Lost and Found

Stop! The ship you lose may be your own

- Charles J. Doane

I am both embarrassed and a little proud that I’ve had to abandon two boats in my life. To save face, I must add that neither vessel belonged to me, nor was under my command; still, the emotions involved are strong. The embarrassment, of course, is easy to understand. Any time you abandon ship there is a feeling that you have failed. Whatever mishap has occurred, you will always wish you had mastered it and brought your vessel safely through it.

My first lost boat was rather grand and antique, a classic 78ft Alden schooner—once a queen of the Navy’s WWII Corsair fleet—that was 60 years old when I sailed on her. All of our voyage from Florida to Spain was a slowly unraveling catastrophe, and I don’t think anyone involved was too surprised when we finally lost the old girl in a river on Spain’s southwest coast.