Capt. Robert S. Douglas

[Brian Palmer]

I just saw this shared on FaceBook:

https://www.mvtimes.com/2022/10/29/raider-on-the-move/

I'll be very interested to see where it is going.

Brian

[sp_clark]

I just saw this shared on FaceBook:

https://www.mvtimes.com/2022/10/29/raider-on-the-move/

I'll be very interested to see where it is going.

Thnx for posting a non F*Book link. I won't touch F*B again, ever.

Be watching for progress on her progress to new quarters too.

[J LeComte]

3D4AADF9-DC04-4B98-930F-97BEA1684964.jpg

Raider is back in the water in Wickford, RI. She’ll sit and soak for the winter. Yet to be ballasted.

[Breakaway]

Thanks for the update!

[Ian McColgin]

Good news.

[J LeComte]

We agree! ��

[JamesCaird]

HI Guys- JUst straightening out some Shenandoah stuff and then a first hand tale:

First- Tug Jaguar from Fairhaven, Mass, has been the go-to tug for Shendandoah for many years. She is owned and operated by Captain Charlie Mitchell. I am the Forumite who often is in her crew for these interesting tows. Charlie is a fine seaman and handles these traditional vessels like eggs. We often have weather and daylight constraints (insurance companies) but most of the vessels are engineless. We have been moving Shenandoah and Mayflower II, Ernestina and the Pilot back and forth for many years. Our longest tows generally are to NYC or up to Boothbay Hbr. Whitefoot was (I guess) owned by Bob Douglas and operated by Roy Cambell until she was sold to Bermuda where she was refitted/repurposed to be Weatherbird (#1).

But the story I want to share is a good one: One late summer afternoon sometime around 1970 I was working on deck of my Atkin Cutter on the hard at a small yard just south of the railroad tracks and rt 1 bridges at Mystic, Ct. Over to the west a pair of highly raked spars with square sails aloft caught my eye. Wasn't hard to recognize that this was Shendandoah and she was northbound in the river with just the squares set and a SW (fair) wind astern. I dropped every thing and ran the 1/4 mile to the river bank between the bridges (by the shipyard which just burned) to watch this. Remember Shenandoah is engineless but carries a yawl boat in davits on the stern. The railroad bridge swung open for her and Bob sailed her up the river where the Rt 1 bascule bridge was opening. In those days I am not sure if the bridge went verticle. By then Bob's crew had clewed up the gansl. As she approached the bridge they had to brace the yards around to get her through- I can remember hearing the blocks rattling. As this point I took off on a run for the Seaport and hopped the fence in time to watch Bob ghosting ahead abeam of the south bulkhead there and by now the Topsail was also clewed up.. He let go the port anchor and payed out chain slowing her down as they did so. Once stopped she slowly swung around head to the south into the wind. While that was happening the yawlboat was lowered and swung astern and then, as the crew up forward was jacking up and down on the windlass hauling the anchor back, the yawlboat slowly eased Shenandoah about one length to port to bring her alongside the bulkhead. No muss, no fuss. Years later I told Bob I had witnessed that landing that summer and "Yes," he said, " I always wanted to try it and that day everything was just right". We both just smiled.

[Brian Palmer]

Thanks for that story! I remember Roy Campbell and Whitefoot.