My Trawler Odyssey

Several years ago, my dad gave me a brass ships clock to install on my Mainer 40 ketch. It is a really cool clock with a meaningful connection, coming from the shipyard in Sturgeon Bay. My dad was the chief engineer and retired from the Great Lakes steamer Alpena, and he was at the shipyard with her when 120 feet was cut out of her mid section then fitted back together to accommodate shorter docks. Along with a short LOA she was also renamed from the Leon Fraser to the SS Alpen and converted from an ore boat to a powered cement carrier. Some of the shipyard workers had this clock from the Ashton Valve Co. and gifted it to him when the work was complete and a successful sea trail was in the log. When I got the clock the springs weren’t wound and it could use a good polish. I wound the springs when I got it home but I could not get it to start. I fiddled with it for a few days with no success and it ended up on the my shelf of things to get around to another day.

On January 11th this year my dad answered his final “Finished With Engines” call and went on to his eternal home after living 90 years the way many of us hope to. He was a merchant marine engineer for over 60 years, beginning that path shoveling coal on the car ferries running the Straits of Mackinaw and finishing his career with licenses of Chief engineer in diesel, steam, and steam turbine. I was blessed in my teenage years to be able to ride the freighters with him in the summers, sometimes a month at a time.  Making ports from Duluth on Lake Superior to Buffalo on Lake Erie, and everywhere in between. I am certain that is where my love for being on the water comes from. He worked on all of the ships sailing for Huron Cement and I got to ride all but 1. As a youth I would get to answer the telegraph in the engine room, move throttle levers, turn valves at the right times and all kinds of different tasks. I really felt like my dad was the real Montgomery Scott from Star Trek as I watched him go about his duties.

The clock came up in a conversation with my mom  about 2 weeks ago, and I thought it time to get around to it. I thought it would also be nice to mount that clock on Odyssey and have a part of the chief with me in my future travels. So,

I took it off the shelf, literally dusted it off, put it on the workbench and started to disassemble this clock. How hard can it be?

Turns out, There is a lot going on in these clocks. All of it fascinating and I have a new respect for horologists (clock makers). Although I did not diagnose the problem, I did get it started and it is continuing to run. Maybe it just needed a nudge and a little oil or maybe there is something else wrong. Either way, I did find a repair shop for Seth Thomas clocks I can send it to if it does stop again, so that’s a plus. With the clock running I grabbed my bottle of brass polish and went to work cleaning it up, Then I had a thought. Odyssey is nowhere near ready to go in the water and I really don’t want to chance a break in while its being worked on and having it stolen. I don’t want to put back on my basement shelf to be forgotten again, so what to do? Only one thing to do. Build a base for the clock and display it until its time to sail, brilliant! I hauled out my box of teak scraps and went to work building a stand to display Odyssey’s Ship clock for the interim. I have to say, I think it turned out rather nice and it looks quite nautical.