Anyone know this Schooner?

[Adam]

Long shot...Mid 50's photo by Fortier, buzzards bay....Anyone know her?

[HerreshoffHistory]

Norman Fortier most always noted the negative number on the verso of his photos. With that information you could contact the New Bedford Whaling Museum and they would be able to check the Fortier register.

You may also want to compare "your" schooner against images of the Keewatin, designed by Alden (with input from Carl Alberg and Fenwick Williams) in 1947 and built by Newfoundland Shipyards for Donald G. Parrot. See Carrick, John G. Alden and his Designs, p. 408, for photo and plans. Keewatin was often in Buzzards Bay during the time in question. Thus it _might_ be her. But some details don't match. Different chainplate details, apparently missing stern davits...

[Adam]

Thanks HH - will do!

[Adam]

It's stamped 17026...I will check with NBWM...

[HerreshoffHistory]

Good.

Let us know the answer!

[Adam]

Michael Lapides got back to me - This photo was taken in 1968 by Norman Fortier. The name of the vessel is the C’est La Vie.

Can't find much on the C'est La Vie.....There is a restored Coasting Schooner - the Governor Stone - that was named this in the time frame, but I'm pretty sure this is a different hull.

[HerreshoffHistory]

I asked Louie Howland who really knows the New Bedford area about C'Est La Vie and he did not know. He also checked the yacht registers and there is certainly no such boat in Lloyd's Register of American Yachts as of the mid or later 1960s.

Go back to Michael Lapides and check if there might have been a mistake in Fortier's note book? Or more hints from surrounding negative numbers? Or a misread negative number?

[Adam]

Well the coasting schooner "Governor Stone" - which is a national landmark boat - was named the C'Est La Vie in the mid '60's. She's currently in Florida. I just don't know if this is "her" - and there are enough diferences between the pictures I've seen of Stone and Fortier's to lead me to think not - but certainly could be. Also there is no mention of her leaving Gulf waters that I've seen - so again I cant be sure...

http://govstone.com/about.htm

[Adam]

A new member helped fill in some more info of C'est La Vie for us:

"I saw where you were looking for the name of the schooner pictured in your blog dated 2/10.  The name of that schooner was the C'est La Vie, and the date is correct at 1968.  Jack Hines was the owner, and she was built with the plans of the Bluenose, but scaled back 30' shorter.  She was built in Scandinavia around 1963.

I was a crew member in 1967 when she sailed from Ft. Laderdale to Lunenburg, Nova Scotis with a stop in Philidelphia.  I left her in Lunenburg and went back to school, and she was being fitted for a 3 year trip around the world.  My guess is she never made it back to the states."

[fayersteve]

To set the record straight on the schooner C'est la Vie:  She was built at Folmer Jensen's boatyard in Frederiksvaerk Denmark and launched 21 June 1966, reported to be the largest sailboat built in Denmark in a quarter of a century (64' on deck; 75' overall).  Owner:  Jack Hines, Philadelphia, PA., a difficult man at times but one who made dreams come true. Architect:  Arne Slaaby Larsen, Hellerup, Denmark.  Original skipper:  Ron Emery, Philadelphia.  I worked in the boatyard, also crewed on her maiden Atlantic crossing in the fall, 1966.  20 days, 2 hours from Las Palmas, the Canaries, to St. Bart's.  Crew on the crossing:  Skipper Ron Emery (U.S.), Neil Davis (UK), Peter Nicholson (UK), Steve Fayer (U.S.), Bill Fitzgerald (U.S.) and Lars Ulrich (DK).  A special law put through Congress designated the schooner a U.S. Research Vessel.  Mission: research on the migration of the European eel; plankton towing for samples around the globe; specimen collection on the Great Barrier Reef.  Boat was equipped with the latest Raytheon electronic gear: radar, sonar, RDF, yak-yak ship-to-diver communication, etc.  Research mission was cancelled, the boat sold after the initial crossing and a run north to Canada.  A later owner raced her off the coast of Massachusetts where Norman Fortier took this photograph.  I was told several years ago that C'est la Vie burned and sank in the Mediterranean but never got a confirmation on the when and where.  If anyone has information on that sad event, it would be appreciated.  Also seeking information on Peter Nicholson, a skilled mariner who chartered for a time in the West Indies.  He is the one crew member who has not been located.  I am currently working on a book from original logs and journals about the construction and maiden crossing.  -- Steve Fayer, fayersteve@aol.com

[Adam]

Steve - Welcome, and a fabulous story! Will certainly keep my eyes and ears open - would love to read the book.

There was a UK NA by the name of Peter Nicholson back then - if you google his name there is some info. Same Guy?

"Designed to beat the Sparkman & Stephens designed "Clarion" of 1963, the aptly named Rocquette was raced by Peter Nicholson throughout 1964. In her first year, she won the Gold Roman Challenge Cup in the Round-the-Island Race against a fleet of 325 boats, an outstanding achievement, and went on to win the Britannia Cup, the New York Yacht Club Cup, and the Coronation Bowl.
In 1966, Yachting World Annual described Rocquette as the first of "a distinctly new type of offshore racer" and her design led to later Peter Nicholson yachts such as Quiver IV and Noryema IV, who were both part of the victorious British Admirals Cup team of 1965, as well as influencing the Illingworth-designed Gypsy Moth IV of Sir Francis Chichester fame."

[fayersteve]

Adam, thanks for the Peter Nicholson lead.  Will follow up but don't think this is our guy.  After Peter left C'est la Vie in late autumn 1966, the best information we have is that he worked as a charter skipper and marina operator for several years in the West Indies, than moved to British Columbia to work "as a surveyor."  One of the original crew who lives in BC is attempting to track him down.  Best, Steve.