign . With dock mas ters Jack Donovan and Jim M arino leading the way, 100 chanting teenagers descended on the State House. Carrying signs and pushing fruit carts, borrowed from several of the kids' parents and packed fu ll of sail boats, the yo ung people surged fo rward up to the Scare House steps, where they were greeted by the Gove rno r and the SEA HISTORY 130, SPRING 2010