Another old Post Card

This card features my favorite island and favorite class of small racing dinghy:

The Moths pictured here are quite primitive and appear to date to the very early 1930s. They feature transom bows and probably have heavy, pivoting centerboards rather than "jab" or "dagger" boards which were introduced to the class by the mid-1930s.  Although the card is postmarked August 25, 1938 the card probably was available in drug stores and novelty shops well before that date  Hull shapes changed at a revolutionary pace rather than an evolutionary one during that first decade.  By 1938 the Moth Class had round bilge shapes such as Antares, Stormy, and Imp Too.  I can just make out the name Pluto on the side of the boat closest to the camera.  It was a tradition in the old Evening Star Yacht Club to name Moths after stars, planets, constellations, etc. and so while this race is taking place in Brigantine,  no doubt most of the fleet is from the ESYC in nearby Atlantic City.  The presence of boats with two digit sail numbers is another clue to the correct age of the image.  The boat sporting "LE 3" on the sail is probably a visitor from the Little Egg YC, which like many Barnegat Bay clubs used their own fleet numbering system rather than that of the fledgling National Moth Boat Association.

The ink on the reverse side of the card is faded to the point where I had to resort to the aid of a small magnifying glass to make out the message and address.  The card is addressed to a Mrs. W. Helm at Box 6-5-2, Laurel Springs, NJ.  That's interesting in as much as Laurel Springs is less than 50 miles from Atlantic City.  I purchased the card from a vendor in New Castle, Kentucky.  One wonders how the card traveled so far after it's first trip through the mail?  One also wonders if this card is the sole survivor of this photograph?  Turning to the message, the writer is someone named Priscilla.  Priscilla, a woman of few words, wants Mrs. Helm and family to know that she's having a good time in Atlantic City.  She doesn't add on the well used line of  "wish you were here".  One reads into this that Priscilla, although concerned with the Helm family's well being, didn't particularly want them under foot during her brief spell of R and R by the sea.  Other notables and ponderables  seen on this side of the card include the fact that Brigantine Beach was considered "Atlantic City's smartest suburb".  Really, Brigantine, a separate island, a suburb?  One wonders if Ventnor, Margate and Long Port (towns on the same Absecon island as AC) were also considered suburbs of the "big" town?  Note that postage was just a penny.  The stamp of course predates the self stick variety we know today.  Back then one had to lick the stamp (or otherwise moisten the adhesive) before applying it to the card.  If I wanted to carefully lift the stamp off the card and then solubilize both, perhaps there would be enough extractable DNA from that lick to learn a bit about the mysterious Priscilla, such as her ethnicity, predisposition to a laundry list of chronic diseases and so on.  But, like Mrs. Helm, Priscilla is probably no longer with  us--the card we know from the postmark is 81 years old.  The sender and recipient were perhaps in their late teens to early 20s, so by now would either pushing 100 or beyond that age.  No, I will allow Priscilla to sleep in peace and enjoy the card as it is--a rare surviving window into a world which, like the folks involved, no longer exists.

Random Moth Boating Photos From the Mid-1930s and Early 1940s.

Charlie Miller, an old Moth Boat racer called me up the other day and said that Herb Davenport, from down in Elizabeth City had found some old pictures in a drawer and passed them along.  I'm a sucker for old photos if there's a Moth Boat connection.  Here we see young Sir Charles, aged 13.  As indicated, this picture was exposed in the year 1939.  You can do the math and figure out how old Charlie is today.  I'm not going to bother.  Instead I'm digging those pin-striped trousers and rakish grin.  The venue is Elizabeth City, no doubt at a Moth Boat regatta.

Charlie was apparently quite popular with the young ladies.  Donnie Wescoat, standing behind Charlie in this picture, told me they used to call him "lovie-duck"!  The girl with the dark glasses is Madeline Kammerman.  The girl to the extreme left of the group is Aleta Van Sant.  The young lady to the extreme right is unknown.  The venue in this instance is Clam Creek, the home of the old Evening Star YC of Atlantic City.  The kids are sitting on the front fender of Dorr Willey's Dodge.  The south end of Brigantine can be seen across Absecon Inset in the background.  Note what appears to be an early Ventnor or perhaps a Red Spot design Moth on the roof of the adjacent car.

Enjoying a "Co-Cola" and a smoke.  Madeline Kammerman with two unknown young lads.  The Atlantic City Coast Guard base can be seen in the left hand background.  Gunnar B. identifies the car with the tear drop head lamps as a '38 Ford 2-door Vickie. 

Great Bear, Moth Nr 123 with Joel Van Sant's son Jimmy in the cockpit.  Charlie borrowed this boat and won the New Jersey State Championship Regatta with Isabel Brear as crew.  Why Charlie needed a pretty young girl as a crew in a Moth Boat is anyone's guess.

More Evening Star action.  Many of the members owned the small houses which lined Clam Creek just down the street from the YC clubhouse, which survives today as the home of Kammerman's Marina, and launched off their own bulkheads.  Some of these homes still survive along Carson Avenue, although last year's hurricane did them no favors.  From left to right we see Peggy Kammerman, the 1937 women's World Champion (kneeling) , her sister Madeline and Aleta Van Sant.

The white Moth behind the three sailors on the dock is Joel Van Sant's Gretchen, Nr 606.  When racing resumed, after the end of WW II hostilities, Captain Joel won the 1946 Nationals in this boat.  Left to right, Aleta, Peggy, unknown man.

All dressed up for the Regatta Ball.  Note the A-model Ford peeking out from behind the houses.

A race, starting on Clam Creek in front of the ESYC's dock.  The Evening Star club hosted Moth fleet Nr 1.  Note that  all the boats have crews even though it appears to be a light air day!  Maybe those guys knew something we don't...

The scene shifts to Elizabeth City and the Pasquotank River Yacht Club, which had Moth fleet Nr 2.  Left to right: unknown, Doug Alexander (aka "dog"), Chuck Higgins, Eddie Gasch and Charlie Miller.

A blurry photograph of Herb Davenport sailing Blackbeard, built by Ernest Sanders.

Doug Alexander sailing Dopey, an early Dorr Willey-built Moth.

Here we see Chuck Higgins in Small Fry.  Opinions are divided as to whether or not this is a Dorr Willey Moth.  If so she carries an atypical rounded cockpit combing.  All the surviving Willey-built Moths have combings which are sharply peaked at the forward end.

Billy O'Neal died shortly after this photo was taken.  He picked up a splinter while diving off a piling and developed lockjaw.  Vaccinations for tetanus were relatively new in those days, and so many individuals were at risk.  When did you have your last booster shot?  If you can't remember it's probably time to get one.  The vaccination is good for about ten years.

Finally, included with the photos of Moths and sailors was this photograph of three women standing in front of a small beach house probably on the Carolina outer banks.  The significance here is that the Mrs. Willey in this picture is thought to be the mother of Dorr Willey, the well known Moth Boat builder.  Can anyone looking at these photos confirm this notion?  The woman in the striped dress is probably Herb Davenport Sr.'s mother since these pictures were found by Herb Jr. while sorting through family scrapbooks.  Mildred is unknown but perhaps another Davenport relative.