Epilogue

Ross and Nat sailed Jane Dore IV uneventfully back to Vineyard Haven and hauled her out. She’d been bought by two couples from Great Britain, Tim and Josephine Blackman and Brian and Pam Malcolm, and renamed Josephine. The group intended to sail her back to England the following year after numerous repairs were made by G&B.

During the summer while Josephine was hauled, the Malcolms spent time on the Vineyard. They expressed interest in the schooner Rebecca. It was in the process of being put up for sale by the trustee in charge of Dan Adams’s bankruptcy filing. Nat and Ross took the Malcolms out for some sailing on When and If. The Malcolms decided they loved the idea of owning a big schooner like Rebecca, but they were returning to Scotland and wouldn’t be able to do anything with her for a year. Nat and Ross said they’d be happy to look after her for a year right there in Vineyard Haven Harbor. After deliberating, the Malcolms agreed to purchase Rebecca. It was done on a handshake. Then Nat signed a contract to launch the boat by April 30, 2001, and to have her rigged and sailing by the following June. At the end of October 2000, the bankruptcy courts approved the sale, and ten days later the sale of Rebecca closed. The big schooner now has a new owner and an actual launch date. The Malcolms will retain the name Rebecca.

That same October, Nat traveled to Manhattan to meet with Robert Soros, who had been interested in Rebecca but had declined to make an offer. He wanted his own boat, a little bigger than Rebecca with a little more room below. Nat grinned and said that was a very sensible decision. The month the sale of Rebecca closed, Nat would sign an agreement to build another big boat, a 65-foot schooner, with marconi main and gaff foresail, 52 feet on the waterline, bigger and beamier than Rebecca. When the papers were signed, Nat would ask Brad to head down to Suriname to begin looking for timbers, for the big logs, setting in motion the building of yet another wooden boat.