On the Road

Some people like taking in stray dogs and cats….me, I like old wooden boats…..lots of rot but classic lines are a must. Here is the dory off the St. Lazaria which had been sitting on the dock upside down for about five years. Her gunwhales have flattened out on the dock so she’s lost all her shape and looks like a canoe. All the ribs are broken at both the keel and chines so there is a lot of work ahead.

One rib at a time–I pre-bend each white oak rib by springing it on our dock to shape it for the next day’s installation

Here I’m placing the pre-bent rib into the stern section carefully. Sometimes these ribs break–a real bummer because I then start all over bending a new frame. Worse is when you’ve fastened each frame to each plank and the last bend breaks…..then it’s time to get out the grinders and chisels and remove everything. (The next post will explain the copper fasteners.)

The ‘forefoot’ (bent section) was completely fractured which left the stem and keel separated–and this is a hard piece to replace. First you have to relieve all the planks where they land on the stem, remove the stem and then remove all the fasteners that tie the forefoot to the keel and ‘garboard’ plank (the one fastened to the keel).

Usually, you select a piece of wood from the woods that looks like this–a huge natural knee, but this is too big so, in my spare time, I make a wooden bench out of it instead:

This is sited on our point and we now visit there every evening.

OK, back to the stem–here it’s completely opened up. What a mess–it came out in about five pieces so I screw it back together to use as a pattern! Now comes the hard part which is to reshape a forefoot from a piece of wood 2 1/2″ thick, 13″ wide and three feet long–remember it laps over the keel and stem. And this is just the beginning. After all this stem business, I’ve got the same problems with the stern:

So this has to be removed and then I plug, glue and repair the stern section; here’ the boat is essentially only two halves–no stem nor stern. Fortunately, the stern-piece can be salvaged:

The stern has now been reinstalled and varnished awaiting gold leaf “SVEN” lettering but I’m pooped so it’s time to visit Juneau for a weekend–Martina is working there all week.

And the tourist boats continue to arrive. And I thought a rowboat was a hard project. How do people maintain these huge yachts? For size comparison, note the brown cover on my 73′ tug Katahdin on the right moored in front of the yacht–and this is a medium sized one!

OK….off to Juneau where we visit the Mendenhall Glacier which is a short drive out of town. An incredible place except for the helicopters hauling lazy people over to see it. Helicopters….bah, humbug!

OK–enough of a rant about helicopters. The SVEN is half done but this blog will have to be continued (and modified) as the project ensues. Stay tuned….

Remember this boat? It was found in our net shed when we purchased the property. A double ender 14′ Davis boat built in Metlakatla. They built hundreds of these and they served in the fishing industry here in Alaska at the turn of the last century. They are worth restoring.

It had four sets of frames–I removed three keeping the best to hold the shape and filled the (approximately) 1000 holes in the hull from the old fasteners.

Here I’m bending a new frame into the boat. These are green (not kiln dried and therefore flexible) white oak frames which have been soaked overnight. On the Katahdin they are hand sawn frames 6″ X 6″ with 3″ planking–quite a difference! Today, vertical grain, air dried Douglas Fir old growth planking runs $14.00 per board foot (1″ X 12″ X 12″). Unbelievable–so I stick to small boats now.

Here I’m bracing the frames so I can fasten them with copper rivets and roves–all done by hand of course.

Here comes a visitor….

We’ve already had 6 or 7 sightings.

Here’s the boat all done up–and we named it after my uncle Ole….

It’s true–I really have an uncle Ole (actually a g-great uncle who immigrated from Norway).

Meanwhile, Merganzers launch their chicks–all 13 of them! Time to get moving and launch the Onkel Ole (note the ‘port’ and starboard’ oars):

Here another tug passes our house–the Paragon makes it’s way north out of the Wrangell Narrows into Frederick Sound on a beautiful June evening.

After 40 years, almost to the day, I returned to Washington DC to lobby for the Arctic Refuge. This ceremony took place at “the triangle” which is directly outside the US Capitol Building. Attending are Wilderness Society president Bill Meadows, Representative Ed Markey (D-MA), Senators Tom Udall (D-NM) and Mark Udall (D-CO) and, of course……..Ranger Doug.

The Udalls have walked the talk–by hiking the entire Brooks Range and rafting each of the eleven river systems. Mark stated that Udalls are so thick in the SW that you can’t spit without hitting one. Tom’s definition of wilderness is when something is out there that you can’t see but is willing to eat you. Of course, I tell my bear story….

But first, let me explain the 40th anniversary of my first visit here….

I met with Richard Nixon on May 14, 1970 after the Kent State shootings–we were the only student group to access the White House and the President: (“Don’t pay attention to the man behind the curtain!”)

You can read more in the Newsweek May 25, 1970 edition in “Youth Wants to Know” where I’m quoted as the “clean-cut leader of….American youth” This quote appears prominently on my resume, of course.

But, Richard didn’t listen to my sage advice so I had him impeached….but I waited for him to first sign the Wilderness Act–my reason for coming back 40 years later….

About a year ago, the Sierra Club approached me about a poster design to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Arctic Refuge. And here is our design featuring Mardy and Olaus Murie who spent their lives preserving this wonderful place–a considerable effort given that Mardy lived to 101! For more information about the refuge, read Mardy’s book “Two in the Far North.”

Also see our previous post on this area here.

After our “triangle meeting,” our next stop was Joseph Lieberman’s office. Joe called me the “An Alaskan Real McCoy”….another quote I’ll have to include on my resume along with Newsweek’s:

One more stop: The Library of Congress. For years, I’ve been collaborating with the LOC and National Parks to try to rebuild an original set. Imagine my surprise to find five of the nine “Laurent Collection” safely held by the LOC; we had been bidding against each other–they bought five, I, two. Only four posters remain elusive: Yosemite which was sold by the Swann Gallery, NYC to a private buyer and three which have never been found: Wind Cave, Yellowstone Falls and Great Smoky Mountain. Here, Ranger Doug donates his contemporary collection to Brett Carnell of the Prints and Photographs Division:

After all this political stuff, Martina and I train up to NY to the Big Apple. This place is expensive!…but we have a good time visiting Greenwich Village–hear Ranger Doug’s interview here. We also do the museums, visit the WTC site, the Steinway Piano Factory and also King Tut–checking out his personal jewelry. I visited the top of the Twin Towers 25 years ago and here’s what it looks like today:

….and the Steinway Piano Factory–fascinating for anyone nuts about pianos. No cameras allowed here:

OK….one more mention: Gettysburg. We’re doing a poster on this incredible place. In less than three days, there were almost 53,000 casualties–and a large percentage died.

Gettysburg is about 90 miles north of Washington DC–the Union was clearly threatened. I once sat at the very desk upon which Lincoln wrote his Gettysburg Address–Richard Nixon had it installed directly behind the (green) curtain behind his presidential desk. I also sat at Nixon’s oval office desk–but was politely asked not to sit there–only the President could. Just trying it out for size…..OK, OK–here’s a Gettysburg canon:

ELDA is next….but we first stop by Beacon NY on the beautiful Hudson River–beautiful because of one man’s efforts to clean it up. That man is Pete Seeger. Here he’s still strumming the banjo on his 91st birthday party. We were lucky to be able to meet him and have a piece of birthday cake!

and Pete still making music:

Then we proceed to ELDA–which stands for Elizabeth, Lucy, David and Abbott–the four children of David T. Abercrombie, founder of Abercrombie & Fitch and my great uncle. In 1926-8, he built a castle just north of NYC near Ossining–home of Sing Sing Prison. Today ELDA lies open to the elements, vandalized and for sale. I hastily organize a family reunion of the remaining Abercrombies and we tour the castle.

About 5 years ago, I stumbled across original photographs of the castle taken just after it was built….in Wyoming of all places where his son ranched. Here is the “Great Room:”

….and what it looks like today.

In 1944, a paint company was experimenting with camouflage paint and blew out one wing. I don’t believe this story preferring the more exotic tale of the Manhattan Project igniting a nuclear bomb here. This place was built like a proverbial stone outhouse with steel reinforcement, only stronger. David T’s wife was from the Abbott steel family who built the steel cladding for the Monitor (that sunk the Merrimack in the Civil War) and also the steel trusses for the US Capitol Building (see first photo in this post). This wasn’t paint…. But today’s kids still are experimenting with paint; thanks Jeff, class of 2009. It’s good to see that our high schools are still turning out well educated and mature adults.

The ceiling collapsed and the front stone wall was blown out–later turned into a courtyard.

Here’s that north wing intact in another original photo. It would be nice to restore this place and turn it into a music center, library or museum. There are 53 acres with two ponds and a separate guest house (originally a stable for horses). The stone tower is four stories high and from the top you can see the Hudson River.

Hmmm…..another project…..stayed tuned.

Recent add-on alert!….for all you East-Coasters. Our first bears show up right after we return to Alaska–here’ I’m gracefully tip-toeing after our fourth sighting (a big one!) to get a better pic–OK,….not too close…..