The Rescue of The John R. Noyes

Sailcraft Boatyard, Oriental, NC
35 01.97 N 076 41.11 W

I depart here from my normal blogging style to repeat verbatim one of the most amazing boating stories I ever heard.  I found it here. Charlotte, NY is on Lake Ontario.

U.S. Coast Guard Awards

---

George N. Gray
Frank B. Chapman
W. Vernon Downing
Charles Eastwood
Mial E. Eggleston
George E. Henderson
Ira S. Palmer
Delbert Rose
Lester D. Seymour

Awarded 3 January 1903

---

In recognition of their gallant conduct in effecting the rescue on 15 December 1902 of four men and one woman from the wreck of the schooner John R. Noyes, the crew of the life-saving station at Charlotte, NY received the Gold Lifesaving Medal. Those awarded included Keeper George N. Gray and Surfmen Frank B. Chapman, W. Vernon Downing, Charles Eastwood, Mial E. Eggleston, George E. Henderson, Ira S. Palmer, Delbert Rose, and Lester D. Seymour.

The circumstances of the case were as follows. About 5:30 PM on 14 December 1902, the train master of the New York Central Railroad at Charlotte, NY received a telegram requesting him to notify Keeper Gray that a vessel showing signals of distress lay at anchor about 3 miles off Lakeside, 23 miles from Charlotte. Upon receipt of the information, the keeper instantly prepared to go to her relief.

The harbor tug was frozen in the ice upriver and could not tow the surfboat to the scene. While trying to pull 23 miles against a head sea on a winter night would have been both useless and foolhardy. The keeper, therefore, resolved to proceed by rail to Lakeside and thence, if possible, to reach the vessel. He promptly secured orders for a special train at Windsor Beach and a gang of shovelers went to work breaking out two flat cars standing on a siding. Due to the deep snow and other obstructions, it was nearly two hours before the life-saving crew could get to the depot with the wagon carrying a surfboat. It would be an hour more before the train was ready.

Before leaving the station the keeper sent a telegram to the keeper of the Oswego Station. He requested him to dispatch a tug in search of the craft in order to save her. He also telegraphed Lakeside for teams to be in readiness for his use at that point. The special train was delayed by a freight train and Lakeside was not reached until 9:35 PM. From there the condition of the roads proved so unfavorable that sleds were necessary to transport the apparatus to the shore.

The journey of 4 miles was extremely difficult. There were great snowdrifts, at least 6 feet deep, obstructing progress. There were also very considerable stretches swept bare, over which it was impossible for four horses to drag the sleds. The crew was frequently compelled to assist in hauling them. At 11:30 PM the shore was gained and while the boat was being removed from the sleds. With the hope that it might encourage the distressed vessel’s crew, the keeper proceeded to a bluff and burned a red Coston signal. Before embarking, he also obtained as good an idea of her position as he could get.

Launching the boat, the crew pulled outside into the heavy sea. The weather, however, was bitter cold. The air was so thick with vapor that the keeper, after going about a mile, found it impossible to see a dozen yards ahead. Nevertheless, he kept on by compass until about 3:00 AM. For three and one-half hours they fruitlessly continued the search, burning several Coston signals. Finally, with the bewilderment so disheartening, he felt compelled to wait for daylight and ordered the boat ashore. At his request the people of the vicinity built a large bonfire, which it was hoped might possibly be seen from the vessel. All hands were permitted to lie down for 90 minutes. After breakfast the keeper sent the entire crew along the cliffs in order to sight the vessel, if possible, after daybreak. No signs of her, however, were discovered. Leaving a man on shore with instructions to ascend to the top of a windmill and signal which way the boat should go, again he launched the surfboat.

As soon as the lookout reached the top of the mill, he discovered the schooner in the distance. Upon his signal the keeper put back into the beach. He then spotted the vessel with the aid of marine glasses. Taking note of her bearings by the compass, he again launched. Having the wind astern, the boat soon made a distance of 10 miles off shore when the wind came brisk from the east. This compelled him to proceed in the dangerous trough of the combing waves. The weather was so cold that the spray rapidly covered the boat and its occupants with ice. The conditions then constantly grew more difficult and when the boat reached the wreck at 11:30 AM, 20 miles off shore, the wind was blowing very hard and the sea was running high.

The vessel and her crew were in a most pitiful condition. She had lost her sails, yawl boat, and both anchors, had her cabin smashed in. She was leaking fast and was heavily encumbered with ice. She was simply a helpless wreck, drifting about at the mercy of the storm. All on board were suffering from exposure for more than fifty hours and from lack of food for upward of thirty-six hours. They had lost hope, bidden one another goodbye, and were lying on the deck benumbed. Some were hysterical. In a little while all would have perished.

Having wrapped the woman in the keeper’s overcoat and provided her with mittens, the lifesavers managed to place all hands safely into the surfboat. As nothing could be done to save the wreck, the keeper pushed off quickly with a view of gaining the land before darkness should shut down. All were worn out and the return trip lay in the trough of the sea. This made it necessary to head the boat up to the breakers, whereby her progress was much impeded. A little assistance was rendered at the oars by some of the shipwrecked men when they were sufficiently recovered. After an extremely trying experience the shore was reached about 4:30 PM a mile and a half from the launching place.

On account of the accumulation of ice, however, the boat could not land. The crew was compelled to carry the rescued persons ashore, through the water and ice, on their shoulders. Then they pulled farther down, where horses dragged the boat ashore. After partaking of a warm supper, the crew proceeded with the boat to Lakeside and thence, by train, to Windsor Beach. They arrived at the starting point about 9:30 PM on 15 December. Having been engaged in this extremely hazardous enterprise more than a day and a night with little sleep, they were under oars from 11:30 PM of the 14th to 4:30 PM. of the 15th with the exception of about two hours. They pulled in a heavy seaway nearly or quite 60 miles and all were more or less frostbitten. Grave apprehensions existed on shore lest they be lost. Preparations were, in fact, made to send out a rescue party if necessary. Throughout all these trying circumstances they nobly bore their part.

Ship Shape & Ready

Sailcraft Boatyard, Oriental, NC
35 01.97 N 076 41.11 W

Well, we worked very hard.  We even had help.  Dave came down from Zebulon twice to help us for a day.  He says he's grateful for the lessons on marine systems maintenance.   We say we're grateful to see Dave (as always), but also for two days slave labor.

We also had help from Daryl, the boatyard mechanic.  He had just the right expertise and just the right tools twice.

So now, the work is done and we're ready to splash.  The only trouble is that Tropical Storm Beryl will be here in the morning.  Not a nice day to be out.  Therefore, we'll sit and do nothing another day.

So, what did we accomplish?

1. Scraped, sanded, and painted the bottom. First time sincer September 2009, she needed it.
   
2. Libby retouched all the scrapes and dock rash we accumulated over the years.  The paint is not a perfect match, but she looks much better.
   
   
3. Removed the shaft log and replaced the cutlass bearing.  Now hopefully, the last remnants of vibrations left from years with our Max Prop will be gone.
   
   
4. Re-installed the bobbin and shaft saver so that the properller spacing in the  aperture is about perfect.
   
   
5. I gave up on the cone-shaped prop nut and zinc.  I retrieved the old prop nut from the Max Prop.  It screws on fine and I have a safety pin in it to prevent it from falling off.  No more worry about that.
   
   
6. I pulled the shaft log and re-bedded it a second time because I wasn't satisfied with the friction we had turning the shaft in neutral.  Now, after the 2nd time, it turns much easier so I did make an improvement.
   
   
7. We installed new boomkin tangs that I had bought from Bud Taplin.  Those are extremely critical parts.  If they break at sea with a strong wind behind you, dismasting will result.  It happened to three W32s in the past three years, so it is a matter of great concern for all Westsailors.
   
   
8. We removed and cleaned the heat exchanger.  I tried and failed last year to get the end cap off.  Daryl from the boatyard was more clever than I.  He showed me how to do it.
   
   
9. We tried to install a new high-rise exhaust header that I bought from Bud Taplin.  Without the high-rise there is a slight chance of having water back up into the engine if the boat is heeled at extreme angles (really extreme).  However we failed, and had to put the original header back in.  The problem is that the new header blocked the space where cooling water leaves the heat exchanger.  I'll need a 90 degree rubber elbow to make a sharp turn.  I'll retry that installation after finding the elbow.
   
   
10. We compounded, waxed and buffed the hull topsides.

Like I said, being in a boat yard makes for very hard work days for us spoiled cruisers.  Now howeve, with the hard work done, we get the satisfaction of sitting back with a cool drink and saying sigh.

Ship shape and ready to splash.

Yard Work

Starcraft Boatyard, Oriental NC
35 N 71 W

I haven't kept up with blogging.  Too busy working.  Cruisers really prove the saying, "work-work play-play"   We play almost all the time and we really have fun.  However, when the boat is up on the hard in a dusty, hot boatyard, the priories are flipped.  We just want to finish our jobs and get out of here.   That makes for 12 hour days, working one's butt off.

It also shows up our aging bodies.  Never before has this boatyard work seemed so hard and so exhausting.  I'm afraid that we may graduate into the mode of paying expensive laborers to do the work for us.

On Friday Libby fell off the ladder.  Not far, only about 3 feet.  She wasn't hurt, but it demonstrates the point about our aging bodies. She said that it wasn't so much exhaustion, but rather the oppressive heat.

My plan is to let a mechanic do some work on the engine Tuesday, and splash on Wednesday AM.  However, that plan may have to bend because Tropical Storm Beryl will be over us on Wednesday.

The pictures below show the before and after views of Tarwathie's bottom.  We use ablative paint, and each successive coat gets a different color.  That way we can see how much the paint is worn by looking at the color.  The most recent paint was red, and under that is blue.  In the top picture (sorry for fuzzy focus) you can see where blue is showing through.

I screwed up on paint selection.  The new paint should have been black, but I bought blue.  Too bad.  The bottom picture shows her after the first coat.   The blue smurf dressed in white is yours truly.

Sorry for the poor focus

 

p.s. Last night Richard and Penny from Viking Rose came over from nearby.  We had dinner together at the Toucan Grill.  That was a fun reunion.  We haven't seen those two in two years.  Bowing to the bad economy, Richard took a full time job in Atlanta to replenish their sailing kitty.  They moved there.  However, in Atlanta Penny has really discovered herself as an artist, in competitive art show circuits.  She's doing very well.

p.p.s. We also met two very nice new friends, Drake and Mo on the W42 Paragon. Drake has an interesting history.  He single handed 7 years on a W32, then he traded up to a W42.  He single handed that too and he's sailed about everywhere between Nova Scotia and Venezuela. Drake and Mo are planning to sail to Ireland next spring.  Good luck to them.  See their youtube channel.  Search for drakeparagon on youtube.

p.p.p.s. Libby likes this boatyard better than the one in Deltaville, VA.  I think it will be a regular stop for us in the future.

Oriental public dock

See us on the web cam

www.towndock.net/harborcam

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Carolina In the Morning

En Route, The Neuse River
35 02.02 N 076 58.27 W

Last night we sat in the cockpit chatting with George and Carol from Traumeri. I noticed that the topic of conversation drifted to the "luxury" amenities offered by various places that boaters frequent. By "luxuries" I mean things like coin laundry rooms without long waiting lines. Well, the New Bern Grand Marina is near the top of our list. I thought it might be fun to list them.

• Access to family and friends.  This one is kind of personal.  We really appreciate the ability to visit with Dave and Cathy and to see Nick at Fort Bragg.  We also have several friends in the area that we enjoy visiting.
  
• First rate docks.  This is a big marina with more than two miles of docks by linear measure.  The floating docks are well founded and stable.   Water & electric services are great. Pumpouts are free. The area also seemed to be very safe and secure, day and night.
• Great rates.  We paid only $272 for a month in one of those nice slips.  That's less than we pay for a mooring in Vero and Marathon.  
  
• Electric use is metered.  We used 21 kWh costing $3.23 in 24 days.  Tsk tsk how wasteful, we usually use only 0.6 kWh per day; here we cranked up the refrigerator, we used lights and the computer longer hours, and I used power tools for projects.  All that increased our consumption to more than 0.8 kWh/day.  That felt very decadent.  (My friend Walt says, "Heck, my wireless router uses more than that.")  
  
  By the way, we left our 50w solar panel on all the time, and it probably produced 50% or more of our electric use.  The 21 kWh was use over and above solar panel generation. I can use that number to properly size an expansion of our solar panel capacity.
  
• Great facilities.  The marina is integrated with the Double Tree Hilton hotel.  Marina guests use the hotel facilities.   Luxury bathrooms finished in marble.  Great showers, very clean.  Free newspaper and Starbucks coffee in the morning.  An adequate laundry and sailors lounge.  Great WiFi.  Use of the hotel van.  We didn't ask but we may have been able to use the hotel pool and exercise room.
  
• Active location.  The hotel, the next door convention center and the adjacent New Bern downtown buzz with interesting activities and events.   Even more than Burlington, Vermont.
  
• Neat stores and restaurants downtown.  So many downtowns in the USA today look like ghost towns.  Not so here in New Bern.   The number of art galleries and stores and their quality are amazing.
  
• Nearby shopping.  Just 15 minutes away by bicycle is a Walmart, Harris Teeter supermarket, Waffle House, and just about any other store.
  
• History.  We watched a civil war reenactment once in New Bern.  We've also taken our guests to tour Tryon Palace just 300 meters away.   That tour, by the way, is very educational.
  
• Beautiful river setting.   It is very pretty looking out over the river at night.  We tied up next to the railroad bridge, but that didn't spoil things.  Indeed, watching the RR workers working at glacial speed, and the trains going by slower than a man's walking pace were great entertainment.
  
• Day/overnight sailing.  Any time the weather looks nice, just cast off the lines and go for a day sail on the Neuse River.  It's a great place to sail.  If you don't make it back before dark, just drop the hook almost anywhere in the river and spend the night.
  
• Great weather.  We haven't been here in mid Winter or Summer, but in the spring and fall, the weather is very pleasant.   Especially the mornings.  Remember the song, "Nothing Could Be Finer than to Be in Carolina in the Morning?"   Well, it's true. I liked to do my chores and activites in the mornings.  After lunch and a nap, when it started to get really warm, I would retreat to the air conditioned sailor's lounge until suppertime when things cool off again.   This year we saw no mayflies, and hardly any flies or mosquitoes.
  
• Fun people.  There were not too many cruisers this year.  The marina was full of local boats temporarily displaced from their home marinas by fire or Hurricane Irene.  However, we did get to meet a number of interesting local sailors around the docks.
  

What't not to like?

A New Suit of Clothes for Tarwathie

New Bern, NC
35 05.91 N 077 01.95 W

No, not a new suit of sails, a new suit of clothes.  See the picture.  For more than a year, Libby wanted a new set of covers for our cabin cushions.  The old ones we used for 7 years, plus who knows how many other years with the previous owner.   The cushions are fine, but the covers were worn.

In Saint Augustine, Libby got a great bargain at the Sailor's exchange, buying Sunbrella fabric for $4/yard.  Then she arranged with Wendy (of Jeff&Wendy fame on board W32 Calypso), to sew the covers.  Yesterday, Jeff & Wendy came to dinner and they delivered the new covers.  They are nice, very nice indeed.   We put two coats of Scotchguard on them and we hope they'll last a long time.

Click to see the whole picture.

But that's only the beginning for Tarwathie this week.  Tomorrow we leave for Oriental.  On Friday we go up on the hard at the Sailcraft Boatyard.  Tarwathie will get the full spa treatment.  She'll have her bottom washed, scraped, polished and painted,  her flanks cleaned and waxed, and her cutlass bearing replaced.  After that she should be a happy girl for quite a while.

We are perhaps behind schedule to be in Rome NY on June 23 for Sara's High School Graduation.  However, we scheduled the yard work this way to avoid being on the water over Memorial Day weekend.   We've learned over the years, that holiday weekend boaters are a menace, and that the worst weekend of all is Memorial Day Weekend.

Jaunty

New Bern, NC
35 05.91 N 077 01.95 W

Even though we have been living the life of cruisers for more than seven years, I never felt fulfilled.  The problem was the promotional video made to sell Westsails in the 1970s.  In that video, the skipper of the W32 had a wonderful jaunty cap that made him look so very  nautical. I thought, that one can't truly be a cruiser without a cap like that one.  See the picture.

I always wanted a cap like that and I asked Libby several times to get one as a present.  The trouble is that most stores don't sell stuff like that and searching for "jaunty hat" on the Internet won't produce useful results.  Thankfully, today Libby found almost exactly the right cap as a used clothes store here in New Bern.

What do you think?  (p.s. for smart alecs.  I'm not claiming that I'm jaunty, just that the cap is jaunty.)

 

The Shriners Parade

New Bern, NC
35 05.91 N 077 01.95 W

On Saturday, we went to see the Shriners parade, just a few hundred yards away.   Neither Libby nor I have ever seen a Shriners parade before.  It was a lot of fun.  Actually, it was hard to tell who was having the most fun, The Shriners, the kids watching, or the rest of the spectators.   For the rest of the weekend, the Hilton here is full of Shriners.  I guess they really do pump a lot of money into local economies.

I'm sure you know, Shriners are also a charitable organization dedicated to helping children.  They finance a number of childrens hospitals.  Today though, it appeared to be an organization dedicated to allowing mature white men to wear silly costumes and act immature.  Sure looks like fun to me.

Below is a little slide show I made of the parade.




I somewhat regret never having joined any kind of club. There are Freemasons, Lions, Rotary, Kiwanis, Moose, Elk, Toastmasters. You name it they got it. But I never paid much attention to them. To my best recollection, neither have any of my friends ever belonged to any such club. The one exception was my friend Kalle in Finland who was active in Jaycees. Now it's probably too late for me; I live a nomadic life style.

Contortionist Not

New Bern, NC
35 05.91 N 077 01.95 W 


If I could average 3-4 hours per day on boat projects, I could keep well ahead of the list.  In reality, I typically do only 1-3 hours work per day on work days.  On travel days I do zero.  Therefore, I keep up with the list only barely.


Some boat projects are difficult to do except when at a dock.  That includes work on the dinghy, projects that need electric power, and those which require that we vacate the boat.   This month in New Bern I'm doing a little of each.


I sanded the bottom of the dinghy.  Then, Libby and I put a new layer of fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin on the bottom.  I sanded it again, and then put on two coats of antifouling bottom paint.   Finally, I overcoat the portion above the waterline with a lighter color.  Bottom paint only comes in dark colors.  The reason for all this is that our dinghy needs reinforcement.  It is made of fiberglass, and it tends to get crushed at dinghy docks like at Vero and Marathon.   Getting squeezed between other dinghies creates longitudinal cracks in the hull, which eventually leak water.   Also, I'm hoping that use of antifouling paint may help in Vero and Marathon where the dinghy sits for long times in subtropical water.


This week, I'm refinishing the floor in Tarwathie's main cabin.  The floor finish seems to last only two years.  I've used polyurethane and bowling alley varnish -- same result.  I'm sure it would last longer if Libby and I could ever learn the habit of never wearing the same shoes on board as on shore.  We've tried and tried to acquire that habit, using various memory jogging crutches, but it never stuck.


Actually varnishing the floor means we must evacuate the boat until the finish dries.   It also means that I must paint myself into a dead-end.  A dead-end that ends with a ladder.  Then I have to paint the floor right up to the end and the ladder itself.  If I were in my 20s, I could hang the paint bucket on a string from my neck, then do one-armed handstands to support my body as I painted with the other hand, and do it all as I hand-standed myself up that ladder.   Well, I'm 67 years old so acrobatics like that are beyond imagination.  Still, via all sorts of contortions and Spider Man type tricks, I mange to accomplish the painting job.  I can't describe in words how I do it.  Too bad I can't take a video of myself doing that.  I'm sure you would enjoy it.  By the way, I have to do it all three times to put down three coats.


I'm considering a totally different approach.  I could open the portholes and hatches for ventilation, then paint down the ladder and across the floor until I painted myself into a corner where I could crawl up into bed.  Then after a good night's sleep, we could walk on the floor again come morning.  Assuming the ventilation is sufficient, it might be a better way.

How Much Water

New Bern, NC
35 05.91 N 077 01.95 W

I love this picture. It is an ingenious way to illustrate how much waster is on Planet Earth.  If all our water were a sphere, it's radius would be 700 km.  That's about half the radius of the Moon.   Still, it looks tiny in this perspective.

To those of us who live on the the water and who sail the oceans, the amount of water seems nearly infinite.  Not so, as these clever people illustrated.

Illustration Credit & Copyright: Jack Cook, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Howard Perlman, USGS

For more explanation about this remarkable picture, look here.

By the way, note how well this picture illustrates how wide the North American Continental shelf is along the USA East Coast.  That's why in most of our offshore sailing, we are still in water less than 100 feet deep.