[Alan Bemis—home movies] Reel 26

Date1939 – 1945

AbstractDonor notes: "Maine Cruising #2 4 masted schooner Lubec in fog Schurcliff + Murry Fairbank Vieux Corbeau + Cirrus Smelt Brook V.C. + Khamsin + Cirrus Roque I. Loves + Wilders with Roarin' Bess" The yacht Cirrus is a Fisher Island Sound 31 class sloop , sail number 11 with a distinctive red hull. She was built at Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, Bristol, RI, in 1930 (originally named Kelpie) and bought by Alan Bemis in 1934 or 1935. There were 14 boats in the class. LOA 44 ft. In 1954, Bemis converted Cirrus to a yawl rig. Bemis owned Cirrus for more than 50 years, sailing her almost exclusively in Maine and Canadian waters. A sister ship "Torch" (sail number 7) is on display at the Herreshoff Marine Museum, Bristol, RI. Nice views of large three-masted schooner underway with full sail passing Cirrus. Shots of seven fishermen in a small dory playing out and gathering in a fishing net. Alan at the tiller of Cirrus with a chart nearby. Shots of Lubec (?) shoreline in fog, lookout on bow blowing the foghorn, and passing a nautical can marker, and the Lubec cast iron, "spark plug-style" lighthouse in the Lubec Narrows. The treacherous waterway separates Maine from Canada's Campobello Island and was heavily trafficked by boats bound for Lubec's sardine factories. Lubec Channel Light was built in 1890. The boat moves by Little River Lighthouse in Cutler, originally built in 1847, with additions through 1888. Several more foggy views, then view of coastline on a sunny day, during a Men's Cruise, with Harold Willis and Alan on board Cirrus. Shots seen in other reels of Willis rowing in to set anchor, and cocktails being prepared aboard, and several men walking and climbing on rocky cliffs of Yellow Island in Machias Bay. Four-masted schooner at anchor in fishing harbor. Pans of the harbor with "Marine Products" sign on the roof of one building. POVs from boat as Alan and others look at scenery around Smelt Brook, near Petit Manan Island, filled with lobster pots. Harold Willis throws anchor over the side. View of another cruise with a three boat gam, a dory full of sailors rowing ashore, sailors enjoying the sun on a sandy beach, and sunset views. The camera catches sailors in the early morning on board, in the fog in pajamas.