The Golden Hind

Golden Hind

Owner: John Eddyblouin
Built: 1959, by Robert Williams Reed, at Gardena, CA

Location: Bristol, ME

Email: edblouin@tidewater.net

Previous Owners:

Robert and Jane Cox Reed
Bob (Lyle) and Norma Graham
Roger Marlin

In late August, 2010 we were contacted by Catherine Reed and found that some of the things we knew about Golden Hind's early genealogy was way out in left field! The Golden Hind was built by Catherine's father, Robert Williams Reed, and was not built at Wilbo, but at a small boat yard in Gardena, California. 

As you can see, Robert Reed built a Sea-Witch-Plus! Originally she was replete with a finely crafted figurehead, and she has a centered propeller shaft – a rare improvement on the original design. In addition to her informative email, Catherine has sent us images of the original Coast Guard number registration document, a letter from the second owner after his first sail in the Golden Hind, and several photos.

See Catherine's letter and other contributions below. 

John Eddyblouin is the present owner and took on the task of putting her back into shipshape. John is a shipwright, and works for the oldest wooden boat shipyard on the east coast. But that didn't save him from some anxious moments when it came to trucking her around time (see his photos below). In July of 2010 we heard from John's wife, Allison who said she and John had decided to put Golden Hind on the market. But we've heard nothing further since that time.

John Eddyblouin Photos
Easy boys!

In February of 2010 we heard from Roger Marlin, a previous Golden Hind owner. Roger has provided some great photos as well as some rather interesting auxiliary information about the Golden Hind. He writes: 

I enjoy your Sea Witch site.  I owned Golden Hind for twelve years and sailed her off the California Coast.  I made one or two trips a year from my home in Morro Bay to the Channel Islands, usually starting in a direct line from MB to San Miguel and onward down to Catalina in the spring and summers.  I have attached some photos of Golden Hind if you would like to post them.

...Golden Hind was a beautiful vessel.  I have always regretted selling her.  I have had several vessels over the years; Melita, a Tahiti Ketch that I built in Bob Sloan’s yard in the early ‘70s, Faith, a 42’ Chappell Schooner, Typee, 47’ Abeking & Rasmussen Yawl, Sea Babe, a 23’ Angelman, and Golden Hind, my favorite.  Running her up and down the “Cape Horn of the Pacific” Pt Conception to Arguello, and out to the outer Channel Islands, year after year, she was an amazing vessel when the conditions picked  up.  It was a sad story after I sold her.  A New York Stock Broker bought her and had her trucked across the country and things went downhill from there...

While I owned Golden Hind... awhile prior to removing her mast, I had discussed with Charlie the possibility of rigging her as a schooner. Charlie had done a design modification for someone else as a schooner... Having owned a schooner and at onetime part owner and skipper of another schooner, Kelpie, I loved the handling and sailing characteristics of schooners.  The problem with the Sea Witch design was reconfiguring the galley to accommodate her with the new location of the mainmast.  In a discussion I had with Charlie, he felt that the Sea Witch would make a good schooner, however as intriguing as it was, in the end I decided to keep her as a ketch. 

Other trivia:  Golden Hind was owned by Bob and Norma Graham in the early sixties.  I found this out when I had her docked in the back marina in Morro Bay.  People would come by and tell me that the Graham’s kept Golden Hind there until leaving for the South Pacific with their son Robin.  He is the boy that circumnavigated in Dove in the late sixties.  A couple of books were written by him plus two issues of National Geographic Magazine documented his circumnavigation.  The second chapter in one of his books is entitled Golden Hind.

Best regards, Roger Marlin

Photos Contributed by Roger Marlin
	Morro Rock