~ Welcome to our Spring 2008 Newsletter ~

This past March marks the 50th year of operation for the snug little ship Discovery.

In March of 1958, the Discovery was launched into Jacksonville, Florida's Saint John River and worked her way across the Gulf of Mexico, through the Panama Canal, and up the West Coast of North America to her home port of Juneau, Alaska.

Originally named the Anna Jackman up until a change in ownership in 1983, the Discovery was designed and built for the Presbyterian Church Missions of New York. She was the fourth generation of Presbyterian mission vessel designed and destined for service in coastal Alaska. Just like her predecessors, The Discovery (Anna Jackman) was a vital link between the small coastal Native Alaskan villages and the rest of the world. She originally slept 26 kids (sometimes in 3 kid wide bunks!) with the girls having the forward sleeping section and the boys the aft. A heavy steel watertight doorway between the two areas would be kept closed to separate the boys and girls at night.

The Anna Jackman steaming along as the Presbyterian Church mission vessel for Southeast Alaska in 1958.

Seattle naval architect, Edwin Monk, known for his exceptional no-nonsense Pacific Northwest workboats, did the vessel's design work in 1957. For various reasons, the church chose a shipyard all the way on the other side of North America to build her. It could have been that the J.F. Bellinger & Son shipyard of Jacksonville, Florida was the low bidder on this construction, or it could have been that they were one of the few shipyards available at that time that was capable of producing a vessel of this quality.

Looking from the galley through the lounge and into the wheelhouse of the Anna Jackman in 1958.

The Discovery is one-of-a-kind in the world of working yachts. Designed to move through the water as efficiently as possible in order to stretch her cruising distance and ability to operate away from fuel sources for long periods, Ed Monk chose to make the hull long and rounded at the turn of the bilges. To keep her sea kindly in Alaska's often stormy conditions, the hull is deep draft with a displacement of 60 tons. Back in 1958, just as today, there were many uncharted shoals of solid rock littering the vast Alaskan coast. The Discovery is constructed of very thick (for this size of vessel) steel. She's bounced off of more than a few rock piles in the past 50 years. Most vessels would have been holed and sank in these mishaps. Rumor has it that in Juneau's Presbyterian Church, there's a picture of the Discovery (then Anna Jackman) balanced on one rock in Gastineau Channel at low tide. I believe this account because I've seen the dent in the boat's bottom. The saying goes… she's built hell for stout!

Today, you would be hard pressed to find a shipyard with the skills needed to construct a steel hulled vessel with rounded hull. Those compound curved hull plates need to be pre-bent to exact shape with no two plates, except the opposite side's section, being the same. I've been a shipwright for over 30 years and I still do not know the ‘secrets' of compound curve shaping, although I have talked with a European shipwright who explained to me that they do it with aluminum and that the persons who are responsible for shaping are true artists.

Also of interesting note, back in 1957, the Presbyterian Church Missions of NY received a substantial donation in the form of twin diesel engines and reverse gears (transmissions) for their newest mission vessel, the Anna Jackman. Cummins Engine donated two NH 6 marine diesel main engines and Capital Gear donated the rear boxes.

Although this machinery is of the best quality and has been running in the Anna Jackman / Discovery for the past 50 years of Alaskan service, over the past 15 years that I've owned the boat, it's become near to impossible to locate replacement parts. So, this past winter, after discovering a looming major problem with the starboard main engine and not being able to locate replacement ball bearings for the port V drive, I decided to give the Discovery a big 50th birthday present … new engines, reverse gears, and V drives.

Well, actually, the replacement engines are rebuilt modern versions of the same model that's been in the vessel for the past 50 years. Many mechanics feel that these are the best diesel engines ever designed and that most modern industrial diesel engines are knock-offs of this engine concept. There just is not a more reliable and efficient model out there.

Original 1958 main engine being hoisted out of the Discovery.

Captain Dean welding vibration isolation mounts in place on replacement engines.

New engine being lowered into the engine room of the Discovery.

Also newsworthy for the Spring 2008 Discovery Voyages newsletter is our enrollment in a plan to offset our carbon dioxide emissions by purchasing carbon credits, thus becoming carbon neutral with our business. How it works is like this …

We've reached our goal of being as energy efficient as possible with the use of energy efficient hull design, efficient well maintained propulsion machinery, and balancing electrical demands so as to use the smallest electrical generators possible.

However, try as hard as we might to become less consumptive in our non-renewable energy use, we now find ourselves up against the limits of efficiency. The nature of our wilderness cruises requires the consumption of some fossil fuel and the addition of more greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. But there is more that we can do, although not in a way that would directly impact our own carbon footprint.

On the family front

Also, of note this year is that my oldest daughter, Heather, age 18, will be officially crewing and guiding onboard the Discovery. Although she grew up onboard, this year she will also be “going to work everyday”. Hannah, now age 15, decided to postpone her year abroad and also will be helping out onboard. I hope to find a place onboard for her harp (it is rather large and needs to be stored in a safe place when not in use) so that she can play for us in the evenings. That is if we can talk her into it. Teenagers!!!!

Good energy, much love to all,

Captain Dean