The Sea Scout Ship Odyssey is a 90 foot sailing ship
originally owned by the Henry family.
Mrs. Henry was a Vanderbilt granddaughter and word was that she loved
lavender, but that is not who the story is about.
It is hard to believe that a beautiful wooden sailboat like
the Odyssey could be commandeered by the US Navy, but that’s what
happened. Never mind that she was a
sleek racing vessel that won all kinds of trophies racing in Long Island Sound,
or that she had sailed down to Cuba while the family visited with Ernest
Hemingway, nor that she went clear out to the Galapagos so the family could see
tortoises. No, the US Navy had to have
her and that was that. It was World War
II after all, and people did their bit, even if it meant giving over such a fine
boat.
The Henry family was able to keep the hand carved panels
that depicted the Iliad and Odyssey adventures.
The Navy took out the little coal fireplace, the charming little piano, and
the lush upholstery. They drilled holes in the woodwork, set up their
instruments, and rechristened her the Saluda.
There was a job to do, and she stepped up to it.
After the war, the Saluda spent some time in San Diego. Among those who served was a young sailor
named Tom Wilkinson. Tom was engaged to
the lovely Donna Marie Clark from back home in Iowa, and Miss Clark wrote Tom
creatively tantalizing letters full of all sorts of youthful l’amour. She drew lips on the envelope. She loved lavender too, and when it was
blooming, put sprigs in the letters. The
other sailor urged him to read them aloud, and he did sometimes, at least the
parts he wouldn’t get teased about.
One night they had a fierce wind. The sailboat would tip pretty far over. Winds would come up from hurricanes off the
coast of Baja and pack a punch. They
called these the “Pineapple Express” because of their tropical origin, which
makes them sound more benign than they really are. But the sailors finished their duties at the
end of the night, tied up the boat and walked home to the barracks.
The next night, they were ready to get underway, and Tom did
not show up. They sent someone back to
the barracks to check on him, but it turns out Tom’s bed hadn’t been slept in.
There was never any proof that he went AWOL, or that he ran
off to Iowa to be with Donna Marie Clark.
He never contacted her, and it was felt that he would have. He never contacted his parents or his
brother.
The nearest they can figure was that he slipped overboard,
and they didn’t hear him cry out in the wind.
The last person to see him alive said he was below and wasn’t wearing a
lifejacket when they saw him, although they were supposed to when they went on
deck. The Coast Guard went out to look
for a body but never found one.
It wasn’t long after that when the lavender started
appearing. Sailors would open a hatch
and there would be lavender strewn around in it. They would open a cupboard in the galley and
there would be a sprig of lavender on every can. Someone would open a drawer and it would be
filled with lavender.
Eventually the US Navy sold the boat to the Sea Scouts, and
it was rechristened the Odyssey again.
The Henry family reinstalled the hand carved panels of the Iliad and the
Odyssey.
But even today, we open hatches and find a sprig of lavender
on every can. A sprig will appear on the
chart table, or a drawer will be filled with lavender. If you are working alone on the boat, you
might hear footsteps on deck and there is no one there, or you might hear
someone reading aloud in the foc’sle and find no one.
We all wear lifejackets on deck, especially after dusk.
We don’t mind The Lavender Ghost,
though. Like a lot of sailors that love of
the sea, he’s a romantic. Rather like
Odysseus.
