1960 Abandoned at Sea
1960 A return to Private Ownership
On November 7th, 1960, in a Sealed Bid Process, Curlew was purchased from the USCGt by Mr. Robert Gervasoni of Trenton, N.J. and Mr. Sam Fiorello of Yardley PA for the grand total of $3,000.00. According to Bob Gervasoni, Curlew was in sad shape. Having broken loose from her mooring in a hurricane that reached Cape May, she had lost her bowsprit and foremast. In addition the Coast Guard had stripped her, including her diesel engine. The new owners had her towed to the Stoneman Shipyard on the Maurice River, Delaware Bay. When they arrived they found they had been taking on water, and further found an open seacock. Fortunately the seacock was fouled with seagrass, or Curlew would have been lost.
A collar was made to repair the foremast, and between the yard and efforts by Bob Gervasoni over the course of a year, she was put back into ship shape condition, including installation of a Ford diesel. Bob also remembers that he replaced the linoleum sole with teak that he was able to salvage from one of Hitler’s Yachts, confiscated during the war, and apparently being dismantled locally.
Eventually they moved her to the Essex Yacht club in Essex CT, where Sam met a fellow sailor who had chartering experience in the Caribbean. This sparked a desire in Sam but not Bob. Sam’s will prevailed however and on November 5th, 1962, they embarked on a south bound journey with stops in Newport RI, and in Mystic CT, partly due to a storm. This delay resulted in Bob Gervasoni abandoning the trip, as he had only limited time off from his job, leaving Sam and the hired crew to continue the journey south. As reported in the Trenton Evening News, Trenton NJ, Thursday November 15th 1962 the five crew members aboard included; Samuel Fiorello 28 of Fairway Lane, Yardley; William Colby 26 of Bordentown; and John “Spider” Slimm 25, also of Bordentown. David Skillion, the captain, of London England; James O’ Neill of New Britton Conn; and Ed Moore of Maine. The schooner carried a raft, and 10’ dingy equipped with flares and emergency provisions. There are several accounts of what actually happened that day, two are available through the gffollowing links;
Excerpts from Adler Coles "Heavy Weather Sailing
The Old Sea Dog Would'nt Die
Bob Gervasoni as it turns out did charter the tug Bermudian, and they towed the half sunken Curlew in to Hamilton Bay to be pumped out. The Tug apparently wanted some $35k in salvage fee’s but the settled on $3,000 after realizing all they would get by enforcing that would be the title to Curlew. Next they took her to St Georges harbor to make what repairs they could, with the limited funds they ahs left. Apparently there was no insurance policy to help them out. Still intent on chartering her, Sam eventually took off for parts south, the first stop being Martinique, and after some time ending up in ______ where she encountered yet another hurricane, that led to her grounding on some soft Coral. Once again Bob came to the rescue and with local help; dynamite was used to help with a path to deeper waters, and her salvage. Sam had hurt his back and by then was about done with chartering so headed back stateside. Bob hired a skipper to bring her back, but having ignored advice to do some work on the horn timber only made it to St Croix, with Curlew taking on water once again. With a friend baby sitting Curlew for a few months in St Croix, Bob eventually made his way back down and made repairs on the horn timber, and bowsprit, and began a return voyage to Trent NJ. Once there Bob embarked on yet another years refurbishing mission including refastening the deck which had been fastened with brass instead of bronze screws, and replacing the paying with polysulfide. In the fall of the same year, he took her to the Wildwood Yacht Basin near Cape May, where he replaced the chain plates, refastened the hull planking with galvanized nails, replaced the keel bolts with bronze bolts, a decision he later realized was wrong due to galvanic action, even some hull ceiling up in the foc’sl where previously there had been none. Ironically during a lightening storm, while sitting next to the three masted Victoria, Curlew’s main mast was struck by lightning, and crumbled. Bob reported that replacing the main mast made a huge improvement in her windward ability. After a decade of sailing her, Bob finally sold her toLouis G & Mildred Holcomb of Saratoga CA. Curlew was moved to the San Fraancisco Bay area by way of the Panama Canal.
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