The Boat That Wouldn't Sink

Rating:
Summary: Biography of a Boat
Review: THE BOAT THAT WOULDN'T SINK by Clinton Trowbridge is a touching and impressive account of an old 34-foot catboat that was owned by a family in Maine. The Scatt II became a member of the family and is spoken of as if it were human. Captain Trowbridge goes beyond the exciting adventures of this old craft. His reflections on life and nature are full of philosophy and poetry. His own Preface best describes his wonderful book: "As I look back at the early fifties, when we bought the Scatt II, the boat described in these pages, what sticks out is the remarkable innocence of the times. Youth always thinks it will live forever, but not usually with such conviction and such consequent abandon. What seems foolish to the point of madness now, was then just a bit of derring-do. Beau Geste was our role model , and Swallows and Amazons our idea of a seafaring adventure. Nothing really bad could ever happen, and if we got into trouble, somehow we would get out. There were no sharks in the sea, and a wooden boat would always float. "One might think that only seven years after the end of the Second World War, life would have seemed less benign. I had but narrowly escaped both WW II and the Korean War, yet not only was I somewhat regretful of not having been involved, I--we--still managed to romanticize the experience of war itself. We flew with Chennault's Tigers and rode alongside Patton in his tank liberating the oppressed. America had not seen the miseries of war close up, not at home, and even our returning war heroes, like Audie Murphy, didn't want to talk about them. We owned the Scatt for twenty-six years, however. She brought up the next generation and shaped all of our lives--taught us through example sometimes more than we wished to learn. The Scatt endured, more in spite of than because of us. And if we did too, that was partly her work as well. We grew closer to each other, and more alike--like ancient dogs and their masters. This is a love story, then; and like all love stories, there is a strong element of notalgia. Would that ...could that... But we can't--and we don't really want to. It is also a book about joy, and sadness, and the thrills and perils of the sea. But most of all, it is a book about innocence: the life we imagine when we think of ourselves as gods."