Charleston, SC revisited

[John D. Patten]

As I entered Charleston Harbor this Thanksgiving aboard my sailboat I was reminded of the Thanksgiving cruises we enjoyed aboard the TABOR BOY delivering her here for the annual winter lay up. Charleston Harbor is quite different after 38 years. A magnificent bridge can be seen from miles at sea and container cranes bristle along the waterfront. In a one hour interval three large container ships arrived and a Norwegian cruise ship sailed. I recently had the pleasure of visting with Karen & Jay Parker at their beautiful new home in Oriental, NC. as I made my way down the Intercoastal Waterway. I also enjoyed having dinner with John Blake, Schooner Crew and Class of 60 +/- at his new home in Oriental. I will continue South on my retirement cruise to spend the winter aboard in Key West, FL.

[James Hutton]

Jim,
The same happened to Bob Glover and me. This is from my page, "Sailing through Woods Hole on the way to Nantucket, one late fall day. We sailed her through and found that the wind was blowing even stronger on the Nantucket side. So, Cap told us to reduce sail and Bob Glover and I climbed out on the bowsprit to gather, stop, and secure the outer jib as it came down. Cap pointed her up into the wind and the schooner started a progressive pitch. We worked quickly but it wasn’t long before the bow plunged so that our boots were dipped into the cold water. We continued stopping the sail and securing it to the jib boom as the bow dipped and we were waist deep in the spume. We kept working, and the bow dipped again; this time we were neck deep. Bob and I tied the last stop and scrambled back in before the bow sprit took one more dip into Nantucket Sound. Cap headed off the wind and we continued our way to Nantucket making about ten knots."
Good times!!!

[Jim Potdevin]

And it was the November '71 trip to Charleston that at 0245, off of Greenport, Long Island, NY, that the flying jib (neatly furled along the bow sprit) starting coming out of its stops. And while plowing into 10-12' seas (under power with the wind from the west down Long Island Sound) Jerry Brown, Ted Spaulding, mayber Matt Spicer and I went forward to secure it. It seemed every other wave came up through our foul weather gear to our waists or chests, thoroughly soaking us. We got it secured but stll had another 30 minutes on the mid-watch. Soaking wet and in the low-40s. A chilly night. Also seems that we had the TV tower in Greenport in sight abeam at the start of the watch and we still had it in sight at the end of the watch. Ahh, see how she schoons...

I also seem to remember taking a wave into the partially opened hinged wooden aft hatch to aft berthing (just the wood hatch was open, not the big steel sliding hatch). That wave "dampened" a number of sleeping bags and made it miserable!

[James Hutton]

I sure remember Cap telling this story but I can't remember the guilty party. I think that Jerry Brown might have been a part of it and can perhaps label the rest of the culprits. I'll shoot him an email. Cap loved telling this story.

[John D. Patten]

Perhaps someone who was on the schooner crew prior to 1969 can verify if the following story is true. I hope that it is because it would make me proud to think that a fellow crewmember would think of doing such a thing. The story as I remember it centers around a summer trip to Mystic Seaport. There was an all female crew aboard the DUTTON, one of the Seaport's ships. In the middle of the night the schooner crew quietly rowed the longboat across the harbor, alongside the DUTTON and stuck their wet hands into the open portholes. The screams could be heard across the harbor and Cap was on deck with a smile on his face when the longboat returned to the schooner.

[John D. Patten]

I understand that the schooner has a new main engine now, a powerful Cummins made possible by one of the Trustees. Kelly's did the work and brought everything up to USCG engine room standards. Kelly's bought NorLantic and Hathaway's next door and has a very large presence in the harbor now.

[Jim Potdevin]

And what is the best bilge pump?

A bucket in the hands of a scared man standing knee deep in water!

Two of those black 5-gallon bucket out the hatch at a time.

I also remember getting all the canned goods in their soaking wet cardboard boxes out of the flooded mess deck bilge by Cap's Cabin (after we had gotten most of the water out). Water, oil, soaked to the skin, sliding & slipping through the bilge.

I also remember the diesel guy at NorLantic in New Bedford told us "Don't start the engine!" And Cap said, "We already did!".

[Peter A. Mello]

This thread alone is worth all of the time and effort it took to create this website. I know that there are many, many more stories just like it out there waiting to be told. Thanks for saving some of great history of an amazing ship. Lives changed, stories told!

[John D. Patten]

The time we sank at the dock in Bermuda was a classic! It was the Queen's birthday and as cook I went into the galley to start breakfast and noticed that everything was leaning towards the stern. I walked back towards the after cabin and I noticed the engineer, Ted Spaulding, was sound asleep with his arm hanging over the side of his bunk in about 9" of water. I looked into the engine room and everything was under water. I woke Cap & Jay up and told them that the engine room was completely flooded. The crew quickly formed a bucket brigade and started to bail the engine room out through the overhead deck hatch until it could be determined that a thru-hull fitting had failed allowing enough water into the engine room to put us on the bottom. Harry Cox arrived and offered the crew a case of champagne if we had the main engine running within 24 hours. The engine was worked on throughout the day and with the addition of a healthy dose of Marval Mystery Oil it was put back together by 11PM. Jay Parker had taken the alternator off and flown back to New Bedford on the afternoon flight to get it serviced. Before he left, Jay asked Cap if he could marry Karen and he didn't get shot down so thats the rest of the story!

[James Hutton]

I remember hearing about the knock down and the Detroit 71 rebuild in Bermuda from Cap, years after. Man, that must have been one hell of a trip!

[Jim Potdevin]

Hah! The Princess! We had some of those pink & white and blue & white towels for years!

And how about the time we were taking the girls (sea scouts or something) from Newport or New Bedford to Marion and we got knocked down by the squall north of the Elizabeth Islands? You had the ports open to the galley and when the water came pouring down you were the first on deck in your life jacket!

Many, many, stories...