...After a 70 mile voyage from Woods Hole, through the Cape Cod Canal, up the eastern seaboard and across the Bay of Boston, the Viking, a 40ft wooden dragger (fishing vessel) built in 1929, is at her new home: Sunset Bay Marina in Hull with her new Captain, Matthew Henning. He plans to restore the Viking this winter at the marina, a restoration that will begin with phase one: a new deck and ribs and maybe even a below deck living quarters that doesn't smell is like moldy fisherman's socks from the 1930s. We will see how much gets accomplished after we launch a kickstarter (this is not a link to our kickstarter page, just the site) campaign to raise funds. Next summer the Viking plans to host charters and historical tours around the Boston Bay. As for now, she (I've learned boats are female) is at the dock.
It feels as if we have a new baby, only the cry is the bilge pump dumping leaking gallons of water out every 15 mins. Matt has been diving into these freezing Northeastern waters at all hours of day and night to repair newly leaking seams since the voyage. It used dump every hour according to Peter Rowell and Jake Fricke, her previous owners in Woods Hole. These noble boys acquired The Viking from a guy who bought the boat from long time captain Craig Coutinho for the Viking's more commercially valuable fishing permits. The idea for the actual vessel was to sell it or send it to the graveyard; an idea that Peter and Jake refused to let happen. They saved the Viking and did their best to keep her afloat, but after a year they realized they didn't have the facilities to restore her. That's when they Craig's listed her.
After finding the Viking's listing at midnight, Matt insisted on going to see his "dream boat" the next day. And on September 6th, oddly the same day the Viking came into the Coutinho family in 1946, we made the trip down to the Cape. Peter and Jake picked us up from the dock and we took the skiff out into Great Harbor, where the Viking was floating like a scene out of a children's book at the mooring.
Matt hoped aboard and disappeared below deck. An hour later he came up from the engine room, covered in grease (as usual) to announce, "She is pretty rotten, really rotten down below. Geez, she's in pretty bad shape."
Jake and Peter nodded, "Yeah man, we know." They went on to explain if she stayed in Eel Pond, a harbor in Woods Hole where boats are stored for winter, she might sink; well probably would sink and besides, as an oyster farmer (Jake) and carpenter (Peter) with a new baby, they don't have a couple of extra thousands laying around to store her anyways. The sun began to fade behind Martha's Vineyard in the distance, yet the chilly late summer evening was warmed by Wood's Hole stories of the Viking: the drunken summer nights of skinny dipping and jumping off the crow's nest, hosting pirate parties for kids and tying up regatta style along a half pipe built in the harbor for the wake of a teen who passed in Woods Hole last November. Jake and Kim (Jake's lovely marine biologist girlfriend) spent a romantic summer living aboard. Kim jokingly shares that she basically only slept on the Viking and turned her marine biology lab into her closet and bathroom.
As for a kitchen, breakfast was always at Pie in the sky and dinners were around town or at Jake's parent's house; his dad, "the Rooster" crafts micro batches of salsas and chocolates these days with his insane collection of the world's hottest peppers. Holy Trinidad Moruga Scorpion! Along with the light hearted fun stories of summer, the evening air held a deep reverence for what the Viking is, and will always be: a part of New England maritime history. We spoke about the Viking's legacy, which included an explosion and a sinking; a more detailed history can be found in the Vineyard's Gazette .
"This boat has been through WWII and 'Nam, heard the Beatles and the Y2K bullshit, man."
"Yeah, she fished the whole time too. Up until 2012."
"It would be a shame to let her go down."
The wind began sweeping harder, The Viking's old plank deck creaked 'save me' as she rocked under the stars and Milky Way that have been smiling down on her all these decades. The Viking held us in silence. 84 years. She is older and wiser than all of us, built in an era long before our generation with its throw away mentality. She a 'real boat'.
"I'm freezing!"
"Beers?"
At Land's Fall Restaurant, an eclectic crowd of sports coats accompanying Christian Laboutin heels from the Vineyard mingled with working man's Carhartts and marine biology types. Wood's Hole is a mecca of international marine science labs; the NOAA is home to the country's oldest aquarium. The boys finished another round. I sipped hot tea and dreamed of ordering the 34 dollar Scallops.
"I want to say yes, man, but I just don't know if I'm the guy for The Viking. She's alotta work."
"I think your the guy, man."
"I'm going to sleep on it."
Perhaps, Matt head the same creak I did at 3:00am a week later. He got of bed, "Babe, I'm buying the Viking."
A yawning reply, " You sure?"
"For the record, I decided sober."
He drank half a bottle of Gosling and went soundly back to sleep.
On Friday the 13th, we returned with all a wad of $20s pulled from multiple ATMs with their $500 limits to purchase the Viking. Matt dived in and began scraping underneath the boat, that year's barnacles and algae covered the surface. After she was scraped and Matt's hands too, it was time to check the engine, something Jake and Peter confidentially said was working fine, but on this auspicious date, nothing was. After two trips for parts and friends of Viking showing up with other random needed things, the engine was steaming.
almost midnight- Matt hooks up some lighting, navigation equipment and all other sorts of wiring work I have no clue how to explain other than it felt as if he's been on this boat before, another life. How did he know how to fix the 1941 471 Detroit engine by a little flashlight he held in his mouth as his blackened hands pulled oil lines and unscrewed rusty bolts?
1:00am "Last thing we need is the submersible pump (pumps out water if a boat starts to sink) outta of the backseat of Anna's car. Just in case," Matt laughed from the crow's nest 30 feet up where he was finishing the navigation lights.
"Geez, if need that thing," Simon, a friend of Viking who lives on his boat a few moorings over, shouts as he climbs aboard with provisions for the journey that is to begin a few hours with the outgoing tide.
3:00am I make Matt stop fixing things and try to sleep a few hours on the couch (our new living room) before the rays of dawn crept up on his already fatigued body.
6:00am "Coffee is hot!" Jake and Kim show up with Pie in the Sky. Simon with the first of the provisions: loxs and bagels. First mate Peter and Captain Matt fire up the old diesel engine. Black steam puffs across the harbor. Jake, Kim and I watch her disappear into the rising sun, a moment I feel weighing heavy in Jake's heart.
"You going to miss that boat eh, Jake?"
"Worse and best decision I ever made in my life. At least, I 'll get some sleep now."
noon- The Viking makes her way to the Cape Cod Canal just as the main engine starts having fuel issues. They decide to pull into Sandwick, a marina at the east end. Upon entering the marina the Viking loses steering. With Simon at the throttle, Matt wrenching the steering gear by hand and Peter getting the lines ready, they make it on the dock just fine. All fixed in an hour's time and the Viking is off again, heading northward.
3:00pm- A boater from the Vineyard recognizes the Viking from childhood and steams along for a half hour catching the story of where she is heading.
4:00-11:00pm, the boys share no updates other than they are 'out of cigarettes, damn.'
11:00pm A port running light appears across the Boston Bay from Sunset Bay Marina. It looks like a sailboat from afar, but its the light up on the dragger's beam. The wild Texan cowgirl and her gangster Bostonian husband who spend their summers boating, have thrown a party for the Viking's arrival. The Viking's new marina friends have gathered to welcome her home to dear, Hullonia. Resident DJ Dave blares The Irish Rover's Drunken Sailor song.
The Viking (like her on facebook) days begin yet again...
if a picture of the Captain's lady is aboard (my pic for him, thanks Jean)
Full interview and vintage photos and film footage of the Viking's days with the Coutinho family!
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