PORT TOWNSEND — The 101-year old Adventuress has been reunited with its original bell.
The lost bell, recently discovered and brought to Port Townsend in June, was installed onto the historical ship in a 15-minute ceremony over the weekend.
“The Adventuress is a very lucky boat,” said Port Townsend Mayor David King during the ceremony, which drew about 400 spectators to City Dock.
“I may have read The Lord of the Rings too many times, but I believe the Adventuress was looking for her bell, and I’m glad she’s got her voice, and I’m glad she’s here.”
The Adventuress, owned and operated by the Port Townsend-based nonprofit Sound Experience, was one of the featured attractions of the 38th Annual Wooden Boat Festival, which ended on Sunday with a massive “sail by” that included many of the more than 250 participating boats.
The ceremony took place immediately after the Adventuress finished in fifth place — first in its class — in a special schooner race.
King — along with Catherine Collins, Sound Experience executive director, and Chris Moore, the executive director of the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation — spoke during the ceremony that culminated with the bell’s attachment to the forward mast.
The Maine-built schooner, which has been classified as a National Historic Landmark and is now part of an environmental-education program, had used another bell since 1915.
Collins was unaware of the original bell’s existence, which the ship had carried on its maiden voyage to the Arctic in 1913, and thought the 1915 bell was the original article until she received a call from retired bookbinder Alfred “Nick” Lemos of California.
Lemos, 87, said he wanted to return the bell to its ship.
He had owned it since he was 10 years old when a man dating his grandmother gave it to him — apparently as a bribe so he would not tell his grandfather about the man’s presence.
Lemos kept the bell throughout the intervening years. It was a dinner bell for his summer home and even spent some time on the bottom of a lake, Collins said.
The bell was lost after a 1914 fire on the ship, Collins said.
While telling the story on Saturday, Collins implored parents to “cover your kids’ ears because this is a family boat.”
Said Moore: “This bell has some intrigue, there is mystery, theft and a little love interest as well.
“This is the reason that we preserve the places that matter to us.
“The stories about the Adventuress and her bell are leading the way in those efforts.”
Saturday’s sailing was a scheduled three-hour tour. The decision to participate in the schooner race was made in the last few weeks so the participants got something extra.
Ten boats participated but the 133-foot Adventuress and the 127-foot Zodiac were the only two in the same class, so it became the Adventuress’ mission to defeat the Zodiac.
Although the manufacturers were different, boat enthusiasts refer to them as “sister ships” since they both spent years in the San Francisco area and are now both located in Puget Sound.
The Zodiac is based in Bellingham.
“We can’t beat any of these lighter boats but I want to beat the Zodiac,” Capt. Joshua Berger said at the beginning of the sail.
“Nothing else matters.”
The Adventuress and the Zodiac tagged each other during the two-and-a-half-hour race, with one sailing downwind of the other to cut off the other ship’s wind.
Conditions favored the Adventuress, which finished five minutes ahead of the Zodiac.
Prior to the race, program coordinator Julie McPherson called for several moments of silence.
Nothing could be heard but natural sound until the silence was broken by a song.
“There are so many things going on in life,” McPherson said.
“It’s beneficial to take a few minutes with just the water and the wind.”
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
