Tag: History

The Angelique, too

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

if not a schooner
a ketch

Technically, a ketch rather than a schooner.
the Angelique a beautiful ketch

at anchor nearby
rust-colored sails
quite distinctive

yes, ketch that

everyone else went ashore in the yawl
to the boat school etc.

Brooklin

just me and the crew left aboard

someone in a white sweatshirt

jumping rope on the dock
the sound of the slapping rope
across the water
caught my attention

finally wearing my new hoodie
with its kangaroo pocket

learned that phrase yesterday

Joe bought the E.B. White democracy book while ashore
after hearing us discuss the author
(the son became a famed boat builder)

boat school temp tattoos stamped
on other passengers, crew

we’re leaving the Angelique at anchor

Roadside memorial still a mystery

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

I’d love to know the story. Every time we travel to or from Bangor or beyond, we pass this well-maintained memorial along Maine Route 9, “the Airline Highway,” in Township 24. It’s just east of the Wilderness Lodge. I finally stopped to investigate but found no names or dates. Do any of you Mainers know more?

So far, I’ve found nothing solid.

One person said something about a hit-and-run that’s never been solved.

As former radio newscaster Tom McLaughlin said, “There are plenty of places around here where something happened and there’s no memorial at all.”

He added, “Jnana, there have been so many crashes and fatals on Route 9 in the time I was covering news (1992-2016). That may have been from a crash in July 2002 that killed a guy from Perry and injured his brother who may have succumbed later. Also in that general area, a dad, mom and older son from Calais died in a head-on crash on a snowy night 20 or so years ago. Guess I haven’t given you anything definitive, here. Not sure who I can ask. All the troopers I knew back then are long retired.”

The state’s fatal crashes web site turned up nothing.

So that’s where it stands for now.

 

 

Fire on board

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Wooden sailing vessels traditionally had only one fire onboard, the cook’s stove. I can’t imagine how cold sailors, much less passengers, were through most of the year.

Windjammers hew to that tradition.

a wooden sailing vessel
with a wood-fired cook stove
and kerosine lanterns

two iceboxes

Smoke from the cookstove goes
into a T-shaped chimney vent

don’t get too close

“Smokestack,” not “chimney”
maybe “noble Charlie”

Avoiding a hydra

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

The mere necessity of uniformity in the interpretation of the national laws decides the question. Thirteen independent courts of final jurisdiction over the same causes, arising upon the same laws, is a hydra in government, from which nothing but contradiction and confusion can proceed.

Alexander Hamilton in Federalist No. 80