PILGRIM FAREWELL

Resting now on the bottom of Dana Point harbor, unsalvageable, she will swim no more. I will never again climb her rigging, tar her stays, or tend to her sails. Children who once studied Two Years Before The Mast by Richard Henry Dana and then came to visit her to recreate his experiences will come no more. The Pilgrim was more than a museum. She was home to living museums, we the crew who maintained and sailed her according to custom and practice of the early 19th Century. No modern winches and thingamajigs for us. If Dana didn't do it, we didn't do it. If Dana didn't have it, we didn't have it. Fond memories don't always lead to fond farewells. Just sadness...