Sailors' Snug Harbor originally was 

 built on Staten Island's Kill Van Kull in 

 1833. In 1976, the trustees relocated the 

 facility to a 100,000-square foot complex 

 in Carteret County that houses men — 

 and two women — from ages 60 to 96. 



"As the story goes, we wanted to go 

 further south," says Tankard. "We 

 targeted areas from Virginia Beach to 

 Charleston. Then we contacted the Taylor 

 family in Palm Beach," from whom they 

 purchased the property. 



Since relocating to North Carolina, 

 the merchant marine home, which has 

 more than 100 employees, has become a 

 vibrant part of the Down East community. 



"Sailors' Snug Harbor is the largest 

 employer in Carteret County east of 

 Beaufort," says Don Kirkman, executive 

 director of the Carteret Economic 

 Development Council. "It is a very 

 important part of the Down East economy 

 in Carteret County." 



Some of the residents who come 

 from all merchant marine ranks — from 

 seaman to master license (captain) — also 

 participate in community activities. 



"We encourage our guys to get 

 involved in the community," says 

 Tankard. "Some of the folks have been 

 active before they come here. Others 

 prefer to be loners." 



Each week, Francis "Biff Bowker 

 spins seafaring tales at the North Carolina 

 Maritime Museum in Beaufort. 



One of his favorite stories concerns 

 the four-masted schooner Helen Barnett 

 Gring, which crashed into a reef off the 

 Cuban coast. 



"It wasn't much fun," says Bowker. 

 "I was at the wheel when it hit a reef. If I 

 had not jumped back, I would have been 

 killed. The wheel spun back." 



According to Bowker, the owners 

 may have wrecked the schooner to collect 

 insurance money. He kept a log of the 

 wreck and turned it into the authorities. 

 "However, they didn't do anything at the 

 time." 



In his one-room apartment decorated 

 with schooner and steamship pictures, 

 Bowker flips through a photo album, 



stopping at an image that will help tell the 

 story of his first sailing adventure. The 

 fading black-and-white photo shows a 

 free-spirited, 16-year-old at the wheel of 

 the Peaceland in Nova Scotia. 



"It was quite a story," he says. "I had 

 read about a three-masted schooner 

 unloading lumber from Nova Scotia. I 

 went down to the schooner, and the 

 captain told me I could go, but they 

 would not pay me anything." 



He says his father was against the 

 voyage, but his mother supported him. 



"Mother and Father had a big battle 

 over it," he says. "Mother won. We were 

 gone five weeks. I had to sign off with 

 the British Consul. He asked if I had 

 gotten paid. I hadn't. He gave me 25 

 cents for the trip. Then I knew I had my 

 fortune made." 



Bowker, who captained the Mystic 

 Seaport Museum's schooner yacht 

 Brilliant for 22 years, is typical of the 

 mariners at Sailors' Snug Harbor. He 

 worked on several ships, traveled around 

 the world, and has a knack for telling 

 about seafaring adventures. 



"A seaman's life attracts a different 

 type of individual," says Pat Ausband, 

 executive director. "They go all over the 

 globe and develop an understanding of 

 economic and cross-cultural issues." 



Manteo native Horace Twiford, who 

 joined the Merchant Marine in 1941 

 before finishing high school, served on 

 freighters and other types of ships all over 

 the world. 



He compares living on a ship to 

 being a "goldfish in a bowl." 



"You look out," he says. "There is 

 360 degrees — horizon, sea and sky. You 

 eat, sleep and go to the head. You 

 remember the good times and moments 

 of sheer terror. The rest just becomes one 

 big blank. 



"You learn that even the worst 

 voyage will eventually come to an end. 

 Friendships are ephemeral, and death is 

 casual. There is the bond of the sea. That 

 is why coming to Snug Harbor is like 

 going to a ship at anchor awaiting 

 orders." 



Like many of the mariners 

 at Snug Harbor, Twiford served 

 in several wars, including World 

 Warn. 



"I cannot recall anything 

 outstanding about World War II 

 except a sympathy for the 

 Germans in submarines after the 

 middle of 1943. We had made 

 the Atlantic more or less an 

 American lake by that time, and 

 they did not have a chance." 



When Twiford retired as a 

 navigator, he moved to Stumpy Point and 

 fished and harvested oysters for a living. 

 He also become involved in conservation 

 issues related to fisheries. 



Now he spends most of his time 

 talking to fellow mariners and logging on 

 to a Web TV in his one-room apartment 

 that overlooks a grassy area. 



"I traveled all my life," he says. 

 "Right now, I have no desire to go 

 anywhere, even to Morehead City." 



To make Twiford and other seamen 

 feel at home, Sailors' Snug Harbor is 

 decorated with shipping artifacts in the 

 public areas. 



In the hallway, a wooden ship's 

 wheel reminds one of a sailor steering a 

 ship through rough water. Dozens of oil 

 paintings depict a bygone era when three- 

 and four-masted schooners carried cargo 

 along waterways. An old ship's bell once 

 called the crew to man their posts. A 

 telescope calls to mind a sailor peering at 

 stars on a clear night. Colorful flags 

 symbolize a time when American 

 shipping companies flourished. 



The library also is decorated wall to 

 wall with shipping artifacts — from 

 wooden models of ships to a large map of 

 the Outer Banks. In the game room, a 

 macrame shaped like anchors and ship 

 paintings adorn the walls. 



"Some of the model ships were built 

 by residents years ago," Ausband says of 

 the models. "Most of the art and artifacts 

 were donated." 



Surrounded by pine trees and cool 

 ocean breezes, Sailors' Snug Harbor 

 provides a continuum level of care for 



20 WINTER 2000 



