There is little new news from the fire. The fire inspectors and the insurance specialists agree that the fire started in the area where the main electrical circuits come into the building. A nearby extension cord on a retractable reel is suspected. Most all of the boat gear was stored in the building and was also destroyed. The main, fore and jib sails were at North Sails for repair but the storm sails and our beautiful “Bird” gennaker were also burnt.

I hope to salvage the partially melted prop and some of the charred keel. I hope to send little pieces of the burnt hull to friends in all our favorite places around the world, to be put back in the seas where we sailed and those, like the Mediterranean, where we hoped to go.

The Maggie B was fully insured and the insurance company is being entirely cooperative. I have no plans for “what’s next” other than writing the book and telling the story.

I regret to report the death of Edwin Sperry, the master electrician for the Covey Island building. He died in the woods near his house in Petit Rivere on the Sunday after the fire.

The current belief is that the fire started in the back of the shop, possibly by a retractable extension cord. The fire got so hot that the volunteer firemen were almost unable to pull out the fire trucks from the fire house 150 feet away.

The loss of the Schooner Maggie B is awful for me and all those who sailed on her and loved her. The loss of Covey Island Boatyard is even harder. Thirty years of plans, business records, and specialty tools. Those who worked there lost all their gear.

Bad news travels fast. People have written in from all over the world:

From Bill and Claudie in Bay of Islands, NZ:

“Condolences is not a proper expression.. as it relates to the loss of human life. We are all coming to grips with a unique loss which is the loss of beauty and fleeting dreams which we have known. .. dedicated disciplines and skills that culminated in this exceptional Maggie B. The Mona Lisa could be so lost, but its not quite the same free kinetic beauty that the sea embraces.”

From Curtis in Cadiz, Spain:

“She was a friend, a protector, a mother for all of those who sailed on her, a vicarious adventure and a symbol of hope for all who followed her travels through Capt. Blair´s log entries. To have such an inelegant end for such a singularly graceful craft is beyond my notions of right and wrong. That she was to be launched next Monday adds only acid to the ashes.”

From Warren in Rockland:

“A vessel like the Maggie B is built not only of many parts over many months
but of many miles, many shipmates, many hard-won experiences and many
tangible memories.”

From Mikalya in Nova Scotia:

“I am 14….and for 25 months, and that is a long time because I was just turning 12 back then, the beautiful Maggie B took me all around the world through our computer.”

From Robert in Atlanta, quoting David Whyte’s News of Death:

“For this loss I could not speak,
the tongue lay idle in a great darkness,
the heart was strangely open,
the moon had gone,
and it was then
when I said, “She is no longer here”,
that the night put its arm around me
and all the white stars turned bitter with grief.”

From Aaron at Wooden Boat in Maine:

“It’s been quiet around the office all day. The fire has dropped a pall on our world at Wooden Boat… She was one of the most remarkable boats I have ever sailed and I salute you for having the persistent foresight and hunger to orchestrate her creation and to have used her so well….In my brief experience, losing a boat isn’t like losing something as distinctly defined as a mitten or a mother, it’s more like losing your bearings on a map of dreams you had.”

From Bill in Maryland:

“Maggie B. was like a thoroughbred horse, who carried you so far and so well, and then was lost just after the finish.”

And, perhaps closest to my sentiments, from Theresa in New South Wales, Australia:

“F**k.”

Needless-to-say, it is way too soon to have any plans for the future, except to settle in and write the book.

All is not well.

Pictures coming in a few days.

Regular readers may recall the challenges we had with the toilet. Curtis, Robert and I put in hundreds of hours to troubleshoot blockages in the the black water tank and then to build a “work around.” It turns out that a single tampon was the culprit — an all too familiar story to anyone who works with marine toilets. An emphatic notice will be a prominent part of the rebuilt system.

Feathering props are an essential part of any traveling sailboat. For the Maggie B it made a 3/4 to one knot difference. At a very rough estimate, we probably saved 30 days of sailing with the extra speed (the difference between going six and seven knots over 30,000 NM). Of the several alternatives out there, we selected the Italian J-Prop. Now they are our enemies. We lost our first J-Prop when it simply came off somewhere between Barbados and Brazil on the way out. The distributor said that it had never happened before, which turned out to be a lie. But they did send us a free replacement. Free until Brazil customs demanded a 100% import tax due to mistakes J-Prop made in shipping. The replacement J-Prop failed in Martinique on our way back. When we took it apart, the gear teeth fell out as if it had been the loser in a bare-knuckle bout.

When we got back to Canada we were told 1) they had changed the warrantee period to one year from three, so it was out of warrantee, 2) that J-Props never fail unless they are abused, ours failed so therefore it must have been abused, so the warrantee is voided and 3) we could ship it to Italy to be rebuilt, but they had no idea how long it would take. Our next prop will be a Luke, built in Maine.

I got to the Wooden Boat show in Mystic Seaport in June. It was a lovely celebration. Some photos are posted. One high point was getting into the non-display storage sheds to see the incredible collection. I went right to their Moosabec Reach Wherry, whose lines were the genesis for Reepicheep, our tender from the Apprentice Shop in Rockland.

All is well.