on Hell Beach. I don’t feel comfortable telling the location or identity. All are safe, but
heart-broken.
It’s not just about the loss of a large steel Colvin pinky schooner. Rather it’s
about lost dreams, abandoned hopes, and disappointment. One moment is glorious, and the next days and weeks will be wrenching pain.
All fotos taken today by Will Van Dorp.
Here’s a woefully inadequate “just the facts, mam” from Long Island News. Here are more sordid details . . . failure to keep watch seems the likely cause.
Here’s more . . . with a fairly extensive set of pics along with a historical context.
OK . . . here’s the vessel.
17 comments
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April 1, 2011 at 9:34 pm
Mage Bailey
Heartbreaking indeed. I’ve seen that happen here.
April 1, 2011 at 10:17 pm
D Merritt
I lost my boat. It was wooden and wonderful. I will never be able to replace it. I feel the pain.
April 1, 2011 at 10:58 pm
Joe Herbert
Blessings be upon You Lord, that none were lost!
Considering that she is of steel on a sand shingle, she is not a total loss, any of a half dozen large tugs inhabition our water would have her off in an hour.
Then begins the unpleasantness of the Insurance Company who’s favorite words are “Act of God” and “We don’t cover that!”
A windship, even one as handy as a Tancock Island Pinky (also called a Tancock Whaler) cannot always fight off a lee shore.
And as they say along the rocky coasts of New Scotland and in the reaches of Galway Bay, “God saves all here!”
April 2, 2011 at 9:59 am
Thomas Egan
Damn the lee shore with no where to run. Being steel she may live if they can get a line on her and tow her off.
April 2, 2011 at 11:29 am
Judy Knape
I knew this boat, actually helped a bit in its build in Maryland over 30 years ago. She sailed around the world many years ago, without an engine for much of the voyage. She’s very strong, hopefully they can refloat her.
April 2, 2011 at 12:51 pm
tugster
judy– thanks for the comment. i’d love to hear more of her building. be well.
April 3, 2011 at 2:18 am
Allen Baker
Thanks for coming out Will.
A song keeps playing in the back of my head….
April 4, 2011 at 8:15 am
paulb
I hate seeing this.
April 4, 2011 at 8:48 am
Buck
How sad. If towing were free of charge, she’d be sailing right now. Steel hull probably still in great condition.
April 4, 2011 at 9:53 am
Capn Dave
Having rescued my fair share of small boats, this one appears eminently salvageable – in large part because she is made of steel. Others are right, the insurance companies will grind in with conditions and requirements and write the boat off completely. (Note I would like to see Sea Tow call this a “soft grounding” which is their legal justification for conducting salvage.) More often than not the owners are just too darn discouraged to care. Sad to say but someone may end up with a nice boat for the salvage price.
April 4, 2011 at 1:28 pm
d
she is not insured….
April 5, 2011 at 10:51 am
D
I have a few hours of “the labor of love on that lady”
Keep me up-dated guys
April 6, 2011 at 4:46 pm
Adrian Allen
Heart breaking ; I am in the middle of restoring a Colvin Tamarack steel schooner in Michigan. I’ll remember this out come and do my best to avoid it.
April 29, 2011 at 7:44 pm
Anonymous
I have the boat out back at my shop in Lunenburg, N.S. She is the “Sea Helen” owned and built I am pretty sure by a fellow named Klaus, then the guy from the states who wrecked her off of Kingsburg N.S. then Mel, then Lindsay and friends and then abandon. It is a total wreck now. I salvaged the rig which I put parts of ( foremast, boom & gaff ) in my 60 year old Bush Island boat and sail the pants off of her,,,,,,,
April 29, 2011 at 7:56 pm
Walter
I have the boat ” Sea Helen ” at my shop in Lunenburg, N.S She was wrecked some years ago on the beach in Kingsburg N.S. by a fellow from the states who bought her from a guy named Klaus, who I am pretty sure built her and sailed her around the world. After she was wrecked a fellow named Mel had her for a number of years where she stayed at the back harbour in Lunenburg , N.S. and often sank at the wharf. She was then sold for $1.00 to a gal named Lindsay who brought her to my shop with hopes of restoring her, she was abandon at my shop where she to this day. I have used the rig, foremast, main boom and gaff for a rig in my 60 year old Bush Island boat that I have been sailing for about five years now.
Walter
September 19, 2011 at 12:10 am
Millivers Travels » Blog Archive » Don’t Mess with Mother Weather
[…] on that day no one in his right mind would have attempted passage. (Later in the journey, the boat ended up on the shore near the village of Saltaire on Fire Island, New York, after the crew reportedly got seasick and […]
September 27, 2015 at 10:43 am
tugster
for what it’s worth there’s never been a clear story of what happened to this boat. was it scrapped or rehabbed?