I’ve got lots of old
family photographs—they’re in boxes, folders, old clasp envelopes; some are
even pasted neatly in leather-covered photograph albums, thanks (mostly) to my
paternal grandmother, who was an Organizer of the Highest Order.
Sometimes the Sepia Saturday prompt photo sends me scurrying off in
search of a specific photo; those are easy blogs to write and post.
But sometimes my response is not so
specific; sometimes I chew on the topic for days, trying to figure out what,
exactly, in the prompt photo is gnawing at me, scratching for my attention.
I needed four days,
but I figured it out, finally.
It’s the model sailboat…
…consider, please,
the Good Ship Venus, shown here in
East Boothbay, Maine in the very early 1900s.
This was the boat the Gould boys—the brothers Gardner, Richard, Allen,
Prescott and Howard—sailed during their summer vacations, during the dog days
of August away from the stifling heat of Boston and in the cool waters of
Linekin Bay.
I’ve got several photos of Venus,
each with two or three boys on board, but none taken close enough to
distinguish individual faces…I’m pretty sure one is my great uncle
Allen—something about the cut of his hair, the shape of his head—but I can’t be
certain.
But the boat itself
is very much like the model in the Sepia Saturday prompt! It’s similarly
proportioned, has the same lovely lines, the same rigging.
Just a little bigger.
children, living near a lake or a river, owning a sailboat, must have been heaven for them. These are quite substantial and beautiful boats. My three girls had a small racing sail boat. They had a lot of fun with it for a time. Unfortunately, I never made a photo.
ReplyDeleteI've lots of shots of Venus...and a few subsequent boats as well; the last family boat was the Nina, named for my grandmother!
DeleteI wish I had learned to sail. I took sailing at camp and even in college, but I didn't have enough confidence to actually handle the boat myself.
ReplyDeleteMy family used to charter a ketch for a couple of weeks every summer, but I don't sail now; I'm happier in a kayak, thank you!
DeleteJust a fraction bigger than a model boat, ans probably easier to control too. Model boats wouldn't have had remote controls back then.
ReplyDeleteJust a fraction, Jo! Seriously, she was a pretty little boat, wasn't she?
DeleteJust a fraction, Jo! Seriously, she was a pretty little boat, wasn't she?
DeleteIn the family cottage in East Boothbay, sitting on a shelf in the dining room, is a racing trophy won by the Venus, the date of which I can't remember. As far as models go, my grandfather Gardiner Gould made at least two sailing sloop models, still in the family, and I have a huge 4' long ketch with a lead keel and 5' main mast built by him. I assume it was what they call a pond boat, but strangely enough, although it is quite detailed with sails hand sewn by my grandmother Nina, the boat was never named. Every boat in the family, regardless of size, was named Nina, including the first, a large family Friendship style gaff rigged sloop named after my grandmother, who is shown in a photo of the whole family out sailing. She looks to be about 8 or 10 years old, and the man at the helm is probably not her father. He didn't know how to sail and had a local store owner sail it for him. The sloop is long gone, as is everybody in the picture, but Nina's steering wheel is mounted over the fireplace mantle, as are her running lights. Gardiner also built two sailing models for my self and brother when we wre young - still in the family.
ReplyDeleteHey, Cousin! (For those long-standing Sepia folks, Bob is my first cousin; we share a common grandfather, the Gardner of the Gould boys!) I KNEW you'd jump in eventually; thanks for the Venus trophy story AND the fact that all the boats afterwards were named "Nina." You should contribute to Sepia Saturday, Robert...
DeleteI owned a sailboat once and enjoyed sailing off the coast of California from Oxnard to Santa Cruz. It was a lot of work however and when we sold it I was content to see it go to an enthusiastic new owner.
ReplyDeleteIt IS a lot of work, Helen! And the scraping, painting, etc., are also a lot of work! I don't miss it a bit, either!
DeleteWe lived in a community situated around a small lake for years & soon bought a 14' Hobie Cat (catamaran) to sail on it. By the second summer of owning the 14' my husband wasn't satisfied with its speed, so we bought a 16' which went faster with the intention of selling the 14'. By then, however, our kids were into sailing, so we kept the 14' for them to sail that one summer, then sold it as we didn't have enough room in our backyard to store both boats. Was fun being a 2-boat family for that one year, though.
ReplyDeleteI had friends, Gail, who had a Hobie -- they named it Hobie Wan Kenobi (of course); we sailed it on a lake here in Maine.
DeleteOh yes, a lovely vessel indeed and fully deserving of her name.
ReplyDeleteRemember Frankie Avalon's big hit, "Venus?" I'm sure my grandparents never heard it, but I always think of it when I see photos of the boat!
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