POMPANO, a 1916 Fish Class Sloop

After I bought POMPANO last month, my first task was to roll her out of the barn she sat in for the last 8-10 years. Luckily it was a dirt floor barn which kept the boat moist while it sat, preserving its wooden planks. My dad came over to Quissett to help. We ended up jacking her up and setting her on rolling logs, then winching her out with a come-a-long tied off to two trees in the yard.

What history I know of the boat has been compiled from internet research and with talking to the previous owner. She was built in 1916, the first year the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company built the boats for the Seawanhaka-Corinthian Yacht Club on Long Island Sound. She was the property of W.H. Appleton from 1916-1920. Other fish owners included J.P Morgan, Good and Smith, and Dr. L. S. Bishop. In 1920, she was owned by C. G. West who kept her until the mid 20's. Then a gentleman from Martha's Vineyard bought her and configured for single-handed cruising. He removed the large cockpit and extended the deck aft, installing a sliding companionway hatch and a self bailing cockpit. He cruised her to the bahamas during the summer, and owned her for the better part of her life into the 1980's. As he got too old to sail, he handed her down to his son, who also kept her on the Vineyard, where the prestigious Benjamin and Gannon boatyard looked after her. Sometime in the 1980's Raynor Warner acquired her and brought her across Vineyard sound to Quissett, MA, just north of Woods Hole. Raynor sailed and raced her on Buzzard's Bay into the 90's until she was retired to the barn and in 2009, when she changed hands once more into my custody.

Now she sits at Pease Boat Yard in Chatham, MA in very pleasant condition. She awaits a full restoration this winter and reconfiguration to her original Herreshoff Layout. She is expected to have a June 2010 launching.