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HISTORIC NANTUCKET
Pete Pedersen had sailed in both square riggers and steam. He had made a living splicing heavy wire cable, an incredibly arduous task in which few men persisted for more than a few days. Pete taught me splicing, both wire and rope, but spared me the big stuff. He was also a fine craftsman; as I write I can look up and see his fine model of a boat I once owned, all details inlaid into a lovely piece of teak. Herb Coffin's dry but ample humor made the early days of the Wharf Rat Club a real joy and something of a challenge - a challenge because at the slightest sign of self-importance one would be flayed by Herb's rapier wit. His yarns in his real Nantucket dialect were worthy of recording, but unfortunately no one did record them. One of the Club's required pastimes was the telling of tall tales - and Herb truly earned his title of Commodore. Johnny Cross kept his council unless one brought him a mechanical problem to solve. After reading Helen Wilson Sherman's piece in the October edition of Historic Nantucket, I guess she didn't find him reti cent, but then girls always had the edge - even in sailing, in Helen's case. In its character, and characters, perhaps Old North Wharf was simply a microcosm of the Island at large. It was worthy of memory, of nostalgia. It has not improved with age.
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