A Boat, Lost and Found

A BOAT: LOST & Found

by David Egger

My father was a renaissance man. He enjoyed the ancient sports of archery, fencing, sailing, ice boating and fly fishing. He constructed his own bows, fletched his own arrows, built bamboo rods and tied flies to catch trout. He also had a passion for wooden sailboats.

When he was transferred from Fort Wayne, Indiana, to a job in Holland, Michigan, in 1953, he got serious about boating and bought and restored older boats on which he would sail Lake Michigan from the port of Holland and Lake Macatawa.

When he got tired of repairing and re-building neglected boats, he decided to build his own. He chose a Herreshoff designed 28-foot ketch (H-28), the plans for which could be purchased from Rudder Magazine. The design, as modified by a Japanese naval architect to allow for added headroom below deck, was actually 32-feet long.

Having a close friend that had built an H-28 and who sailed with my family each summer encouraged him. He lofted the boat in the basement of our home and built the Marjory Jane from the keel up over a four-year period in the late 1960s—first in the basement, then later outside in our backyard.

He carved the fittings for the boat and had them cast at a local foundry, had the lead keel cast at that same foundry, located the all-important stem piece of oak (18-feet long, 12-inches wide and 4-inches thick) and sawed it to shape with a small Delta bandsaw fitted with roller skates.

I was a student at Michigan State University in East Lansing at the time and remember hitchhiking home to help him steam and bend the 2-inch by 2-inch oak ribs and screwing them into place. The hull was built with 1-inch by 1-inch mahogany strips screwed into the ribs and nailed into the mahogany strip below.

When the task was finished and the Marjory Jane peaked around the end of the house drawn in her cradle on a flatbed by a local driver, the neighbors exclaimed, “Where did that come from?”

Marjory Jane was splashed at a local marina on the Grand River and we celebrated at a local lunch spot. Upon returning, we found the launch slip empty and my father’s first thought was, “Oh my God, it has sunk!” Fortunately, it had not, the marina needed the space and moved her to an adjacent slip.

Over the next 10 years, our family sailed her across Lake

Michigan to Milwaukee and Door County; as well as up and down the lake past Muskegon, White Fish Lake, Pentwater, Manistee, through the Manitou Passage past South and North Manitou Islands and Leland and on to Charlevoix and Beaver Island, among other ports of call.

When my father was transferred to a job in the south, he chose to sell the boat before moving away from the coast of Lake Michigan. It was purchased by Dr. Phillips, who trailered the Marjory Jane, renamed the Captain Phillips, to Seattle.

Over time, we lost track of the Marjory Jane/Captain Phillips as she passed from owner to owner on the west coast. Then, 35 years later, my daughter challenged me to find out what had happened to her. I wondered, “Well, how do I do that?” She rolled her eyes and said, “Dad, have you heard of the internet?” I had heard of it and put it to work.

First, I contacted the Herreshoff Marine Museum in Bristol, Rhode Island, who specialized in Herreshoff designed wooden sailing vessels, and they referred me to 48° North.

My letter to the editor of 48° North in October 2006 was published and bore immediate fruit, as I was contacted by the then-current owner, Kyle Maxwell in 2007. The boat was later sold to Mike Murray of Vashon Island who undertook the task of restoring the Marjory Jane to former glory.

Mike Murray, no novice regarding wooden sailboats, berthed her at a local marina and rebuilt the Marjory Jane over the next few years. He removed years of neglect with his careful and thorough renovation. Our communication resulted in an invitation to Vashon Island to meet him and his wife, Kathy Larsdotter, and to re-connect with the Marjory Jane. Mike had re-named the ketch Maggie Jane.

In August 2015, my wife, Julie, and my daughter, Meleia, and I flew to Seattle and ferried to Vashon Island. Mike met us at the ferry dock and drove us to the Maggie Jane at her marina slip, where we were met by Kathy. When we stepped aboard, I felt the years melt away and I was back on Lake Michigan on the Marjory Jane. We celebrated with a gin and tonic.

I’m grateful that Mike and Kathy invited us, sight unseen, into their home and into their lives. I am sure there were uneasy feelings on both sides as we knew little about each other except for our mutual connection, a wooden sailboat built in the late 1960s.

Mike and Kathy are kind, interesting people who were perfect hosts. They cooked for us and even gave up their bedroom to give us a place to stay! The connection was immensely positive. We spent three wonderful days with them getting reacquainted with the boat my father built.

Mike and Kathy took us out on the nearly completed ketch for a fine sail on Quartermaster Harbor on a day with light breezes. As we sailed back into port at the local marina with me at the helm, I brought the Maggie Jane gently into her slip with a perfect tack—no motor needed.

It was a fitting end to a perfect journey, one that started in 1965 with my father and wouldn’t have come full circle without the encouragement of my daughter’s query, “Why don’t you find out what happened to Grandpa’s boat?” Fifty years after he built her, I did; and I feel fortunate that it brought me to sail the waters of Puget Sound with such wonderful people.

David Egger lives and sails in Madison, Wisconsin.

The author and his family with Vashon Islander, Mike Murray, aboard the boat that connects them.