Brer Terrapin gets an Aries vane gear

The place is Salvador harbour,Bahia,Brasil,the year is 1977,the boat is an Atkin Ingrid 38 hand built by Pip Smith with help from his dad we believe,the construction was carvel planks,African Mahogany (khaya) on Oak frames.We had just sailed the boat over the South Atlantic Ocean from Cape Towns Royal Cape Yacht Club,the electronic steering gear we started out with lasted all of four days,after that we hand steered.The boats owner Dennis,then imported a vane gear from its designer Nick Franklin in Cowes,Isle of Wight in the UK,

Brer Terrapin was sunk by a hurricane  on moorings in New York,USA in 1968 after Dennis later sold the boat,she was down a week and later raised,the after starboard side was smashed and her whole interior from midships aft was removed,the boat was repaired and later sold to Alan,who says he bought her cheaply,Alan then owned the boat untill 1991,selling her on to an Irish man who wanted to take her home.
Alan contacted me via this blog,does anyone know where Brer Terrapin is today?

The camera was a Canon FT SLR with 1.4 lens the film was Kodaks Ektachrome slide film,which when scanned recently has stood up very well to the test of time.

Roy

Email from a later owner,Alan,USA.

It's been along time since I smiled as hard as I did when I saw your post on the Brer Terrapin. Where was the internet back in the 1980s when I had to write letters to the South African Consulate to get confirmation that there were no leans or encumbrances on the Brer Terrapin so I could Register her in the US and letters to the Cruising Club of Cape Town to try and find out something about her history. Nothing from either.


I purchased her cheap in 1983 from a Guy in Stamford Connecticut. She had gone up on some rocks during a storm in 1979 and sunk in about 10 feet of water. When I bought her the hull had been repaired and the Volvo rebuilt, but the aft end insides where gutted and trashed, everything was moldy and full of silt, the wiring pulled out and there were some other issues but she was salvageable. And some of the amazing details under the dirt and silt like the green stone sink in the bog and the carved terrapin made it feel like she still had life in her. Some mid-restoration photos attached.

I spent the next few years getting al lot of the work done and sailing around between NY and New England. Lived on her (most of the time) while I finished school in Long Island. Also in that time a wife, kids and real job came along and in 1991 I sold her cheap to an Irishman named Cornelius Callahan who's plan was to sail her back home. Never did find out if he made it.

Thanks for filling in so many of the pieces. I have some more photos and would be happy to give more details to anyone interested. Fair Winds....

Alan.