Wait, What?

, starNatalie Portman

Promenade circle of seven benches fashioned after local creatures past, present, and imagined, for “conversation, contemplation, imagination, and snacks. They’re not mythological, just misunderstood,” writes artist Chris Miller.

Julianne Moore, was originally set in . But when production wrapped in November 2022, IndieWire revealed that the film had been shot in Savannah, Georgia.

Margaret

SAIL AMONG THE ISLANDS OF FRENCHMAN BAY

2 HOUR CRUISES SAILING FROM BAR HARBOR, 3 TRIPS DAILY 10AM • 2PM • SUNSET

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SOUTHWEST HARBOR/ MANSET & THE CRANBERRY ISLES

151' 4-Masted Schooner

Bar Harbor Ferry

You never forget your first crush. Capt. Seth Salzmann owns and skippers the luxury schooner that he fell for at first sight.

INTERVIEW BY COLIN W. SARGENT

What are WhenandIf ’s origins?

She was commissioned by then Colonel George S. Patton and his wife, Beatrice, in 1939. Designed by world-renowned naval architect John Alden, she was built by F. F. Pendleton Boatyard in Wiscasset, on White’s Island. She was one of the shipyard’s largest yachts, and nearly one of the last. The island is vacant now, but the railway where she splashed down to launch is still there.

Did WhenandIfhave to go through a screen test to earn her part in TheMarvelousMrs.Maisel?

Amazon Prime approached us with a contract when we were docked in Key West. The day before that, Jeff Bezos and his new girlfriend at the time [now fiancée Lauren Sánchez] walked the floating dock where we were and checked us out. I have eyewitness accounts. When and If appears a number of times in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel in Season 3, Episode 6.

Not to mention, I just saw this Maine girl up in lights at the top of the Tommy Bahama website!

We’ve also done Ralph Lauren and [the website for the Italian fashion house] Etro. She’s a very photogenic boat. We keep the varnish and paint tip-top. We never know when there’ll be a call for a shooting.

Please describe WhenandIf ’s sailing characteristics. My personal take is she’s a very stout, very seaworthy, comfortable ship. She can handle the wild weather, but she can still be a wet and wild ride. The Alden has a special feel to it. Very sea-kindly. Unbreakable. It’s the people who might not be able to handle the voyage as well as the boat. She’s beamier than, say, a Herreshoff might be, and she has more sheer. She’s not a submarine. She prefers to have the wind ahead of the beam.

What kind of sailor was General Patton?

I think his interests drew him toward reading the weather and navigating. He was fascinated with all that. He loved celestial navigation, dead reckoning. He understood sailing, but the natural sailor was probably his wife, Beatrice.

Ah, so shewas the romantic.

They did most of their sailing in the Gloucester, Massachusetts, region, Manchester-bythe-Sea. They sailed through Cape Cod Canal (General Patton’s log entries still exist) and even into Chesapeake Bay. The Pattons lived in Hamilton, Massachusetts, a North Shore town. The Patton Homestead still stands and is maintained by the Wenham Museum. In the office they have a little shrine to the When and If. Among the exhibits is Beatrice Patton’s sweater, black with gold letters. You can see her aboard in a great historic video sail [https:// www.youtube. com/watch?v=DLHpjI9axwc].

Let’s feel it through her heart. What’s it like at the helm of WhenandIf at night?

At night, under a sweep of stars, when you’re sailing along nicely, wind at sea, there’s no better feeling. You’re an explorer. It’s magical.

What’s the biggest storm When and If has sailed through?

The Nor’easter portion of “The Perfect Storm.”

You mean she left port to brave the storm so she wouldn’t get smashed against her dock, the way the Navy destroyers do?

She was at a mooring. The line didn’t actually part, but it slipped off the bit. She was blown into the rocks and speared a big boulder on her port side amidships at high tide in storm surge. At low tide, she was left on the rocks.

So she’s had a little work done. Yes, at Gannon & Benjamin on Martha’s Vineyard in the 1990s after the storm. The second was at Cayuga Wooden Boatworks [in upstate New York], conducted by Doug Hazlitt and team in 2012. I was part of the team as captain. We hauled out of Cayuga Lake in New York, replaced some timbers, put a new teak deck on her, and pulled out all the wiring and rewired her.

What do most people misunderstand about WhenandIf? Some people ask, “Why’s the steering wheel on backwards?” [On 21st-century yachts the helmsman stands behind the wheel, facing the bow. On this schooner, the helmsman stands to the side of the wheel in the ancient-mariner style.]

Do they ask, “Why is she called the WhenandIfinstead of the IfandWhen?” One story is that in 1939 Patton said something like, whenthiswar’soverandifIsurvive—knowing another world war was a certainty—that he and Beatrice would celebrate by sailing the world together.

I’ve heard a different explanation: Patton himself had undiagnosed dyslexia. I’ve heard it directly from his family. Perhaps he meant if and when!

When did you first set eyes on the WhenandIf?

I saw her sailing on Eggemoggin Reach when I was 16. I fell in love with the lines of the boat. I kept seeing her after that, dazzling glimpses of her here and there, in place after place. I’ve always wanted to be part of When and If ’s stories. I convinced her owner before me, Doug Hazlitt, to buy her. He made me captain in 2012.

You saw her from the mainland that early on? So you must have a big Maine connection. I have lots of connections to Penobscot Bay. I’ve spent summers and winters in Maine from age 14 to 22, based out of Brooklin. I worked in Rockport and Camden on the Timberwind from age 14. At 16 I was first mate.

When and If is homeported in Salem, Massachusetts, but we generally come to Maine at least once a year. We’ll be up in Boothbay for Windjammer Days this summer. [Stay tuned for another possible stop...]

What’s your favorite libation to toast with aboard WhenandIf, and how can I get hold