A Ship in Need

[Brion Toss]

Hello Everyone,
This is definitely not a rigging thread. In fact, it is about a powerboat, but please bear with me for a moment.
Lotus is 92ft. long, was built in 1909, and is on the National Register of Historic Places, mostly because of its stunningly gracious Edwardian interior. My bride's family bought it, derelict, in 1959, and it has been in and out of her family ever since. Mostly in. It is now owned by a foundation, and the aforementioned bride, Christan Gruye, is in charge. It is a lot of boat to look after, frankly way beyond our means, but we've been trying to keep up with it.
Last week a faulty shackle at the bottom of the mooring chain caused the boat to come adrift. It fetched up on the beach in Hadlock Bay, near Port Townsend, on a high tide. You can see a detailed report at this address: http://threesheetsnw.com/lateentry/2...ay-with-lotus/. The short form is that a lot of brave, resourceful people got the boat patched up and towed off. We hauled this Monday.
Lotus came through all this trauma with remarkably little damage -- it is a tough old boat -- but even a little damage can make for a lot of work and expense on something this big. Saving Lotus will take work, and money. That's why I am posting a request for donations here on Spartalk. Before you decide if or how much you wish to donate, go here: http://mvlotus.org. Take a look around the site. See the pictures of that interior. Think about the century(!) that this boat has seen. Then go back to the main page, where you'll see the "Donate" button at the bottom of the menu on the left. It's the button with the little credit card icons under it. Click on that, and you'll go directly to PayPal's site.
Every dollar you contribute will go directly to the ship. This weekend, for instance, we are running over 1,000 feet of caulking, and next week we will be starting in replacing the topside planking. We also need to pay for the cost of the salvage vessels who got Lotus off that shore. They gave us a huge discount, but that still leaves a huge bill.
I better stop there.
Yours,
Brion

[Stoder]

The link in Brion's post didn't quite take. Try this one:
http://threesheetsnw.com/lateentry/2...ay-with-lotus/

-Steve

[Brion Toss]

The article had moved; I've corrected the address in my first letter.
Donations are now beginning to come in -- Thanks to all!
Brion

[Brion Toss]

Hi everyone,
And first, thanks to all of you who have hit that "Donate" button on the MV Lotus site. It has put a dent in the rather large pile of bills that resulted from the grounding. So far, volunteers, under the direction of shipwright Brad Clinefelder and engineer Eric Olson, have done a tremendous amount of scraping, caulking, refastening, and all-around cleanup. Next up: topside planking.
If you haven't been to the site yet, the address is:http://mvlotus.org/
This is very much a people's yacht, the heart of a foundation dedicated to history. The idea is that the Edwardian era that Lotus was born into has something to teach us. Graciousness, dignity, simplicity, elegance, things like that. I don't ordinarily make plugs for causes here, but even if I hadn't married into the boat, I would be doing the same thing. If you'd like to help, click on that link. Tell your friends about it, too. Or come by and join in the work parties.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss