"With a little help from his friends, Statesville resident and U.S. Merchant Marine Capt. David 'Bucky' Edwards is back adrift his 108-year-old Herreshoff sailboat, the Margaret.
Hurricane Irene broke the 66-foot-long boat’s anchor chain on Aug. 27, carried it 350 yards and left it --- when waters that rose 13 feet with the hurricane receded --- nearly 50 feet from the shoreline at Plum Point in Bath, N.C.
The Margaret’s plight was the subject of an R&L story in October.
Several fundraising efforts on Edwards’ behalf were made in the nine months the boat waited on rescue, including donations from those living in Statesville.
The boat returned to water May 8.
'After all that time and everything, I didn’t hardly know how to act the first couple days,' said Edwards. 'I woke up and looked out to the island (the boat had been stranded on), but she was sitting there beside me.'
After Irene, the Margaret was left leaning away from the water against a cedar tree.
The position the boat was in, coupled with a marshy landscape that made it tough for heavy equipment to reach it and shallow water in the channel, meant the freeing of the Margaret was difficult and expensive.
Edwards said the 44,000-pound boat had to be jacked up vertically and laid down on its other side initially. It had also worked itself into a 2-foot-deep hole, which had to be dug out before the boat could begin being dragged toward water.
Edwards received around $8,000 worth of donations for the effort, but he said equipment, materials and time given freely by people added up to much more.
'So many people that we didn’t know have done so much and were so willing to help,' Edwards said. 'It changed the opinion that I have about my fellow man a lot. There’s some noble people out there and we’ll never forget it.'
The Margaret and its rescue were the subject of a PBS documentary and the recipient of the proceeds from a benefit concert in Beaufort County in October. Several families in Statesville made monetary donations.
Paul Minor, the owner of the Bath Harbor Marina, where the Margaret is usually hitched, allowed Edwards to stay for free on one of the marina boats while work was being done.
'If it had not been for him, I would have never been able to do it,' Edwards said. 'He said, ‘I just want you to get your boat back.’ '
Not all is perfectly well with the Margaret, however. Thieves stole several original century-old parts, including stanchions, turnbuckles and other brass material to sell as scrap metal. Edwards recently recovered the solid bronze steering wheel from a salvage yard where it was sold. He said it would be a couple months before the sailboat was back to its old form.
'She’s a tough duck and she’s intact,' Edwards said. 'She did not split any wood in the nine months, but there will be some spots, interior cosmetics and everything. … But for what she survived, she went through some unbelievable stress.'
Edwards said he was planning a cruise on the Margaret with his wife, Sharon, after the repairs were finished.
'The Bahamas sound really good right now,' Edwards said.
The Margaret has spent much of the last two decades anchored right beside the U.S. Highway 17 bridge in Washington, N.C., the first thing seen coming into town, but that was hardly the story during the 1970s and 80s.
Edwards bought the Margaret in 1970, sold his shipping and salvage company in Miami and moved onto the boat. During the next 20-some years, Edwards and the Margaret made their homes wherever the winds blew, from Columbia to Belize to Puerto Rico to the Bahamas, while he chartered the boat and fished for a living." (Source: Spencer, Preston. "At last, the Margaret returns to Water. Statesville Resident’s Prized Sailboat Rescued After Being Washed Ashore by Hurricane Irene." Statesville Record & Landmark, June 06, 2012.
http://www2.statesville.com/news/2012/jun/06/last-margaret-returns-water-ar-2337116/, retrieved June 7, 2012.)
