September 21, 1938--Aboard "The Spray" written by Walter Lange in his own word"s and memories: When we got up in the morning there was a good east wind blowing, which meant no Cuttyhunk this trip. I was for going through The Race to Greenport and Shelter Island; Don thought that there was too much wind to leave. I suggested that we go ashore and mail some postcards, get some lunch, and when we come back to the boat if the wind is blowing more we stay otherwise we go!! When we rowed back to the boat it sure was blowing harder!! Greenport was forgotten. Some people were tending their mooring lines. I remember a big black ketch with a clipper bow abeam of us and 2 or 3 men putting chafing gear on the mooring lines. Later we watched it break loose and drift ashore. About mid afternoon, we sat in the cockpit watching all the boats breaking loose drifting in towards the yacht club and me taking picture"s. Then we thought it was about time we better be securing things ourselves. There was a vacant mooring just off our starboard bow, 500 pounder, so I put my bathing suit on and with a 3/8" manila line, I swam to the mooring, tied the line on and put it on our bit. We were going to heave the mooring aboard as soon as I changed into my clothing. I had changed into my clothing and was sitting in the cabin warming up looking out the companionway when we hear someone yell, "Spray Ahoy!!" I jumped up and when I looked to port, there was a big schooner heading right down on us broadside, heeled over with the starboard rail down as if sailing!! The captain was on the helm with the wheel hard over, the engine running and 2 men in the bow paying out anchor line. The first thing that happened when she hit us was that a small davit on her starboard side hit our mizzen mast shrouds and down came our mizzenmast. The schooner"s anchor line crossed over our mooring lines and we actually held the schooner for awhile as she came up into the wind. We then put on life jackets and I remember Don wanted to jump in and swim ashore. I said you would get hurt or killed with the waves hitting the rocks and boulders to our lee. Why don"t we jump aboard the schooner and when it breaks up then we"ll swim ashore. Once aboard the schooner, I decided to try to get my camera through the forward hatch of The Spray. I made 2 or 3 attempts to reach my camera off the self in the bow; as the two boats came together and when they went apart, I would jump back. Then our bit on the bow holding our mooring lines broke off and The Spray was adrift with all our belongings. We could see it heading for the white water on that pile of rocks. I noticed the crew on the schooner had put on their life jackets since we came aboard. Now the schooner was hitting bottom and pounding. Because of her deep draft, we did not hit the rocks. The tide was high now and we could see a car under the water at the low road near the boulders and public beach. As the wind started hauling around the schooner slid down in front of the public beach pounding on the sand. For awhile, we thought we might go out into Fishers Island Sound as the wind was now blowing out of the harbor!! The tide started dropping, so we stayed there off the beach, gradually we started heeling over on our starboard side. All this time the crew and we were laying on the port deck against the cabin. It was blowing so hard you could"nt stand up and it was raining. The rain and spray of seawater from the hull was going horizontal with the wind. If it hit you in the face, it hurt and felt like hail stones. The water built up between the deck and cabin side and laying in the water protected us from the wind also keeping us warm. I remember us looking over to New London and seeing the red glow in the sky from the fire as it was starting to get dark. We thought the whole city was burning down. It is low tide now and the boat is on a 45 degree angle. The wind has gone around to the southwest and let down some. The cook had been down below cooking dinner on a shipmate stove and he called us all below to eat and be warmed up. It was unbelievable sitting down at the table with such a nice dinner, being dry and warm with electric lights on!!! The table was on gimbals as the schooner was rigged for ocean racing, which it has done. If you were sitting on the low side of the boat the table was up to your chin, and on the high side, the table was in your lap. We had a few good laughs, after dinner we were each given a bunk for the night. I remember the boat hull creaking all through the night from laying on her side with no support under the hull. Stand by for September 22nd.........:)
Posted on: Sat, 21 Sep 2013 09:37:27 +0000
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