Vagabond

Certainly not a derelict when the photo was taken in the 1920s or early 30s, this is the Vagabond, a craft constructed by my maternal grandfather William Reading, seen here at the wheel on a family outing on Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island. My mother is the young girl at the railing behind her father.

The family story is that my grandmother considered it a derelict of sorts and refused to go aboard since Mr. Reading (as she referred to her husband) had built the superstructure on top of a dory's hull and she was convinced it was top-heavy and would capsize.

I never knew my maternal grandparents since they both died while my mother was in high school. It was a large family filled with half and step-siblings (including my Uncle Bud of photo muse fame) and the occasional stories of ancestors from the old country who were shanghaied into military service, whose family name was changed by an army paymaster, and the occasional black sheep hanged for piracy. How much was true ???

The extra is a pic of (according to the notation on the back) "Mac" and my grandfather (on the right) aboard the Vagabond.

Thanks for hanging with me while I've been so "absent" from your journals. Things are definitely looking up. Back to normal soon ... and the adventure continues.