WB No. 233: Lessons of the BOUNTY — We’ve received numerous requests for reprints of Capt. Andy Chase’s article “Lessons of the BOUNTY: Drawing experience from tragedy.”
Like many wooden boat owners, the author kept expenses down by doing as much of the restoration work as she could on her own, taking advantage of the fact that Port Townsend’s Boat Haven facility permits maintenance by owners.
In my years of teaching boatbuilding and repairing wooden boats, I’ve noticed many mistakes owners make in the upkeep of their boats—common practices, done with good intent, that can often do more harm than good.
When I was in my late 50s, many of my retirement-aged friends told me they kept working because they felt they would have nothing else to do if they stopped. Others retired but said they felt lost without someplace to go in the morning.
Before this boat, I was lost. I was a little bit lost,” says 81-year-old Warren Jacques. Like a lot of seafarers and fishers, he finds some of his best reflection time when he’s on watch at sea.
WESTER TILL, a 47′ yawl designed by Henry Rasmussen and built by Abeking & Rasmussen, was launched in 1947 when the A&R yard was struggling to recover from World War II. She was nearly destroyed on a transatlantic delivery in the early 1980s, but she was subsequently rebuilt to very high standards.