Willy Wispe: Children's Log #2, 1966

I'll never forget this particular summer vacation – or at least one specific moment of this trip on the ocean. I may have already mentioned that my mother feared the water. I didn't know this when I was little, and only found out when my parents moved to Martha's Vineyard, my dad bought yet another sailboat, and she refused to go out with him. My mother loved her garden and the solid earth she found underfoot. She was terrified when she was out on the water, and once said that it was all she could do to stay calm when walking on a dock with water on both sides. Who knew? (Probably my father.)

So, imagine being on a sailboat with a rather inexperienced sailor (my father learned how to sail when he was 35 – on this boat!), with three young children, and you're the only other adult who helps with the sheets, sails, and tiller, docking and un-docking, does all the cooking and cleaning (including vomit),  and, oh yeah, keeps her kids from falling overboard – all the while hating the water.

My grandparents were with us on this trip – my father's Norwegian parents. I don't think my grandparent's were with us this whole trip, but I'm guessing they were with us on August 12 and 13. Weather was always the biggest consideration when deciding to set out to sea each day, yet my father would often leave port on a crappy looking day – eternally the optimist – telling us "if it's bad, we'll head back." I think sometimes he thought it might be better out in the open ocean than it was in port, with the boat slamming up against the dock.

All I can remember from those days in August is the waves – the big rollers that were so high that when you were at the bottom of the wave you saw no sky, just water on all sides. They were easily six to eight foot high rollers. I clearly recall my dad trying his best to keep the boat in control while our family sat in the cockpit, too nervous to talk.

My grandparents were sitting across from me, and my mother next to me, her arm extended over my body, as mothers do when they brake suddenly in a car. The terrified look on my grandmother's face caused me to explode in uncontrollable laughter. I couldn't stop, and the more my grandmother told me to shut up or gasped in Norwegian, as she was known to do, made me laugh even harder. 

Looking back, I'm sure it was a nervous laughter, but maybe a little bit of me was trying to show my grandparents that it wasn't as bad as they thought; dad really did have it under control. Who knows. It was frightening at that moment, for sure, but it still makes me laugh to think about it.

The only other time I remember my grandparents joining us on Willy Wispe was years later on Lake Michigan or Huron. My mother was trying to help my grandmother out of the dinghy and onto the boat when she inadvertently pulled my grandmother's arm out of her socket. Nice one, mom!

This more formatted log of 1966-67 is an effort my mother made to make it easier for us to comment in the log. I love how it starts out so complete, and tidy, with excellent handwriting.

Trip with Grandma and Grandpa Ambrose

August 8, 1966
New Bedford to Wood's Hole
Departed: 9:30 AM  Arrived: 12:00 noon
Every thing fine. Made a good speed crossing Buzzard's Bay. Everybody had something to do, either on deck or down below.
What I liked best–Bobby: The voyage across Buzzard's Bay and rowing
What I liked best–Billy: Rowing the dinghy and fishing
What I liked best–Sarah: When I was being rowwed around by Billy and Bobby

August 9, 1966
Wood's Hole to Martha's Vineyard
Departed: 11:00 AM  Arrived: 1:15 PM
Had a late start. Sailed to Martha's Vineyard. Moured, then rowed to a dock and explrored town.
What I liked best–Bobby: The sail to Martha's Vineyard
What I liked best–Billy: Rowing the dinghy and sailings
What I liked best–Sarah: I liked walking back from the beach

August 10, 1966
Stayed in Vineyard Haven.
Bad day for sailing but good day to fish. Grampa caught two Sand Sharks, a six other fish were caught by the others.
What I liked best–Bobby: Fishing and rowing
What I liked best–Billy: Rowing around and fishing
What I liked best–Sarah: Fishing - sand sharks

August 11, 1966
Vineyard Haven to Menemsha
Departed: 9:00 AM  Arrived: 12:15 PM
Heavey fog. Motered to Menemsha, a small fishing village.
What I liked best–Bobby: Motoring to Menemsha
What I liked best–Billy: I liked when I was fishing and when the big waves came
What I liked best–Sarah: The Ferry came and made big waves

August 12, 1966
Menemsha to Quick's Hole
Departed: 11:00 AM  Arrived: 1:00 PM
Had a late start. Big rollers and dripping alchohal made Billy sick.
What I liked best–Bobby: Arriving at Quick's Hole
What I liked best–Billy: Arriving at Quick's Hole
What I liked best–Sarah: The first time the sun came out

August 13, 1966
Quick's Hole to Sakonnet
Departed: 11:00 AM  Arrived: 7:00 PM
Rough day, every body dead tired.
What I liked best–Bobby: Arriving at Sakonet
What I liked best–Billy: Arriving at Cuteunk
What I liked best–Sarah: I liked heeling over

August 14, 1966
Sakonnet to Bristol
Went up Narragansett Bay – beautiful all the way.
What I liked best–Bobby: The voyage to Bristol
What I liked best–Billy: The voyage down the river
What I liked best–Sarah: I liked when the cards fell on the floor

August 15, 1966
Stayed in Bristol visiting Shaws
What I liked best–Bobby: Getting a shower
What I liked best–Sarah: I liked seeing Marilyn (Shaw)

August 16, 1966
Bristol to Dutch Island Harbor
Rain & Fog
What I liked best–Bobby: Getting into Dutch Island Harbor
What I liked best–Sarah: Billy caught a sand shark

August 17, 1966
Dutch Island Harbor to Block Island
Good trip.
What I liked best–Bobby: Catching fish
What I liked best–Sarah: We caught some crabs and flounders

August 18, 1966
Block Island to Hamburg Cove
What I liked best–Bobby: Swimming
What I liked best–Sarah: I like swimming

August 19, 1966
Hamburg Cove to Branford
All got food poisoning.

Original painting of Hamburg Cove © 2007, by Leif Nilsson, Leif Nilsson Spring Street Gallery

August 20, 1966

Branford to Stamford to Home
Ed and Bob do it alone, motor and sail
What I liked best–Sarah: Bobby and Daddy sailed and motored home by themselves

Willy Wispe was moored at the Stamford Yacht Club on Shippan Point when we lived in Connecticut. The Stamford History Society has a great website, and that's where I found this photo.

August 20, PM, 1966

What I liked best–Sarah: Geting home

Vineyard Haven on Dwellable

Willy Wispe: Children's Log #1, 1965

When I was younger, my family shared a sailboat with another family – an Alberg 35 by Pearson, called Willy Wispe. Through a web search, I recently discovered that Willy Wispe is still sea-worthy, still owned by the same family, and currently moored on Cayuga Lake, New York. It's been painted a much more beautiful color since the 1970's! It's very comforting to know it's still on the water, and from a distance looks in very good shape.

When we lived in Connecticut we would sail around New England during the summer. When we moved to Ohio, conveniently, the co-owners of the boat moved to Michigan, so we were able to share the boat for another four years.We would spend our summer vacations sailing on Lake Huron and Superior, in the Georgian Bay and the North Channel in Canada.

When we moved back to Connecticut my dad sold our interest in Willy Wispe and invested in day sailers and racing boats rather than a cruiser. Since we were teenagers by then, it was a good decision by my father, as it would've have been very tight quarters with five "adults" on board!

During the "Willy Wispe" years, every August we would spend two to three weeks sailing and traveling from port to port. It was cramped, with some challenges, but we always had an adventure – or two. My dad was a proud member of the Corinthians, the New York Yacht Club, and the Noroton Yacht Club, and as you will see in the Log, some of our vacations were actually spent racing as a family.

Coincidentally, one of our neighbors and a good friend of my parents was Bill Shaw, one of Pearson's most successful boat designers. There's a great article by Steve Mitchell from the GoodOldBoat.com on the history of Pearson Yachts, if you're interested, just click on the hyperlink. He's not the Bill of "Bill & Lue Allen", listed below; they were my de facto aunt and uncle, my parent's friends from University of Michigan, whom we spent many a summer, with their family, on Drummond Island.

My dad would write in the ship's Captain's Log every day. My mother, with her lifelong love of spiral steno pads, created a Children's Log for us to share our thoughts – a futile effort. I found three years of logs, all on the East Coast, and I'll post them here. Each one starts with kid's handwriting but soon thereafter, it's my mother putting in all the notes. And for a little more perspective, in 1965, the three of us ranged in age from 6-10.

Trip with Bill and Lue Allen


August 10, 1965
We drove from Darien to Watch Hill, Rhode Island. While getting ready for bed we noticed the lights getting dimmer and dimmer and found our batteries were dead.

August 11, 1965
We sailed from Watch Hill to Block Island. Later on in the day we went to a cocktail party. It was on the shore. We stayed at the party for about an hour. Billy and Bobby went back to the boat to get our name tags. Billy brought them back and Bobby stayed on the boat. As soon as Billy came back with the name tags, we were going back to the boat. Sarah said that she was going to row Mrs. Ambrose and Mrs. Allen. She was going as slow as a turtle. We did not get back to the boat rowing. My father was operating the launch because the boy wasn't there. 

We gave my father the painter of the dingy. He pulled us all the way to the boat.

August 12, 1965
We came from Block Island to Brenton Harbor new Newport. We came in third in the race. We lost our spinnaker just before we went over the finish line.

August 13, 1965
We went from Brenton Harbor to Bristol. Clambake. Saw Beth and Cathy Shaw.

From hereon, it's my mother's writing, and the information much more detailed and relevant to grown-ups.

August 14, 1965
Went into Bristol – walked to stores and met bus on street. Saw Herreshoff Museum. Back to boat. Did not sail in crew race because of rain and wind. Went directly to Potter's Cover. Made kites. Rowed and sailed dinghy.

August 15, 1965
Raced from Potter's Cove to Dutch Island Harbor. Went ashore after dinner and walked. Stopped at bowling alley where mommy washed. Walked all the way to Manny's Tavern, near Jamestown's Ferry Dock. Draft beer and shuffleboard. Ice cream cones after hours. Saw old fire engine. House for an animal next to tree with toys tied in it. Hard rowing going home.

August 16, 1965
Raced Dutch Island to Jamestown. Wind-up dinner. Chicken, rice, crabmeat salad, etc.


August 17, 1965
Cruised to Newport. Did laundry, shopped, left about 12:30 pm and went into increasingly dense fog. Turned back and spent night at Newport shipyard. At (after 1-1/2 hour wait) at "Christies."


August 18, 1965
Sailed from Newport to Cuttyhunk. Went ashore, shopped. Had a picnic on the beach with 2 fires. Boys collected firewood. Had steak, potatoes, tomatoes, and of course, wine. Sarah and mommy collected bay leaves and bay berries.

Artist's conception of the fort built by Bartholomew Gosnold's expedition on Elizabeth Islet, Cuttyhunk Is., Mass., in May/June 1602. The first English habitation in New England. Illustration in Robert Maitland Brereton, Reminiscences of an Old English Civil Engineer 1858-1908, pub. Irwin-Hodson Portland, Oregon 1908.

August 19, 1965
Cuttyhunk, long day's motor and sail to Nantucket. Had dinner and went to bed. Saw swordfish just caught.

August 20, 1965
Rented car and drove all over Nantucket, stopping here and there. Cool day. Had clam chowder dinner, shopped and shopped.

August 21, 1965
Allens left – we drove them to airport and then went to Surfside for a swim in the breakers. Had dinner out. Shopped again.

August 22, 1965
Sailed and motored from Nantucket to Falmouth. Played poker and went to bed.

August 23, 1965
Cleaned boat.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

My father, Edwin Roy Ambrose, would have been 83 years old on July 23, 2012.

Happy birthday, dad!

Photo of the Day: Dragon Lady

Earlier I wrote about my grandmother, Sarah Louise Voegtly Ericke, having played the Queen in Goucher College's production of "The Dragon." As with the story about Camp Logan, if I wait to sort through all the family archives, scan and organize everything, and then write about it... well, I'd need a few more years at best. Let's consider this blog the draft version of the book I will never write. (And I promise that in the book everything will all be in order!) Here's an actual photo from the play, which I just happened to find in Goucher's 1922 yearbook, the Donnybrook Fair, while searching for something totally unrelated. My grandmother is the woman in the dark gown, looking indifferent to the woman who's on her knees, pleading with her. Check out that dragon!

Quote of the Day: Sarah, Age 6

"If I'd known we were going bowling I'd have changed my clothes."

Second Illinois Field Artillery, Summer 1917

Sorry I haven't posted in a long while. I've been on vacation and busy with other summer activities, not to mention a very hectic work schedule. Part of my vacation has been spent researching more family history, along with the dreaded scanning, so my plan is to make up for time lost by posting a couple times a week. Here's another look at my grandfather's life pre-WWI. I read the last of his war journal today, and he commented on how his return to the States coincided with his 25th birthday. That seems hard to even imagine. But boy, what a handsome soldier!

Ninety-five years ago, my grandfather, Carl O. Ericke transitioned from being in the National Guard to the U.S. Army, and from the Cavalry to Artillery. In July, 1917, he was transferred to the 2nd Illinois Field Artillery, which set up camp in downtown Chicago. It was here that his training began for World War I. I've compiled pages from his scrapbook and photos from the Chicago History Museum.

Elevated view of the 2nd Illinois Field Artillery camp at East Chicago Avenue and Lake Michigan in the Near North Side community area of Chicago, Illinois. This image shows unfinished long buildings in the foreground and brick buildings and smokestacks in the background. © DN-0068559, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum.

Joseph W. Mattes, Captain, 2nd Illinois Field Artillery, Company A. He was later killed in the Houston Riots, just a month after this photo was taken. © DN-0068448, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum.

Milton Foreman, Colonel of the 2nd Illinois Field Artillery, standing with an unidentified officer. © DN-0068463, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum.

The first call of duty for the 2nd Illinois Field Artillery was strike duty in Bloomington, Illinois, during a strike by the workers from the Bloomington and Normal Electric Power and Railway company.

Soldiers from the 2nd Illinois Field Artillery sitting behind machine guns on the lawn of the court house in Bloomington, Illinois. © DN-0068407, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum. 

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As you can see from a few of these photos from his scrapbook, Carl's training was not all work and no play! In the photo on the top left of this page, my grandfather is the man standing in the middle, the blond. In the bottom photo, he's the second one from the left.

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Group portrait of soldiers from the 2nd Illinois Artillery, Company A, waving their hats and posing for a photograph as they prepare to leave their camp at East Chicago Avenue and Lake Michigan for Camp Logan. My grandfather is the face to the right of the hat showing it's full insides (looks like a big black hole). Picture published August 16, 1917. © DN-0068564, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum. 

My grandfather didn't start his journal until he was scheduled to leave for Europe in May, 1918, so next  posts about him will be mostly images from his scrapbook. My earlier post on Camp Logan actually happened after this installment. I'll try to coordinate the timing of the oral stories, the scapbook, and the journal a little better going forward!