Halifax and Another Hard Promise

Heart of the Matter

Part 3 - I'll Build Me a Boat

A Short Story in Pictures

- May and June 2010

I did build a boat for my father's ashes and I did take it to the Atlantic Ocean, not far from Halifax, in June, 2010. In retrospect, building a suitable boat, one Dad would have been proud to board, was easy. Getting it to the ocean, however, is another story, a long one, and one that almost ended with a broken promise.

["I sketched a wee boat, named after one in which my father circled

Africa on his way to D-Day Sicily in the summer of 1943"]

["I filled the cedar craft with his ashes"]

["The cabin holds room enough for messages in wee bottles"]

["A sturdy keel to direct the boat to Scotland"]

["Two stacks like the real Walnut, with lots of primer"]

["Navy blue trim and three coats of marine varnish look fine"]

["She floats too high. More ballast needed"]

["Two bolts, from Espanola railroad tracks, will do the job"]

["ID plaque needed, for when it reaches Scotland's shores.
Later I learned Dad was a member of RCNVR and Combined
Operations, and not with the Merchant Marine"]

 ["Twin stacks removed so boat would fit the saddle bag"]

 ["Motorcycle loaded for 2,200 km. ride to Halifax, June 2010"]

["Six days later. We made it by the skin of my teeth"

Link to more Halifax and Another Hard Promise

Photos GH