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on the original plans of specific boats that were stationed at Wood Island. During the time the station was being built, the lifesaving service was transitioning from rowing rescue vessels to motorized warercrafr, and we intend to underscore this development in our interpretation of the site by building and operating a Beebe Mclellan motorized surfboat to march the one de1ivered to the station in 1914. Hundreds oflives were saved over the 40-year history oflife-saving from this location, and this proud tradition continues today out of the nearby US Coast Guard Station at Portsmouth. More information and some fa ntas tic drone videos are ava ilable on our website at www.woodislandlifesaving.org.
sel and will return her to the Georgia coast and Mcintosh County, where she w ill be restored. A non-profit organization, Friends of the Kit Jones, Inc., has been esta blished to help the club in these efforts. Several hundred of its members gathered recently for an annual meeting, where the news of the Kit Jon es was enthusiastically received. The first order of business will be to remove
SAM R EID, PRES IDENT
the vessel's heavy rigging before transporting her by truck from Biloxi to Georgia. A secure landing site awaits her in Darien, where restoration efforts can begin . We are very fortunate to have a copy of the original Sparkman & Stephens plans from which to work, as well as a considerable number of people willing to devote their time and expertise to the proj ect. We would like to thank those people who contributed to the Kit Jo nes project as a result of the Sea History article, and we welcome any future participation in our project. Tax-deductible contributions can be made online a t www. gofundme.com/research-vessel-kirjones. Checks made payable to the Friends of the Kit Jones, Inc., may be mailed to PO Box 1968, Darien, GA, 31305 . We also wish to thank the University of Mississippi and lon g-rime Kit Jones caretaker Paul Bodin at Bay M arine Boat Works, Biloxi, for their patience a nd help in ensuring that this beautiful a nd historic vessel was nor lost, bur will live on. We are very grateful for the continu ing interest in the Kit Jo nes proj ect demonstrated by Sea H istory editorial staff and its readers. We encourage your readers to follow the Kit J ones proj ect on Facebook at www.facebook. com/RVKitJones, and to visit our website, which includes a derailed history and many photos, at www.kirjones -reprise. rumblr.com .
Wood Island Life-Saving Station Association, Kittery Point, Maine J. P. URANKER WOODCARVER AUTHENTIC MARITIME
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Historic Ship OFF a Lee Shore! I wish to update you on the progress of our project to save and restore the tugboat Kit Jo nes, wh ich was featured in "Historic Ships on a Lee Shore" last year (Sea H istory 154, Spring 2016). The Kit Jo nes was built in 1939 on Sapelo Island, Georgia, by R. ]. Reynolds Jr., who commissioned a Sparkman & Stephens design for a tugboat to serve his Sapeloe Plantation. She was constructed by skilled local residents, many of the Gullah-Geechee culture, using heart pine and live oak timbers harvested from the island. The Kit Jo nes served variously as a lifeline to the mainland for residents of the island, next as a fireboat in WWIIera Savannah, and for the greater part of her 75-year working career as a scientific research vessel. Operated for severa l decades by the University of Georgia and later by the University of Mississippi, scientific field work performed aboard the Kit Jo nes resulted in contributions to a significant body of marine and ecological research. At the time of the Sea History feature, the KitJones was sitting in dry dock in Biloxi, Mississippi, facing an uncertain future. H er owner/operator of thirty years, the University of Mississippi, was no longer able to maintain the vessel. We are happy to report that the McIntosh Rod & Gun Club, Inc., of D arien, Georgia, has now acquired title to the ves-
DAVIS POOLE , PR ESIDENT
Mcintosh Rod & G un C lub, Inc., and Friends of the Kit Jones, Inc.
SEA HISTORY 159, SUMMER 2017