By accident. No one involved with that school wanted such lessons to be learned. Certainly not the State of Maine and it’s representatives at the Department of Education. Mr Dodge taught this lesson as reluctantly as he parted with any of his family’s secrets – that in itself a fund of wisdom I’m still mining for its truths so deep and esoteric for all of the downeaster’s matter-of-fact and undemonstrative demeanor. We students had no idea what was really on offer, either from Mr. Dodge, Ernie’s endless stories of wartime Britain and the cream of the Empire’s nautical traditions brought together to defeat the Nazi hoards. Nor from each other and the rough and tumble of day-to-day life with so many odd and difficult characters gathered in an inhospitable and impoverished corner of the world where twenty foot tides met the sunrise and sea-smoke encrusted on the walls inches from our beds.
Boats for difficult times 