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A very nice model, Pete. Even more with the story behind.The Oretha F Spinney whose story is described on HughLo's thread on his Bluenose project.
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I added you in my new update, so you will find it here:What is the BN-list, and where do I find it?
Is it possible to post here in your log some scans of that article and the ref. pictures? It would be very interesting.He loaned me his precious copy of the Jan.1942 issue of "Yachting magazine" with his father's article in it. There were plenty of pictures to refer to.
According to the book " Alone at Sea, Gloucester in the Age of the Dorymen by John Morris PHD. (with accompanying period photograph of the "Oretha F. Spinney) " her bowsprit was a later addition for her starring role in the (1937) movie of Captains Courageous". Not the Bluenose. So ( and this is no $#8+!) It's not a sailor's yarn after all!
See the above reply for the real "skinney"Thanks Uwek!
She's A Billings kit bashed into the Oretha F. Spinney, using Model Shipways plans. I was told by a customer of mine that his father crewed on her in Jan, of 1942, under the command and ownership of the actor, author and sailor, Serling Hayden, They sailed her from San Diego, through the Panama Canal and the Caribbean to the Bahamas and Florida, keeping an eye out for German U-boats all the way. She was subsequently commandeered and commissioned into the US Coast Guard for the afore mentioned purpose, as were many private yachts and boats of her type, to spot and report the presence of the enemy who was prowling those waters early in the war. The cruise was chronicled in the January, 1942 issue of "Yachting Magazine" by my customer's father. I suppose it can still be sourced.
I was told (apparently apocryphally) that she had been the stand in for the " We're Here" in the 1937 movie of "Captain's Courageous" Apparently this was just a sailor's yarn, YOU know " This is a TRUE story!, No $#!+ !" Evidently, the REAL stand ins were the "Bluenose" and a set. There were great photos of the "Spinney" under sail in the article, She was a dead ringer for the "Bluenose"
Maybe the version of the Sailor's yarn I heard was used by an unscrupulous Yacht broker as a selling point to seal the deal with Hayden, YOU know, "This is no $#!*, She REALLY WAS the stand in for the "We're Here" in the movie!"
Pete