As long as supplies last if any GMG folks want a bumper sticker but can't drop down the dock, just send a self addressed and stamped envelope longer then 7 and a half inches and I'll drop one in the mail for you.
Send the self addressed and stamped envelope to the dock at 95 East Main St Gloucester Ma 01930 care of Joey (put my name in big letters to make sure it gets to me)
As long as supplies last if any GMG folks want a bumper sticker but can't drop down the dock, just send a self addressed and stamped envelope longer then 7 and a half inches and I'll drop one in the mail for you.
Send the self addressed and stamped envelope to the dock at 95 East Main St Gloucester Ma 01930 care of Joey (put my name in big letters to make sure it gets to me)
Good Morning Gloucester 
I love that boat in the harbor
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What is the old boat’s story? It is really a beauty.
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There is a major story behind this boat, but I do not have all the facts, perhaps our readers may know more about this boat. I belive that it is currently being held by the Coast Guard.
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http://www.p520.org Please reach out to me because we would like to know if the old 83′ former Crash Boat is around. Thank you Ted
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the traveler
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This is the Traveler, built in 1942 by Cambridge Ship Builders Inc (MD) The vessel measures about 83 feet long and weighs 58 net tons. It was built for the US Army during WWII as a rescue boat. Traveler’s latest escapade was reported by the Gloucester Daily Times: http://www.gloucestertimes.com/local/x746465545/Boater-who-ran-aground-faces-charges
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I worked as crew on the Traveler alongside Fred Douglas in the mid 1950s. Artists Alden and Mary Bryan of Rocky Neck owned her then and I often sailed Cape Cod Knockabouts with their son Smokey (Alden Jr.). Fred and I sanded and painted and varnished, then we sanded and painted and varnished, then we sanded and painted and varnished. Then, once a summer, we went on the cruise to Maine. Mary had relatives living in NE Harbor on Mt. Desert Island. It would take us about a week to get there because we anchored for the night at just about everyplace between here and there; well, not really because there are hundreds but we always hit Isles of Shoals, Boothbay, Pulpit Harbor and all the other popular Maine stops this side of Somes Sound. I loved that cruise and learned a lot about using electronics (the beginning of the present era in navigation and communication) and ship handling. When we got to Mt Desert, Mary would stay ashore and visit and paint and the rest of us would work on the boat. Then we would take another very long trip home to Gloucester. We would have to be here for the Bass Rocks tennis tournament because Mr. Bryan always wanted to play in that and was a formidable competitor. After the Bryans died, the boat was owned by a couple of people before the present owner (I assume still) Mark Collins. The owners after the Bryans did not maintain the boats to anywhere near the previous standards and she went downhill considerably, to the point that Smokey, my sailing friend who became a judge in upstate New York, was quite disappointed having grown up aboard in our sand and paint and varnish era.
By the way originally the boat was built and used as a rescue ship for downed military aircraft in WW2. She was very fast driven by aircraft engines. The Bryans replaced those with conventional diesels when they purchased the ship surplus and she was no longer a race horse. I do not remember her cruising speed but it was in the 10-12 knot region. Many of the systems on board would probably be considered antique today but she was advanced for her era.
She tied up at the Heritage Center for a couple of years when I was the dock master there so I became re-aquainted with her to some extent, but she was not the same lady I knew in 1957.
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If you could reach out to us we would appreciate it. We operate the last complete 85′ Crash Boat.
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Please contact the Harbor Master at Gloucester Mass. I believe the boat was destroyed??? Not sure
Manuel
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Believe it or not, Mark Collins is my Uncle. I never got to see the Traveler in person. I didn’t know any of this history. I would have liked to have gone on the Traveler while Mark was still alive. I heard from Marks sister that he committed suicide. I did get to go fishing with him once on a boat he owned before the Traveler. Thanks.
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Thank you very much for your history lesson. That’s just what it is for us too, the history that might have been lost if not for the first hand knowledge of old salts such as yourself. You done good.
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i worked with mark collins in the late 1990’s up thru 2009. also have been on this boat one time. it was in serious need of maintenance but mark was living on it in gloucester harbor, much to the harbor masters dismay.
sadly, mark’s family found him missing in sept 2013 and reported it to the police. police divers found his body in the water. i don’t know what became of the boat.
mark was a good guy. gone now 7 years. rip mark collins.
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Hi David,
Mark was my Uncle. I was very surprised to hear of his passing back in 13′. I remember telling him that he should make some money with the boat, by giving people tours, or taking tourists fishing. He didn’t want to. Thanks. -Jeremy Collins
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hi jeremy!
i was surprised too. mark was a good guy i worked with him at varian, diamond semiconductor and axcelis, another semiconductor equip conpany in danvers. traveled to japan with him for work, etc.
that was a beautiful boat beefy teak wood everywhere, but needed a lot of work. imo too much for one man in 60’s.
i’m sure soneobe will care for it. it was an old world war long haul and very fast 75’ ambulance boat. quality built a diamond in the rough with a lot of potential.
take care jeremy and no worries mark’s in a better place now.
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Mr Bryan hired me when I was about 12 or 13 to work on the boat daily, swabbing the deck, touching up the varnish and brightwork, cleaning the pilot house windows and portholes, a few odd jobs and a little painting. I left the job to caddy at the Bass Rocks Golf Club and my neighbor (and future borther in law, Rusty, took the job and went on a cruise to Bermuda with the Bryans. Mr Bryan gave me a painting he had done of a Rockey Neck dock and boat..
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