Ida Lewis

or I could call this “mother ship” but that’s come to mean something different.  I could wait to post this on mothers’ day, but … I believe that every day is mothers’ day, fathers’ day, etc.  So who do you suppose calls herself “mother of all keepers?”

These top three fotos showing the vessel exiting Cape Cod Canal eastbound and into quite the chop were sent by Tom from Boston.  More from Tom soon.

WLM 551 Ida Lewis, based in Newport, Rhode Island, is a Keeper-class 175′ coastal buoy tender.   And who was this mother of all keepers, Ida Lewis?  Read a poem about her here.

A brave woman, that’s who, one who’d row through the spindrift like that below.  Ida lived on Lime Rock in Narragansett Bay for 59 years, moving there at age 12 when

her father became keeper.  He was replaced by his wife, and then Ida, short for Idawalley Zorada, who became keeper at age 37.  She remained keeper, living mostly alone, until her death at age 69!   Read about Ida here.  Below, in a foto I took May 2008, Ida Lewis is moored nose to stern with cruiser CG55 Leyte Gulf.

Around the same time, Ida Lewis and WPB 1345 Staten Island met just outside the Narrows, which brings me to

artistic Bowsprite, who did this watercolor of WPB 1345, and in time will tease many more projects from her brushes.

Photos by Tom and WVD.