Charleston, SC revisited

16 Comments

Comment by Peter A. Mello on November 30, 2008 at 2:29pm

Hi John,

Thanks for the post. Did you have a chance to see the new sail training vessel in Charleston, the Spirit of South Carolina. She's a beautiful vessel. The executive director, Brad Van Liew, the 2004 winner of the Around Alone race in the Tommy Hilfiger boat, has brought a lot of energy, excitement and professionalism to sail training in South Carolina and across the country

Hope you keep providing all of us snowbound working stiffs with updates on your "retirement cruise" and life in Key West! ;-)

Comment by James Hutton on December 3, 2008 at 1:17pm

John,
I did the same delivery aboard the TABOR BOY in 1984 after getting out of college along with Jay Bolton (’60 – ’62). I think we arrived a day or two before Thanksgiving and it gave the holiday a new meaning for me. Man I had some good times aboard her!
Regards,
Jamie

Comment by Jonathan Lincoln on December 6, 2008 at 11:55am

John & Jamie,

In 1984 I was hoping to join that trip as well, however I was in my freshman year at Maine Maritime and didn’t make it. I went the following year, again jay Bolton was among the crew, my first visit to Charleston. Once the Schooner was all secured for the winter, everyone went their way. At this point it was just me and Cap Glaeser. A person by the name of Kip Valentine stopped in to say hi to Cap. He had been on the schooner some time in the past and stopped by as he lived in the area. As Cap went his way on Thanksgiving day, I was invited to Kips house for a Thanksgiving dinner with he and his mother. Later that night we hit the Charleston night scene. It was all fun hanging there in Charleston getting escorted around by one of the locals who spent some time on Tabor Boy.

Today I pull into Charleston regularly on the M/V ST. LOUIS EXPRESS to either the Wando container terminal or the North Charleston docks. Sure is different then my first visit in 1985.

Regards,

Jonathan Lincoln

Comment by John D. Patten on December 7, 2008 at 7:51pm

I made the cruise twice while on the schooner crew and then in my freshman year at New York Maritime in 1971 I met the TABOR BOY at Kings Point and sailed to Charleston, Each cruise had its own excitement, the sea smoke off Cape Hatteras, cooking a turkey dinner on board which as tradition mandated brought on a gale, taking the train back North or one year flying back to Boston with Dave Williams and his father and getting caught in a terrible blizzard on Thanksgiving Day. Some of the best experiences in my life as I look back on it all.

Comment by Jim Potdevin on December 7, 2008 at 9:54pm

Johnnie -

Those were fine trips to Charleston in '71 and '72. My brother, Bob '71, said that they had to pull into Great Salt Pond, Block Island due to weather and snow in '70. My Dad made both of my trips too. I remember one of those trips heaving-to offshore from Cape Charles Light and heading around Cape Hatteras with a NW gale behind us. In '72 Spicer and I used the lady's showers at the Charleston marina - after 5 days of no showers, who cared! And always arriving home on Thanksgiving.

Jim

Comment by John D. Patten on December 7, 2008 at 11:27pm

Your parents picked me up at NY Maritime and we went out to lunch together and then met the schooner at King's Point in '71. I remember the snow storm at Block Island well and waiting for the weather to change at Cape Charles. Good times for sure! Talking about being places we didn't belong? Do you remember when they changed the engine oil in Bermuda and decided to wash up afterwards in the pool at the Hamilton Princess Hotel and were sent back over the wall?

Comment by Jim Potdevin on December 7, 2008 at 11:47pm

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...

Comment by James Hutton on December 8, 2008 at 12:59pm

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!

Comment by John D. Patten on December 8, 2008 at 2:04pm

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!

Comment by Peter A. Mello on December 8, 2008 at 2:14pm

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!

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