2 SHAVINGS July 1991

WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL GROUNDS TABLE OF CONTENTS

Festival Program of Events 3

Wooden Bowl XV 4

New At The Festival 5

A Few Good Boating Stories

The Winsome File 6

What Do You Say? 9

On Building The Tiamot 10

Calendar of Events 11

A Return To Yesterday 12

It's Contagious 14

Errol Flynn and The Zaca 16

Restoring the Zodiac 18

Cover Photo: Some of the Center for Wooden Boats living heritage exhibits, photo by Marty Loken

Join us for the fun of it... And the heritage we're preserving. And the savings you'll get. • Big savings on seminars and classes • 25% off hourly boat rental rate • Six issues per year of our Shavings newsletter • 10% off merchandise sales • Be a part of a unique museum • Join our regattas, talks, trips & other special events.

July 1991 SHAVINGS 3

LAKE UNION WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL PROGRAM OF EVENTS

FRIDAY, JULY 5 NOON TO 8 P.M.

Noon - 6 p.m. Silent Auction - Big Tent 1:30 p.m. Lake Union Challenge Cup - Quick & Daring Boatbuilding Contest - Wawona Courtyard 2 p.m. Steve Philipp -Maritime Crafts of the Puget Sound Indians - Armory Building 2:30 p.m. Lee Ehrheart - Caulking demonstration - north side of Armory Building 3 p.m. Rowing Race - fast and half-fast classes 3 p.m. - 6 p.m. Folk music - Big Tent 3:30 p.m. Sailing races - Fast and Half-Fast classes 4 p.m. Re-enactment of the first Duck Dodge Race 5 p.m. Slide talk by Lee Ehrheart on the June, 1991 Norwegian Rescue Service Centennial -

Armory Building All Day Building a 6' Boy's Boat - Wooden Boat Shop Display - CWB lawn

Toy Boat Building - Naval Reserve grounds Ship, Boat and Indian Canoe Models, Maritime Art, Historic Maritime Photos, Scrimshaw - Armory Building Working miniature steam and gas engines - north side, Armory Building Lathe work, Blacksmithing, Rigging, Net Mending - Wawona Courtyard Water Taxi tours - board at CWB Boathouse or end of show moorage area Ballots for People's Choice and Boatbuilders Choice Awards and entries for the boat drawing - CWB Store, west side of Armory Building

8 p.m. Seattle Storytellers' Guild - CWB Boathouse; $5 admission includes refreshments

SATURDAY, JULY 6 10 A.M. TO 6 P.M.

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Puget Sound Bloodmobile - Wawona Courtyard Noon Lake Union Challenge Cup - Quick and Daring Boatbuilding Contest - Wawona Courtyard Noon - 4 p.m. Silent Auction - Big Tent Noon - 6 p.m. Folk Music - Big Tent 12:30 p.m. Steve Philipp - Maritime Crafts of the Puget Sound Indians - Armory Building 1 p.m. Rowing Race - Fast and Half-Fast classes 1:30 p.m. Brion Toss - "Boatbuilding with people" and other stuff - west side, Armory Building 2 p.m. EI Toro Sailing Race 2:30 p.m. Lee Ehrheart - Caulking demonstration - north side, Armory Building 3:30 p.m. Sailing Races - Fast and Half-Fast classes 4 p.m. Classic Yacht Race - single circuit of Lake Union 5 p.m. Slide talk by Lee Ehrheart on the June, 1991 Norwegian Rescue Service Centennial -

Armory Building 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. The Grand and Glorious "Boats, Planes and Trains" Auction; silent auction until 8 p.m., live

bidding 8 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. - Big Tent All Day Building a 6' Boy's Boat - Wooden Boat Shop Display - CWB lawn

Toy Boat Building - Naval Reserve grounds Ship, Boat and Indian Canoe Models, Maritime Art, Seattle Public Library Books and Boat File, Historic Maritime Photos, Scrimshaw - Armory Building Working miniature steam and gas engines - north side, Armory Building Lathe work, Blacksmithing, Rigging, Net Mending - Wawona Courtyard Water Taxi tours - board at CWB Boathouse or end of show moorage area Ballots for People's Choice and Boatbuilders Choice Awards and entries for the boat drawing - CWB Store, west side of Armory Building

SUNDAY, JULY 7 10 A.M. TO 6 P.M.

8 a.m. - 10 a.m. Breakfast!!! Fruit, rolls, eggs, meat, coffee, all for $5 - Big Tent 9 a.m. Awards for Classic Yacht Race - Big Tent Noon - 6 p.m. Folk Music - Big Tent 12:30 p.m. Steve Philipp - Maritime Crafts of the Puget Sound Indians 1 p.m. - 3 p.m. Northwest Radio-Controlled Ship Modelers demonstration - CWB Boat Basin 1 p.m. Rowing Race - Fast and Half-Fast classes* 1:30 p.m. Brion Toss - "Boatbuilding with people" and other stuff - west side, Armory Building 2 p.m. El Toro Sailing Race 2:30 p.m. Lee Ehrheart - Caulking demonstration - north side, Armory Building 3 p.m. Sailing Race - Fast and Half-Fast classes* 3:30 p.m. Lake Union Challenge Cup - The Race! 4 p.m. Slide talk by Lee Ehrheart on the June, 1991 Norwegian Rescue Service Centennial -

Armory Building 5 p.m. Awards Presentation - west side, Armory Building

Sailing and Rowing race winners Daly's "Best Owner-Restored Boat" Award Northwest Yachting People's Choice Award Fisheries Supply Boatbuilders' Choice Award Lake Union Challenge Cup (Quick and Daring contest)

6 p.m. Drawing for boat - CWB Store, west side of Armory Building All Day Building a 6' Boy's Boat - Wooden Boat Shop Display - CWB lawn

Toy Boat Building - Naval Reserve grounds Ship, Boat and Indian Canoe Models, Seattle Public Library Books and Boat File, Maritime Art, Historic Maritime Photos, Scrimshaw - Armory Building Working miniature steam and gas engines - north side, Armory Building Lathe work, Blacksmithing, Rigging, Net Mending - Wawona Courtyard Water Taxi tours - board at CWB Boathouse or end of show moorage area

'Winners of Friday and Saturday races

Special Events THE SEATTLE STORYTELLERS' GUILD PRESENTS TALES OF THE SEVEN SEAS - An enchanting evening of seaside storytelling by seven of Seattle's finest storytellers. Everything from folktales and legends of pirates and seal people to true-life ghost stories, all with the salt of the sea in them. 8 p.m. Friday, CWB Boathouse. $5 admission benefits the Center for Wooden Boats.

DUCK DODGE RE-ENACTMENT - Bruce Gilbert and Ron Lloyd created a Seattle sailing race institution in 1973 when they held the first Duck Dodge race on Lake Union - so named for the rule that required a 720-degree penalty turn for scaring a duck. They'll do it all again in the same class and make of boats as they skippered in the first race. 4 p.m. Friday.

AUCTION ACTION - It's even bigger and better this year — a veritable bonanza of unique, valuable, useful and exciting stuff. We call it "Boats, Planes and Trains" with good reason! Come see for your self. Silent bidding noon to 6 p.m. Friday. Food, drinks, entertainment and fulfillment of all your dreams of romance and adventure Saturday with silent bidding 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and live bidding 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. ($5 admission). It all takes place in the Big Tent.

QUICK AND DARING BOATBUILDING CONTEST - Six two-per­son teams race to see who can build a fast, seaworthy boat in a short amount of time. And then they have to race it: one rowing leg, one racing leg, one "anything goes" leg. The contest is sponsored by Flounder Bay Lumber Company, the Woodworker's Store and Crosscut Hardwoods. Boatbuilding noon - 3 p.m. Friday and Satur­day. Wawona Courtyard. Finished boats race on Sunday at 3 p.m.

CLASSIC YACHT RACE - Some of the Northwest's finest will circuit Lake Union with one leg off the Naval Reserve Base. Begins at 4 p.m. Saturday.

BOATBUILDING WITH BRION TOSS — The irrepressible Brion,world renowned knot-and-splice master, offers the following: building a boat out of people ("test sail" included), engineering mysteries made clear, obtuse knots demystified and implacable forces of nature conquered. Saturday and Sunday at 1:30 p.m., west side of the Armory Building.

CAULKING WITH LEE EHRHEART - Master Shipwright Lee will show you how to do it right, including hands-on instruction. 2:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. North side of the Armory Building.

FOLK MUSIC - A lively offering of songs and merriment for land and sea, featuring the talents of Rick Ruskin, Greg Scott, Joe Knowles Wiele, J. W. Weiss, Leslie McKay, Mark Spittal, Bob Kotta, Judy Grantham, Margaret Lenhart and others. Sing along or just listen. Friday 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday noon to 6 p.m. in the Big Tent.

NORWEGIAN RESCUE SERVICE - Lee Ehrheart. Seattle Master Shipwright, surveyor and teacher of wooden boat building skills and crafts, attended the Service's Centennial celebration in Norway in June. He'll share the experience in slides and narrative at 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday. Armory Building.

All Day, Everyday ART - See an exhibit of marine paintings and prints. Armory Building.

BLACKSMITHING - Watch the masters of the forge Wawona Courtyard.

BUILDING A 6' BOY'S BOAT- Watch it come together at the Wooden Boat Shop display. CWB lawn.

BOAT FINISHES AND FINISHING TECHNIQUES - Information by Daly's. West side of the Armory Building.

WOODEN BOATS - The whole point of the Wooden Boat Festival, lining the docks along the north edge of the Naval Reserve grounds. See it all from the kayaks and canoes to the 101' Adventuress and the 127' Zodiac. You are welcome to climb aboard (with owner's permission) and get a taste of life on the water.

MINIATURE STEAM AND GAS ENGINES - A working exhibit of the engines that transformed the world. Wawona Courtyard.

HISTORIC MARITIME PHOTOS - The watercraft of the Northwest photographed in their heydays. Armory Building.

PEOPLE'S CHOICE AND BOATBUILDERS CHOICE AWARDS -Two brand new awards to celebrate our 15th show. Visitors can vote for their favorite boat in the show; boatbuilders get to pick their favorite too. Pick up your ballot at the CWB Store on the west side of the Armory Building.

165 FOOT 1897 SCHOONER WAWONA - Welcome aboard.

TOY BOAT BUILDING - Build a toy boat; we provide wood, tools, masts, sails, everything you need. Usually our busiest and most popular event. Naval Reserve Grounds.

WATER TAXIS - Take a ride in a sailing scow, a 32' Makah Indian whaling canoe, a Lake Union Dreamboat and more. A plethora of boats to try. Follow "water taxi" signs.

WIN A BOAT - Stop by the CWB Store on the west side of the Armory and enter the drawing to win a 15' Lake Oswego lapstrake double-ender created in a CWB workshop.

4 SHAVINGS July 1991

Wooden Bowl IV by Dick Wagner

Think of the Big Game between Notre Dame and the College of Archaic Boats and Skills. Who would win? Once upon a time something like that happened - and the underdog (hurrah!) won.

There was a city on Puget Sound, sur­rounded by lakes, bays, beaches, rivers and snow-clad mountains. The people there loved the outdoors with a religious fervor. A l l week they would work, work, work. On weekends they would make pilgrimages to the outdoors and play, play, play. That left the city dull, dull, dull.

Then, on a semi-sunny July 4th week­end (you know it's the 4th because the rain is warm) in 1977, a strange and wondrous happening changed the city's tribal ritual of the weekend exodus. It was our first Lake Union Wooden Boat Festival.

The Festival was a marketing survey, to see if a bunch of historic boats on a busy industrial downtown lake could compete against the worship of the jumping salmon, the solemn rain forest and the alpine ozone. For those in the know this idea had as much chance to change the habits of the city folks as, let's say, the College of Archaic Boats and Skills beating Notre Dame.

Well, the dust has long settled on Boat Fest I and it must have been a winner because we are now celebrating Boat Fest X V .

The Wooden Boat Festival is a con­densed version of what happens at The Center for Wooden Boats all the rest of the year. Our purpose is to preserve and pass on our small craft heritage. Our means is direct participation; our reward is the enrichment of our community.

In 15 years of festivals and a galaxy of C W B speakers, workshops, seminars, dis­plays, tours, cruises, regattas, races and publications, we have provided an over­flowing cornucopia of experiences for our visitors. If you are learning about maritime heritage but not having fun, you must not be at The Center for Wooden Boats.

The C W B has pioneered in many ways. We transformed the old asphalt plant, which

looked like the training ground for Genghis Kahn's army, into a serene green oasis -Seattle's newest waterfront park. We've had a lot of "firsts": the first Wooden Boat Festival, first toy boatbuilding workshop, first scheduled one-week boatbuilding workshops, first middle school boatbuilding program, first monographs on the Poulsbo Boat and the Davis Boats, first Northwest Boat Builders Directory, first classic boat livery, first sailing instruction on classic boats, first publicly accessible houseboat moorage, largest accessible collection of classic small craft and more.

And besides all that serious stuff, we also are the people who brought you the Zucchini Boatbuilding Contest, the period costume Spring Cruise, the Fall Regatta and chili cook-off, the Pedal Powered Pot­

latch and the wild and wacky Quick and Daring Boatbuilding Contest.

Our 15 years of public services have been recognized. The Seattle Design Com­mission gave us an award for one of Seattle's Best Neighborhood Designs; Mayor Norm Rice handed us that bronze plaque. Partners in Public Education gave us an award for our unique and effective public school small craft program; our Governor, Booth Gardner, gave us that plaque. The Association of King County Historical Organizations gave us an award for our Boat Festivals; the plaque was presented by County Councilman Brian Derdowski. Mayor Rice now greets CWB's director by saying, "Row, row, row."

People and maritime history, all jumbled together, are what we are all about. Hundreds, maybe thousands, have passed through here

who are now sailing their own first boats, rigging their boats, building their boats, piloting their boats using skills they learned here.

What's next? Our growing collection of boats will be catalogued, lines of the boats will be taken, interpretive signs will be made more interesting to the uninitiated and more challenging to the scholar. The library will be catalogued.

More displays? Of course. Many of our 24 boats in storage are classic one design sail racing boats. These boats will become an exhibit in themselves. Our antique out­board motors will come out of the vault and be displayed with some of our early outboard boats.

Where will we put more stuff? Maybe an outstation on Lake Washington or Puget Sound. We have the know-how to transform any piece of unused, abused public waterfront into a charming, public-benefiting shoreside park.

Programs in the pipeline include better access and more challenge for the physically handicapped, summer school in small boat handling for kids, a replica vessel of Northwest significance, an apprentice pro­gram, revival of racing the classic one de­signs, a gift shop, boat repair shops, a children's library and a children's hands-on Maritime Heritage Center.

Of course, we are always tuned into possible cross-cultural programs. We imagine an annual concert of Handel's Water Music - on the water. It's nice to consider a bi- or tri-annual International Maritime Art Show with cash awards. The CWB Light Opera Company has crossed our mind, with "HMS Pinafore," "The Mikado" and "Pirates of Penzance" in the repertoire.

And, shall we dare dream: C W B ' s synchronized water ballet team?

Dick Wagner's life-long love affair with wooden boats is reflected in his role as Executive Director, guiding spirit and imagineer of The Center for Wooden Boats.

J u l y 1991 S H A V I N G S 5

Like The Center for Wooden Boats itself, our Wooden Boat Festival is always evolving. And this year is no exception.

The Wooden Boat Festival has always been structured around visitor participation - from boarding the exhibited boats to trying your hand at any number of maritime crafts - but this year everyone also will get a chance to participate in the awards process by voting for their favorite boat of the show.

Northwest Yachting Magazine, that popular chronicler of the recreational boat­ing scene in the Northwest, is sponsoring our first People's Choice Award. Just pick up your ballot at the C W B Store on the west side of the Armory (check out our mer­chandise while you're there!) and vote for the boat you think is the best of the festival. The winner receives a handsome brass plaque for his/her vessel and a certificate for mer­chandise from a local boating emporium.

Those who build the boats have their own special category. Fisheries Supply, the

venerable supplier of anything and every­thing for your boat, is sponsoring the Boatbuilders' Choice Award. Here too, the winner here gets a brass plaque and a mer­chandise certificate from - you guessed it -Fisheries Supply. The awards will be pre­sented at 5 p.m. Sunday, so get your ballots in early.

Sailing and rowing races have been a big part of our previous shows. This year there's a new one - the Classic Yacht Race. Some of the Northwest's finest will complete a circuit around Lake Union with one leg off the Naval Base. The race starts at 4 p.m. Saturday and awards will be presented at our big Sunday morning breakfast.

That's a new feature too. Join us in the big tent from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Sunday for eggs, breakfast meats, fruit, rolls, coffee and juice - all for the paltry sum of $5. No reservations required.

There also will be a race that's not a race but rather a re-enactment of a special mo­

ment in Seattle sail racing history - the original Duck Dodge. Bruce Gilbert and Ron Lloyd, the original skippers, will be on hand - though their original boats won't. Instead they'll duel in boats of the same class and make - an International 110 and a Blanchard Senior Knockabout - as they ran in that first race. And the penalty for "dis­

turbing a duck" will be the same - a 720-degree turn before resuming the course.

In addition to all that's new, all the old favorites are back for visitors' enjoyment and amazement - lots of boats, maritime craft demonstrations, music, displays of ev­erything from ship models to maritime art and our water taxi tours. Enjoy!

6 SHAVINGS July 1991

A F e w Good Boat ing Stor ies For this issue of Shavings we always

ask our members to send us their "best boating" stories. Given our members' affin­ity for wooden boats, it probably should come as no surprise that most of the stories end up being about the boats themselves. Here are three of the "best" :

The Winsome File

Terry Dalton of Redmond told us about a dapper little white sloop he once owned and we asked him to send some more infor­mation. The following is Terry's report, which speaks well of the focus of his historic research, the enduring qualities of tradi­tional boats, the attention to tradition that Yachting used to have and the value of the Seattle Public Library's boat file.

December 5,1990

Dear Dick, I've enclosed some drawings of Win­

some (a perfect name for this vessel!) and a copy of her description published in the December, 1940, issue of Yachting. I hope I ' l l find the April , 1932, article as well and will send it along if available.

I owned Winsome for three years. I first saw her in July, 1947. She was then owned by Jack Tussler of Coon Island in the San Juans. Jack bought her from Barney Huber in Sierra Madre and brought her up to Coon Island to add substance to his retire­ment years at his home in "Sunken Heights," Deer Harbor, Orcas Island.

I bought Winsome about 1950, taking delivery from Jack at the Orcas fuel dock next to the ferry landing. I spent the rest of the day making passage from Orcas to Anacortes, rowing part of the way when the wind pooped. Jack had installed a Lawson 2.3 HP air-cooled engine in the cockpit, direct drive, and this was finally used too!

I lived in Mount Vernon and kept her moored to a buoy at Robinson's Marine the first year. The next winter, I dry-stored her, which was almost a disaster; the following spring she leaked like a sieve! A week's immersion in a lagoon north of the Hope Island Cafe swelled her enough to be pumped and powered into La Conner for moorage after re-installation of the engine.

She was moored in La Conner for a

year, then brought up the Skagit for the winter. This entailed rousting the Rexville bridgetender and his wife and two daughters out of their home on a Saturday afternoon to manually operate the traffic gates and open the swing-span bridge. This was accom­plished by the two girls pushing a cross-timber that was part of what looked like a giant skate key that fit into a pinion gear that powered the bridge open enough to let my mast clear.

My family and I camped the San Juans in Winsome as my summer-busy job per­mitted. I sold her to a Bellingham family about 1953. Winsome originally had a se­vere rake to her mast, which gave her a "look" that some admired, I suppose, but she had a terrible weather helm with the center­board down full. I modified the step to plumb the mast, adding about eight inches of chain to the permanent backstay to allow

this, and she balanced out beautifully. By the way, the backstay was attached to the rudder, in line with the pintles, which worked fine.

I recall a book about Nomansland Is­land that I considered part of the ship's heritage and passed along when I sold her. I hope this is of interest and thank you for your patience, assuming you've read this far. It's been a joy for me!

Cordially, Terry Dalton

An excerpt from "Winsome - A Nomansland Boat: West Coast Yachtsman Builds A Replica Of An Old Time East Coast Fisherman" in Yachting, December, 1940, describing how B. C. Huber, "a yachtsman of Sierra Madre, California," who had already built himself a Block Is­

land boat, came to build Winsome:

"About a year ago, Mr. Huber decided that he wanted another boat of smaller size and, of course, a double-ender. He found plans of the boat he was looking for in Yachting for April, 1932, in the Nomansland double-ender, the lines of which had been taken off by Frederick R. Huntington in answer to an appeal by William H. Taylor for the preservation of the type before all its examples had disappeared. The Nomansland boat was noted for her ability. As Mr. Taylor said: "When big keel yachts were shorten­ing down . . . she would slip along dry and comfortable and behaving in every way like a lady.'

"Mr. Huber wanted a boat small enough to be built in the family garage and small enough to travel well on a trailer, yet able enough to be comfortable in the afternoon westerlies which are met in the channel between San Pedro and Catalina. Accord­ingly, he and his son built the boat last winter and spring. They adhered closely to the original lines, as published, except that they increased the keel to four inches to allow bolting on outside lead. The centerboard trunk is off center, just as in the original boat, and the centerboard goes down alongside of the keel instead of passing through the boat's backbone.

"In place of the old-fashioned rig with two masts and Spritsails or gaff-headed mainsail, they gave the new boat a modern rig with Marconi mainsail and overlapping jib to the stemhead.

"Winsome's principal dimensions are as follows: Length overall, 18'3"; length on the water line, 16'5"; beam, 6'2"; draft of water, 18" with the centerboard up and 3'2" with the board down. Her displacement is 1,600 pounds and she carries 325 pounds of lead on her keel and 200 pounds inside. Her total sail area is 161 square feet, of which there are 118 square feet in the mainsail and 44 in the jib. She is bored for a shaft and one of the small single-cylinder inboard engines would go nicely at the after end of the cockpit but, as the owner writes: 'We like her too well as she is at present to go ahead with the installation. In cruising, so far, a towline from her larger consort (which has an engine) has been available in case of need.'

July 1991 SHAVINGS 7

8 SHAVINGS July 1991

"A small cuddy has been arranged for­ward in which 'two youthful enthusiasts may stretch out and sleep in peace and quiet, undisturbed by the snores of their elders in the mother ship.'

"Mr. Huber seems quite delighted with the boat's performance, saying: 'Winsome turns out to be not only dry and able but quite fast and remarkably docile. She will work to windward and come about under jib alone, handles like a cat under mainsail alone and will come about and work to windward with the centerboard up. With the present rig, she is quite stiff compared with the local boats in San Pedro Outer Harbor. Even when pressed down to the top of the cabin house, she keeps right on moving without any feeling of having passed the point of maximum stability.'"

December 12,1990

Dear Dick, Here is, as Paul Harvey would say, the

rest of the story. The December, 1940, Yachting article describing Winsome re­ferred back to an April , 1932, writing. This one referenced the March, 1932, story that started the whole thing in the first place! It sure didn't take Frederick R. Huntington long to respond to the previous month's article, did it? [Both articles were found at the Seattle Public Library's Main Branch.]

The enclosed copies of the articles should complete the Winsome file. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. This has been more fun than writing Christmas cards!

Cordially, Terry Dalton

In March, 1932, Yachting's William H . Taylor wrote of his wish for preservation of the lines of the vanishing Nomansland sailboat, which a half a century earlier had formed an important part of the Massachu­setts fishing fleet. A few excerpts from his story:

". . . they are still a type to catch the fancy of the man who is interested in boats and especially in boats to meet the working conditions in a certain locality. From 16 to 20 feet in length, they are double-ended, with sharp flaring bow and a sharper and more flaring stern, a springy sheer cocked up jauntily at the stem and a hull that can

carry a good trip of fish home in any kind of weather at fair speed. Some are lapstrake, others are smooth-planked. Some show the remains of centerboard slots, others do not

" . . . typical of the latest and largest of them is a boat 20 feet long, 6 1/2 feet beam and about 20 inches draft, with narrow deck and high curb. Every one of them has one hall-mark - an inch augur hole through the stem, at about the water line, the reason for which will appear later. For other reasons they had to be both light and strong and the best of oak and cedar went into them, which explains why some are still seaworthy enough for the Gay Head [Massachusetts] Indians, who own most of the surviving boats, to use in their pursuit of the lowly scallop and the succulent lobster."

Taylor describes how, until 33 years previously, the deserted [in 1932] little island of Nomansland at Martha's Vineyard was a thriving fishing center, attracting nearly entire Vineyard town populations to a string of shanties along the island's north shore, where they lived through the fishing season.

There was no harbor on the island so the boats usually had to be hauled out every night and slid back down the beach on greased skids each morning. The one or two-man crews "rowed like the devil, stern first, to get them through the breakers and out where there was sea room enough to make sail. The sharpie rig, a big foresail and a small main, was universally used. Clear of the breakers, the foremast was stepped and the sail sheeted home, and off they went, getting the mainsail set at leisure.

" . . . Home again at night, the boatman sailed in close to the breakers, rolled up his sails, unstepped the masts, let them fall overside, and then hove them aboard, as they were too heavy to drop directly on the thwarts. Then he rowed for the beach. Ashore, willing hands brought out his skid and laid it on the beach just where the boat was headed to land. If she hit it fair, with a sea behind her, she would slide halfway out of the water.

"As the boat hit the skids a man ashore slipped a pin through the hole in her stem and hooked on a harness and with a shout and a whip crack a team of oxen, kept on Nomansland for the purpose, snaked the loaded boat up above high water."

The Nomansland boats had other uses too, carrying in all that was used on the island from New Bedford and even as far away as the eastern Long Island ports. Some even carried the valuable Vineyard white clay, used in making chocolates, to New York. A l l these uses were a factor in how the Nomansland sailboat developed into what it was: "burdensome, light enough to row, able enough to bring home a trip of fish in the teeth of a sudden nor'wester, handy for one man, easy to row off stern first through the breakers, stout enough to stand beaching in the surf and, thanks to the innate love of the Yankee for a handsome boat, easy to look at.

"Naturally there was evolution. Pre­sumable the first boats used on Nomansland were an odd lot of dories, whaleboats, yawl boats and other nondescript models from which the existing type developed. The writer [Taylor] has a model whittled out by Cap­tain William Mayhew of Menemsha, who fished off Nomansland 60 years ago. It shows an open boat with no centerboard and with her sails set on sprits. Later a centerboard was added and the narrow deck and high curb of the latest boats. Gaff sails replaced the sprits, but not until the last days of the fisheries, for though faster they were not as handy to ship and unship.

"As to the sailing qualities of the Nomansland boats, the old-timers, except under stress of fond memory, make no claims of phenomenal speed for them, but declare they were 'almighty able and they'd claw to windward through anything that blew.' They had to. It was customary, on a long board in a breeze, to pile the permanent ballast - a couple of hundred pounds of handle iron pigs - up along the weather rail, sandbag fashion, and when there was a race on, as frequently happened when a man waxed boastful about a new boat, they carried three men - helm, foresheet and bailer."

Taylor had owned a Nomansland boat. "She carried a small cat rig instead of the traditional sharpie rig, but otherwise she was a perfect Nomansland boat - 16 feet long and complete even to the peg hole in the stem. She was fairly small for her size and the only cat-rigged boat I ever handled that would steer herself, which she did for hours on end with the wind forward of the beam

July 1991 SHAVINGS 9

and reasonably good conditions. But her outstanding quality was ability. When big keel yachts were shortening down, the little old Borbolita would slip away dry and comfortable and behaving in every way like a lady.

"Before the last of these boats rot away through neglect, I wish that someone who has the skill to do such things accurately would take off the lines of one."

Taylor got his wish a month later when Frederick R. Huntington's lines, sheer and body plan of a Nomansland boat were published in Yachting (April, 1932), taken from one of the later models then rotting on Martha's Vineyard. Huntington noted the close resemblance to Block Island boats but found many distinctive features:

". . . the main difference being in the stern, which in the Nomansland boat is much higher and fuller and was designed for launching through the surf. This added fullness gave these craft better bearing aft than most of the Pinkies and other double-ended sailboats. Another characteristic feature was that the lower end of the sternpost was always rounded off.

"Originally they were all open boats with no coaming. The length as a rule did not exceed 18 feet and at that time the rig con­sisted of two Spritsails. While that rig was not overly efficient, still it would be hard to find one safer or simpler or one capable of such easy handling in an open boat. The only rigging consisted of a piece of nine-thread for a headstay, the foresail halliard and three sheets. The foresail was double.

"Most of the sails were loose-footed with a short club. This permitted the spreading of as much canvas as possible on the necessarily short spars, but still brought the sheets within easy reach of the helmsman. The foremast was stepped way forward and the mainmast through the after rowing thwart and there was usually an extra step in the middle thwart.

" . . . The construction of these boats was always of the finest. They were cedar-planked and copper fastened throughout and the hardware was bronze. Most of them were lapstraked but a few were smooth planked. Originally they were built for $200."

What Does A Naked Sailor Say To A Lady

With A Knife?

From the Log of LaMouette . . . Sunday looked to be a very nice day. I

was sitting below, mending a shirt, when I heard my son's voice on the dock. He asked if I wanted to go for a sail. We went to the store for ice and some takeout and got La Mouette underway about noon. This was an unexpected Father's Day present as Neil and I don't see much of each other and he rarely wants to sail.

He had to be ashore by 1500 and I had decided to anchor out for the evening to get away from it all for a while. As we ap­proached our anchorage, B i l l on Joshua hailed me and asked if I wanted to raft up with him, which we did. Joshua is a beau­tiful Spray replica, built and sailed by Bi l l . We tied up alongside and I rowed Neil ashore. He forgot his knapsack, so I told him I'd drop it off for him the next day.

Back aboard, B i l l and I had a nice yarn, some snacks and a drink and explored each other's boats. Michael and Leslie dropped by and we decided to have dinner together on the boat. Fisherman's corned beef hash and ship's biscuit were followed by some gin and tonic and a few sea stories.

Michael and Les headed for shore and Bi l l and I turned in. The last thing Bi l l said before I slid my hatch closed was, "I'm a late sleeper in the morning."

As usual, I woke up around 0600. One

look through the hatch at an overcast sky and I crawled back in the sack to read a 1937 English Channel Pilot I had recently ac­quired. About 0630, I heard a woman screaming something about being stabbed and cursing violently. Expecting rape or mayhem, I poked my head out of the hatch and locked eyes with Linda, one of our less stable residents, who was rowing by. She greeted me with, "What the *&#@ are you looking at?"

I shrugged my shoulders and suddenly she veered over to Mouette, tossed a metal piggybank into the cockpit and jumped aboard with a butcher knife in one hand and a loaded monkeyfist on a lanyard in the other!

I was standing in the hatch in my un¬dershorts, feeling somewhat at a disadvan­tage. I hadn't cleared up from last night and had left the gin bottle on the bridge deck. She grabbed it, unscrewed the top and took a slug. She started to put it under her coat, but I grabbed it, put the top on and said it belonged to the boat. The butcher knife and gin didn't strike me as a good combination.

She was talking a blue streak, mostly to someone off my right shoulder who would have been standing in two fathoms of water. Abruptly, she asked me if I understood. I told her I didn't, said I was a bit confused and asked if she minded if I got dressed. She made no objection so I quickly donned some clothes, which made me feel a bit better.

She began calling me David, then Dad, and wanted to give me a kiss. I demurred, but she insisted, put her arms (and the knife) around me, gave me a nice little hug and a peck on the cheek and sat back down.

She stuck the knife into her shirt with the point sticking up under her chin and began going on about cutting her own throat and how "they" had cut her open and faxed her liver and spleen elsewhere, but the fax machine broke.. . and o n . . . and o n . . . and on . . . Then she tied the other end of the monkeyfist lanyard around her neck and pantomimed hanging herself.

I was beginning to feel that not only did she not have both oars in the water, she didn't have any! She asked me where I was hiding "her." I said I was alone. After some argument, she looked past me into the cabin and said I must be right as it was too small below to hide anyone. She then began looking at everything in sight on both LaMouette and Joshua and identifying it all as gear that belonged to her and had been stolen - even the half can of 30-weight oil in the cockpit!

Opting for a semblance of normalcy, I said, "I was about to build myself some coffee, would you like a cup?"

Yes, she would. I asked her to get the milk out of the ice chest. She did and then asked if she could have a coke. Of course I agreed. So I built coffee, gave her a cup, then washed the dishes and straightened the cabin, keeping one eye on her as she continued to talk, sometimes to me and sometimes to empty space.

After an hour-and-a-half of this, it was obvious that she had no intention of leaving. As she put it, "You are in isolation."

I decided to apply a little pressure. "Linda, I've got to go ashore and take my son his knapsack. Why don't you get in your boat and we'll be on our way. I ' l l help you." I reached over to catch her painter and pull the boat up and she took a cut at my face with the monkeyfist. I deflected it with my arm.

"You are not going anywhere, you are in isolation for two days." "Anything you say," quoth I.

I had been watching for Bi l l to surface on Joshua, hoping he would pick up on the situation. A little after 0800, he stuck his head out of his hatch and said, "Linda, have you taken your Lithium today?"

"Yes," she said and then began ranting about chemicals and saving the earth and began reading the ingredients on the coke bottle label.

Bi l l looked at me and mouthed, "Coast Guard?"

10 SHAVINGS July 1991

I mouthed back, "Yes, fireboat, too." Bi l l said, "Linda, I've got things to do,

I ' l l see you later," and ducked below, sliding and dogging his hatch. I could faintly hear his voice as he called the Coast Guard.

A while later, he came back on deck and gave me a thumbs-up sign. We took turns trying to keep Linda distracted with con­versation as she alternately cursed and cried and raved of being cut open and having various body or bawdy parts stolen or mis­used.

Finally, here came the cavalry! The Coast Guard inflatable with about five men aboard came roaring up the bay. I started talking frantically to Linda while Bi l l walked over to the far side of Joshua and began waving and beckoning. The Coasties just kept roaring on up the bay and out of sight. There went the cavalry.

Shortly afterward, the fireboat came slowly around the pier line from Pelican Harbor and circled us.

Kent leaned out of the wheelhouse. "Starting work a little early aren't you, Steve?"

The boat headed for the dock at Zack's, where I could see the police cars lined up.

I continued trying to talk to Linda to keep her occupied as the fireboat and the Coast Guard (who had finally found us) slipped up to the far side of Joshua and boarded her. Finally, the police began talk­ing to her. They all knew her pretty well from previous incidents.

One officer inquired: "May we come aboard?"

"By all means," I quickly replied. "Only one at a time," Linda added. Two officers boarded Mouette and

walked aft to the cockpit One hollered, "Steve, get back!" and they jumped her.

She went for the knife; I grabbed the lanyard and yanked her left hand clear. The cops were trying to get her to let go of the knife. She shook the turns of the lanyard off her left hand and grabbed at the knife. I began reeling in the lanyard to get it away from her. It stuck and I yanked on it several times, then remembered she had tied it around her neck. I reached over and untied it after she was restrained.

There was quite a struggle to get her carried over to Joshua and onto the fireboat; then they all headed back to shore except for two Coasties left on board Joshua.

I said, "Boy, was I glad to see you guys! What an ordeal."

"Sir, may we see your registration? Do you have any positive identification? Have you taken any boating safety courses? What kind of engine do you have." . . . and o n . . . and on . . . and on.

" M y God," I thought, "what have I done?"

Finally, it was: "Thank you, sir. If you are boarded within the next 90 days, this receipt may prevent a full formal vessel check. Have a nice day."

After their engines quit a few times, the cavalry departed, dragging Linda's tin row­boat behind them. Bi l l and I sat and looked at each other for a few minutes, shaking our heads. Then Bi l l asked, "Steve, can I go for a sail with you on La Mouette?"

And so we did. - Steve Osborn

Sailor and boat builder Steve Osborn retired as Battalion Chief of the Sausalito [California] Fire Department in 1990. His current lady of the seas is a 26-foot Ray Speck canoe yawl which was built in Port Townsend. Steve plans an around-the-world voyage with the Northwest as his first port of call.

On Building The Tiamot

I had to build her. I'd been infected by

the traditional wooden boat bug. It hap­pened through a series of projects I helped friends with in 1980 - the Evergreen State College pilot gigs, the rebuilding of the 65-foot halibut schooner Simedi at Loveric's shipyard in Anacortes and the transforma­tion of an old Chris Craft into a Maine lobster boat. Finally, some friends and I rowed one of the Evergreen pilot gigs a hundred miles around the San Juans to arrive at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival. This flatlander, this Missouri mudfish was caught.

Her name is Tiamot and she was built in Seaside, Oregon, in the one bay of the two-car garage mat served as my ceramics studio. As a working craftsman, I was not intimidated by the boatbuilding process, but the boat's progress depended on sporadic free time and extra income. Building took three years, from laying the keel to launch­ing. She's still not finished - as far as I can tell.

Her plans ($15) came from a boat - a relic really - in the Mystic [Connecticut) Seaport Museum collection ( M S M 73.39). It is a 14-foot Whitehall type originally built by the Partelow Brothers around Boston, circa 1890. I liked the shape but wanted a bigger boat, so I stretched her to 17 feet without adding to her beam or draft. This makes her proportions long and narrow for a Whitehall type. I like a good strong sheer line, so I added an inch and a half to the transom and stem. This resulted in a sheer strake with a lot of shape. I had to cut the sheer plank in half and scarf it back together at an angle to get the curve out. In a San Francisco-style variation on the original design, I built her lapstrake so that she would be light and fast.

She was built upright on a strongback and fastened with Skookum copper rivets and roves and silicon bronze hardware. Her Western red cedar planks came from the lumberyard as green #2 siding - inexpensive lumber that has stood up fairly well, despite my inadvertently overdrying it before bending it into place.

Her keel, deadwood, stem and stem post are white oak. The transom is koa (Hawaiian walnut) and her wooden cleats are locust. Some of the detail hardwood was picked up on the docks as discarded material from foreign vessels. The red oak for the ribs and stringers and the ironbark for the rub rails and gunwales were purchased from the

old Bumble Bee shipyard in Astoria before it closed. The company shipwrights kept their oak bending stock salted to keep it flexible. It was the hardest-bending wood I've ever worked. Tiamot's ribs were worked very thin before they bent. It's caused me no end of grief and a lot of sistering over the years. Next time I 'll use green oak.

I cast the boat's bronze fittings myself, never even considering ready-mades. In a "past life" I had studied metal-casting with the Japanese master, Takoya Kosugi, fanning a passion for constructive uses of fire. The fittings were lost-wax cast in Everdur silicon bronze from patterns I made from anything at hand.

Originally finished with Deks Olje and Interlux topside paint, Tiamot was refin­ished just last season with Miller spar varnish and Miller marine paint, much to my satis­faction. She was christened in 1983 in Sunset Lake on Oregon's north coast as The Irre­pressible Tiamot - a lot of name for a little boat. Tiamot, a Sumerian mother goddess, is sometimes invoked, but often she just gets called Irrepressible or The Boat.

Shortly after her christening, I took The Boat east on top of my Datsun wagon. She showed me lakes in Kansas, the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio, islands in Maine and the mighty Delaware River. Along the way, at maritime museums and boat gath­erings in the Chesapeake and New England, she attracted the attention of many who know traditional American small craft. With their advice, she continued to evolve.

After several years, we tacked back across the Continental Divide to the Pacific, now outfitted with a sail rig - jib and sprit mainsail. As The Boat has matured, she has grown out of being car-topped to having her own trailer. Maybe I ' l l even have a real cover made for her this year.

It's been 11 years now. The Irre­pressible is almost finished. She has traveled many more miles over land than she has over water. But those water miles hold some of the best of memories. - Jonathan Taggart

A man of many facets Jonathan Taggart was born in Missouri, attended college in Oregon, Indiana and Delaware and once made his living as a potter. He now is a conservator (restorer) of artistic and historic objects, a craft he has practiced in the U.S., Canada, Italy and Israel. He has recently moved back to Gearhart, Oregon.

July 1991 SHAVINGS 11

12 SHAVINGS July 1991

A Return to Yesterday The CWB Spring Cruise

by Jack Saylor photos by Christian Holtz

The Center for Wooden Boats' spring cruise had a turn-of-the-century theme so it seemed only fitting that the report of the day's activities have one too.

A p r i l 29th, Lake Union, Wash.: The Center for Wooden Boats, a museum for small boats on the south shore of Lake Union, held its second annual Spring Cruise on Sunday, the twenty-eighth of April . Judging by the large amount of carriages outside the facility, the event attracted about 75 participants, some making the long and arduous trip from as far as the little village of Renton. No doubt, the annual Spring Cruise will become one of the most talked about events in and around the rapidly developing lake in the northern littoral of Seattle.

The weather was cloudy, accompanied by brisk winds with the temperature hover­ing around 50 degrees. Cruise Captain Vern Velez delayed the departure so as to give the weather an opportunity to improve, finally giving the signal for departure at 1 p.m. The flotilla was led by the museum's director, Dick Wagner, resplendent at the helm of a magnificent bristol Bay Gillnetter - no doubt this vessel felt very at home sailing in the lively airs. The boat was neatly graced by the ladies who sailed aboard arrayed in their colorful and elegant dresses. A total of eight sailboats participated in the cruise and all those aboard were treated to a ride around a body of water which is rapidly becoming a beehive activity in the area.

As the group sailed away from the Museum's Boathouse, some participants boarded rowboats, not all of which found it possible to complete the circuit of the lake due to the distance involved and especially

because of the brisk breezes that were blow­ing. To the amusement of the company,

Professor Paul Ford harkened back to the millennium, joining the assemblage in his

singular "Viking ship." Prior to departure, Cruise Captain Velez provided all partici-

July 1991 SHAVINGS 13

pants with up-to-the-minute maps of the lake and Museum Director Wagner offered historical notes and prepared everyone for what they might see while on the cruise. It is no small tribute to the thoroughness of their preparations that everyone enjoyed what they saw.

The flotilla travelled east along the southern shore of the lake turning upon reaching the southeastern corner. Along the eastern shore, still verdant with magnificent tall growth, the travellers passed Jensen's Beergarden at the moment the John T. Denny steam launch arrived with a load of revelers to enjoy the music, drinks and ca­maraderie of the dance hall on a Sunday afternoon.

A lively schottische could be heard by those aboard the boats as they travelled north toward the town of Latona on the northeastern shore. While cruising the north shore, before passing the village of Fremont, the parade had to alter its direction in order to make way for a barge full of coal on its way to the railroad waiting on the south shore, not far from where the Museum is located.

The last leg of the cruise made its way south along the western shores. When the boats turned south at the northwestern cor­ner of the lake, the sailors saw a group of four native American dugout canoes which had come into the lake with the high tide via Salmon Bay and Fremont Creek. Also along this western littoral the new firehouse and stables were clearly seen. This side of the lake is quickly developing as the expansive new boardwalks demonstrate. As the boats approached their home the large longhouse on Mercer Road stood out very imposingly.

The boats returned in orderly fashion and as the "cruisers" alit, there were raves and surprise in the tone of the conversations discussing what they had seen - Lake Union and its environs in nonstop growth. A n d . . . now was the time for the festivities.

A bountiful display of Mexican chiles was waiting for all and mere were even prizes awarded to the chefs de "cruisine." The viands proffered by Garth Skvorak, his mother, Linda Skvorak, and Lin Folsom were adjudged to be the most delectable of the offerings. While enjoying the repast, news arrived via a courier from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that President Benjamin Harrison would visit the state so as to be with his sister who was injured in a buggy accident near the village of North Bend. Governor Pennoyer was to meet the Presi­dent upon his arrival by train.

A l l of the assembled company admired the elegant attires of the ladies. Especially revealing was the risque bathing suit worn by Julie Hoverson. No doubt the gentlemen enjoyed the fact that her ankles were show­ing and even some of her neck flesh was visible. It was agreed by all that the most outstanding costumes of the day were those worn by Miss Hoverson, Ned Petrich and Dan Chase. Those who did not find it pos­sible to attend this great festivity are to be pitied immensely for missing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience Lake Union in the year 1891 in the most enjoyable company of the C W B family. The food was excellent, the company outstanding and the educational value of this day can only be described as immeasurable.

Jack Saylor (a.k.a. Vern Velez) is a CWB Board Member, volunteer CWB sail­ing instructor, chemical engineer and CWB's best latin dancer. Jack (Vern) loves the Northwest but would prefer it even more if

14 SHAVINGS July 1991

by Tim Bridgman photos by Lin Folsom

On Saturday, March 16, five wooden boat enthusiasts assembled at 8:30 in the morning at the Center for Wooden Boats to build a 13-foot long sailing/rowing dinghy. Under the guidance of boat de­signer and builder Eric Hvalsoe, nine days later, at 5 p.m. Sunday evening, a beautiful boat was launched. How was it done?

Eric wasted no time with fancy intro­ductory statements and had the group setting up frames on the ladder and cutting and shaping the keel and keelson from clean fir.

The lumber to be used for the boat had been delivered by Flounder Bay Boat Lumber Company and beautiful wood it was. There were 12" wide cedar planks, 3/

8" thick with straight grain and no knots; 1 1/4" thick Honduran mahogany for the stem and transom; 3/8" thick white oak to be sawn for the ribs and, finally, the clear fir for the ribbands, keel, thwarts and gunwales.

Eric 's method of instruction is to demonstrate a process and then assign a pair of students to build that particular piece. A l l the students in this class had built a boat for themselves and were reasonably experi­

enced woodworkers. Without having worked together before, the pieces that were fabricated by the students fit together in the boat with few mistakes and only required a little extra fitting and shaping.

With molds erected and stabilized with the ribbands and the stem and transom at­tached to the keel, Day Three started with steaming and bending the ribs. For most of the class, this was work that we had read

about but never done for ourselves. The process progressed remarkably well, result­ing in no cracked ribs. We learned that it takes 15 minutes per quarter-inch thickness of wood for steaming and that you have about five minutes to bend the rib and set in place before it loses its flexibility.

Then came the planking. Eric said we would probably spend the next four days planking. My first thought was, "How can it

IT'S CONTAGIOUS

July 1991 SHAVINGS 15

take that long?" quickly followed by, "If it does take that time, then that only leaves two days to finish the boat."

Lapstrake planking was the purpose of this class and the boatbuilding method specified for this project. This is a traditional method of boatbuilding and Eric took us through it step by step. First you attach a pattern on the ribbands butting up to the keelson. Then you spile with dividers the real shape of the plank onto the cedar boards from which the plank is cut on the table saw. After planing the edges, the plank is fitted onto the boat.

To ease fitting into the stem and tran­som where the planks need to be bent in two planes, the planks were soaked in Lake Union. The planks overlap one another by 3/4"; they were attached to the oak ribs with copper clinch nails. This is another tradi­tional boatbuilding process where a copper nail is driven through both planks at their overlap and the tip of the nail is curled into the wood by hammering against a shaped iron.

The amount of hand work required for each plank is unbelievable. That first day, the class finished two planks on either side of me boat. Eric was pretty close to his forecast because the ninth plank was in­stalled on the morning of Day Seven. Now was the time to turn the boat over and work on the inside. This was the first moment of truth because when it was turned over we could see we were actually building a boat! In fact everyone gasped and uttered quite spontaneously, "How beautiful!"

(Later Eric confessed that while the boat was upside down on the frames the lines looked a little chubby but when the boat was turned right side up the lines were very pleasing.)

From now on, every step involving the seats, centerboard trunk and gunwales made the boat look more finished. Shaping the knees into the transom and fitting the breast plate took much time with the spokeshave and standing back from the work to view how the line looked. This process resembled woodcarving more than boatbuilding.

The last step was fitting the gunwales. Made from fir which contrasted nicely with the cedar planking, the gunwales really em­phasized the shape of the boat

On Sunday morning we worked fe­verishly to get the boat finished and we took a late lunch at one of the Lake Union sea food restaurants. Inspired by a glass of wine, we brainstormed a name for our creation.

Eric had started the course with a cold and one of the students contracted a cold during the week so we thought Contagious would be an appropriate name. But mis name had a deeper symbolism because we all agreed that building wooden boats is contagious. In fact, we all resolved to have a reunion one year from now and show off the boats we would build in our shops at home.

Right at 5 p.m. on Sunday, we took Contagious out of the shop and launched her into Lake Union with due ceremony, complete with lilies tied to the stem and wine poured into the hull. This was the second moment of truth when each student got to row Contagious while the rest of the group on the dock marvelled at how pretty she looked in the water.

Back in the shop, there was a big empty space ready for the next boatbuilding ex­perience at the Center for Wooden Boats.

Tim Bridgman is an engineer on the Alaskan Pipeline whose hobby is wood­working. He spends vacations attending workshops and seminars to further his skills and chose CWB's workshop because he'd never tried building a boat.

16 SHAVINGS July 1991

ERROL FLYNN and the ZACA

From the day of his birth in Hobart, Tasmania, on June 20,1909, until his death in Vancouver, British Columbia, 50 years later, Errol Flynn literally and Figuratively spent most of his life on the sea. He would tell his friends in later life, "My only real happiness is when I am near the sea. Cut off from the beach, away from the sea, I am nervous and I fret My lifeline has always been a boat down by the waterfront" Flynn came by his love for the ocean naturally; his mother's people were traditional seafarers (one ancestor serving and later landing with Fletcher Christian on Pitcairn Island) and his father was a marine biologist.

Flynn bought the first of his three sail­ing ships (which he later called his only "real wives") in 1929 in Sydney, Australia. Named Sirocco (a wind that blows across North Africa), she carried her new master and three equally reckless crewmen on an eventful 3,000-mile ocean journey up the Great Barrier Reef to New Guinea in 1930. The voyage

became the subject of his first novel, Beam Ends (1937).

His second yacht, also named Sirocco, was purchased in Boston in 1936 with the proceeds from the now popular movie star's contract with Warner Brothers Studios. The new schooner was 80 feet long with a beam of 22 feet. From 1936 to 1943, Flynn spent many happy hours ferrying his friends along the California coast to Mexico and down the Atlantic seaboard to the West Indies.

Late in 1942, Errol Flynn was brought to trial in Los Angeles for the statutory rape of two girls under the age of 18 aboard the Sirocco. The publicity irreparably damaged the great movie star's reputation and forever changed his relationship with the second Sirocco: "I would go down to the harbor and take a look at the Sirocco. She had an evil memory for me now and I decided to get rid of her." The ship was subsequently sold to a gas station owner in the summer of 1945.

Flynn bought his third "real wife," the

schooner Zaca, in San Francisco in 1945. In an excerpt from early unpublished version of Voyage of the Zaca she was described thusly:

"Zaca was 118 feet long, 96 foot water­line, 23'9" beam, 14' draft, 122 gross tons, built in 1930 for San Francisco business­man, C. Templeman Crocker. She was de­signed by Garland Rotche and built by the Nunes Brothers in Sausalito. She had been around the world twice on scientific expedi­tions in the 1930s, some with Dr. William Beebe, and had seen World War II duty as a submarine detector patrolling near San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge."

Like her new skipper, the Zaca was well-traveled when they met; however, from that time on, a relationship existed whose progress and decline paralleled Flynn's. Her owner's health, which was chronically ag­gravated by undulant fever, hepatitis, early emphysema, spinal arthritis, and violent sinusitis, was of continual concern to him

and a constant challenge to his pride. For more than a decade in numerous seaports throughout the world, Flynn used Zaca as the platform from which he bravely perpetuated a public illusion of well-being, skindiving in the Mediterranean, water skiing in Panama, cruising the bright blue waters from the Caribbean to Balboa Bay.

On October 14,1959, when Flynn died of alcoholism and its related effects (largely because he never adjusted to not being continually wanted in Hollywood), the Zaca was moored in Majorca, awaiting sale be­cause her financially-depleted master needed money. She remained there for many years, but was finally moved to Villefranche, a French seaport which Flynn's friend David Niven characterized in his biography [Bring on the Empty Horses] as ". . . refuge to elderly fishing boats and to a few seedy private yachts." Despite her deterioration, the ship still awed Niven in the 1970s: "Suddenly, I felt goose pimples rise up all over me. A large dismasted hulk lay before me. Her teak decks gaped to the sky, the planks of her sides were thinly covered with a cracked and flaking grayish paint, but . . . she still had a defiant elegance enhanced by her bowsprit still rigged and thrusting out belligerently before her."

These features so impressed the Zaca's next owner, French mariner Thierry Voisin, that he planned to restore and refloat her for, when he found the ship, ". . . there was squalor where there had once been splendor. Broken bottles, glasses and plates littered her filthy decks." At Villefranche's small drydock, Voisin vowed to spend one year and $1 million refurbishing the once-proud vessel. "I could not let the Zaca or its legend die," he said. "She was once the most beautiful ship to grace any harbor."

Workmen replaced 1,000 feet of rotting planks and the cabins were stripped. Nine thousand square feet of sail was ordered and the rigging and masts were replaced but, as if in symbolic revolt at having a new master, Zaca broke down on her maiden voyage under his flag.

[Author's note: At last report Zaca was being restored in the South of France by millionaire Phillip Coussens, who lives in England, and is, I assume, her present owner. According to the information I received from England in July, 1989, she was due to sail sometime in 1990. Since a half model of Zaca was being offered for public sale in the spring of this year (its promotional address is Suite 325, Premier House, 10 Grey Coal Place, London SW IP-15B, England), I as­sume she'll be for public viewing various seaports throughout the world.]

Native Californian Muriel I. Smith is a free lance writer whose articles have been published in Nautical Brass, Hollywood Studio Magazine, Classic Images, Movie Memories and other magazines. Mrs. Smith has completed more than 10 years of re­search on self-destructive figures in public life, including Errol Flynn and John Barrymore.

by Muriel I. Smith

July 1991 SHAVINGS 17

18 SHAVINGS July 1991

Volunteers in action:

RESTORING THE ZODIAC story and photos by Ruth Sundheim

Few wooden boat restoration projects are as big as that undertaken on the 127' schooner Zodiac, rescued from the mud and now cruising Puget Sound as a charter vessel. The dimensions of such a project take on significance because the great ma­jority of the work was done by volunteers. Here is just a bit of their story.

To the young woman and her three male companions on the scaffolding pressed against the side of the 127' Zodiac at Lake Union Dry Dock it looked "a long ways down!" But volunteer Jennifer Davis wasn't about to let her fear of heights get the best of her. She turned and faced the ship. "So, let's get started!"

From his equally-precarious position, another Zodiac volunteer, Page Read

grasped a ladder on the drydock wall with one hand and a 20-pound laser leveler in the other. He aimed an intense red beam at the ship. " O K , pound the nails in as we go," he yelled.

Jennifer began marking the beacon with nail points, tracing a boot top around sleek sides of Zodiac. The original line, no longer existing, had been defined by the edge of copper sheathing applied in 1924 at Booth Harbor, Maine. As they worked, Rodger Iida and Doug and Phil Nutzhorns were busy scraping and painting. The sky over Seattle was dark and a light sprinkle had begun to fall but the volunteer work gang worked on steadily.

The volunteer community on the Zodiac is sometimes a trickle but it is a steady force and has the patience to move mountains. June Mehrer, president of the Zodiac Cor­poration, notes, "In 16 years, all ages and occupations have felt the pull of the ship: two Seattle kids crewing on her up the coast, air traffic controllers, Boeing engineers, a television news photographer, politicians and hundreds of others. Some lending a hand for a day, others for years. People like Page Reed, who chaired the steering com­mittee, worked on Coast Guard certification, redid the radio for F C C approval and climbs into dirty overalls at the drydock."

The volunteers and their talents are amazing. Accountant Jean Laughlin rebuilt all the blocks, serviced cable stays and hoisted new baggy wrinkles aloft. Vanessa Carr, an advertising agency manager, be­came the ship's electrician. Brian Laughlin, a computer data project manager, designed and completed paneling and tile in the head. Art Simpson, a boiler repairman, drops into

the Zodiac's engine room on his days off and also shares skipper's duties underway. Judy Kloutier takes on painting projects when she isn't cooking for the crew.

Winter work parties lured people from Seattle and Portland, people like 12-volt wizards Ellen Beberman and Richard Brandt and Longview tugboat skipper Phil Kiezur, who put in twin 300 HP Allis-Chalmers after the old Enterprise engine was pulled. People like Northwest shipbuilding legend Frank Prothero, who crafted the new deckhouse doors, and artist Jonathan Reiss who designed the door panels' etched glass motif, a floral pattern with each petal a different sign of the zodiac in Greek symbols.

Prothero, now in his 80s, and Tim Mehrer rebuilt the deckhouse, a navigation station, lounge and "wet station" entry with modi­fications to the original William Hand design, which was removed in 1930. "We had huge brass portholes and mahogany banisters that we believe were from the original deckhouse," Tim explained, "The original plans were destroyed in three fires: at Hand's, Hodgekins, the builder, and then the bar pilots. Frank is incredible! A l l he asked was 'How high do you want it, how wide do you want it, where do you want it?'. Everything was done in his mind." With her elegant lines of another era, it is difficult to believe the deckhouse is new.

"When I first saw her," Karl Mehrer, skipper and Zodiac believer extraordinaire, remembers, "I loved the boat, but I had no illusions about the work involved. Once we started 16 years ago, we couldn't give up. It's simple, when you start something that's worth it, you have to finish! Would I do it again? Sure, we only live once! We fell in love with her and couldn't let go!"

June seconded that: " We had to put it all on the line. We had a lot of hard things to do but we've had the priceless contribu­tions of friends, the community who sup­ported us and we feel we owe this commu­nity.

"The original Zodiac Corporation was made up mostly of young, visionaries. The boys dreamed the dream before they hooked us into it. This group restored the Adven­turess, where they learned their seamanship and restoration skills under Karl's direction as they were growing up. This is the third vessel Karl has restored and they all were hopeless cases when he took them on."

Many of the skills contributed to Zodiac's restoration are legend among wooden boatbuilders: fashioning knees out of gnarled roots, using timbers from an old Oregon railroad bridge, steaming new planks to wrap around the curved stern, caulking, tarring, sailmaking, rigging, engineering, ironworking, stowing ballast, and the age-old art of cumshawing or horsetrading.

The main boom was done in Oregon by a man in his eighties with a pond four feet wide by 100 feet long and a trough. They put a stick in there and started turning it in the water with a lathe.

On a weekday, Richard DePartee, a television photojournalism was polishing a brass deckhouse porthole. "I've been in­volved since 1976. I've always been excited

July 1991 SHAVINGS 19

about what the ship could become. We planned to be on the high seas in five years," he laughed.

"In 1987, we went out in the Sound and raised one sail after another and they really didn't fit. It was frustrating but it counts as a sail. In '88, we had all four sails flying for the first time in over 40 years. Her masts were chopped in 1931. It was exciting to see them back at great heights."

"If we were a windjammer cruise ship we would have taken her into drydock for three months to emerge a brand new boat For a number of years we just never left the

dock. Now the restoration is nearly com­plete. For little people to undertake this kind of project, it's a labor of love and patience."

One of the biggest hurdles to Zodiac's survival was the "Act of Congress" that was needed to allow the Zodiac to charter to fi­nancially survive. An existing law pre­vented a wooden sailing vessel over 100 gross tons (she is 145 gross tons) from taking passengers for pay. The volunteers swarmed to what became a three-year battle.

They set about letting the community at large know "who" the Zodiac is through cruises, potlucks, press meetings and Ha­waiian Night at the Duck Dodge Race. "The chances of winning were slim," Karl said, until Rep. John Miller and his aide Bruce Agnew offered to help. "On Nov. 16,1990, with one minute to go in the 101st Congress, Rep. Miller got up said, 'Back in your seats! We've got one more bill to go!' and they passed it. That's enough to cause ulcers, I'd say. John got in there and saved us!"

It seems Zodiac has always excited emotions and made news. With blue collar roots based on the design of the Grand Bank schooners, the Zodiac's birth was that of an aristocratic, built as a racing yacht financed by money from the Johnson & Johnson band-aid fortune. In a March, 1924, issue of Rudder she was described as "of the stan­dard fisherman type with exceptionally strong construction, moderate rig and plenty of power. The speed under power will be about nine knots. She has every modem convenience including electric refrigeration. The sunken deck-house abaft the foremast will be greatly appreciated."

Her young owners were Robert and J. Seward Johnson, jet setters before jets, but when their fortunes fell in the stock market crash, they were forced to sell her. In 1931, while lying at Halifax, Nova Scotia, the

Zodiac was bought from A.J . Nesbitt for use as a bar pilot schooner in San Francisco. Renamed the California, she first sailed as a pilot boat on Feb. 6,1932. Toiling through war and peace for 40 years as the largest bar pilot schooner, the California was retired in 1972 as the last bar pilot schooner.

Tim and Karl Mehrer bid on the boat but lost out to Walter Rolle and Chet Winningstad, who were retired from bar pilot service and had a dream to sail her for the rest of their lives. Still in his teens and determined to be involved with the vessel, Tim followed the boat to Vallejo, Califor­nia, working on her with Rol le and Winningstad. Cancer and heart disease brought the older men's dream to a halt

The Zodiac Corporation, spearheaded by the Mehrers, brought the ailing ship up the coast Karl remembers the voyage: "At

the mouth of the Columbia River, the tide was ebbing and we were going eight knots against an eight knot current Buoy #1 just wouldn't go away. Then, we slipped through!"

But the excitement wasn't over, Karl continued. "On April Fool's Day, 1976, the boat was stolen, painted black and headed down the Columbia toward sea. At St. Helens they made their mistake; they stopped. If they'd kept going, we'd never have seen her again." She was brought north in 1978.

The trip was made with a volunteer crew, of course.

Zodiac volunteer Ruth Sundheim didn't provide us with any of her biographical details. She just included the ship's phone number for those who are interested in char­tering her: (206) 325-6122.