I was in Gig Harbor recently, and saw this little sailboat. I asked, and was told that her name used to be “Roaring Bessie,” and that she was originally a gilnetter converted into a pleasure boat. Nice lines. Swoopy sheer.
Now named Vixen, and probably the oldest floating boat in Gig Harbor, she’s sitting very low on the waterlines. Probably filled with water, and rotting quickly.
Say good night, Roaring Bessie.
2 Comments
July 9, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Not sure if it is the same boat, but if so ….
Cowhorn Roaring Bessie, 1911
Marblehead, Mass.
Gelatin silver print
Gift of Willard B. Jackson, 1939
M27760.J3616
Roaring Bessie is a type of Block Island boat often called a “cowhorn,” since the hull’s profile resembles a pair of horns. Jackson took this photograph shortly after the boat was launched, and a year later yachting reporter Winfield Thompson commented in Rudder magazine: “In every marine picture of which she formed a part she looked like a section of an old Dutch paintingIt is not unreasonable to say, therefore, that Roaring Bessie, with her rig three centuries old at least_for it was old when painted in 1642_was the most striking American yacht of 1911.”
Roaring Bessie Designed by Martin C. Erismann | Built by George F. Lawley & Son, S. Boston, 1911 | 34_ Length overall, 30_ Length waterline | Owned by Martin C. Erismann
July 9, 2009 at 11:26 pm
More info on the design …
http://www.georgebuehler.com/Block%20Islander.html