Hey Marineros, here are some photos:

I figure its past due time for me to share my treasured pieces of the Romance. In the fall of 1987 I flew down to Grenada to see Skipper, Mrs K and the ship and help sail her back up north. Skipper and i ended up spending more than a week doing a ring job and maybe some bearings on Romances B&W engine. I had 3 weeks so I ended getting off at Saint Martin. Anyway Skipper remembered that I got a less then perfect shark carving on Pitcairn from the son of Mr. Young whose house I had stayed at on the island.

My family and I chartered a bare boat in Saint Thomas sometime in the 1990's. We cleared in to the BVI at West End, went for a hike and ended up at the boatyard at the end of the harbor. The owner was the person who scuttled the Romance somewhere out in Pillsbury Sound. Her rig was sitting in the grass at the yard so I salvaged two of her deadeyes.

The owner had her trailboards and name boards nailed up in a shed, I asked but he would not sell them to me. He did sell me the Bali carving that was mounted to the deck beam at the aft end of the main hatch. It was about 8 ft long so he and I cut the ends off to airplane luggage size. I have it mounted on the wall near our front door. He also threw in one of her belaying pins.

My old shipmate Bruce Biddle had sailed his boat to French Polynesia and got stuck their because of COVID. He couldn't sail any further west because all the countries including New Zealand were in lockdown. So my wife and I flew down to Papeete and we sailed with him over to the Tuamotus for a few weeks. We ended up in Takaroa where the 4-masted ship The County of Roxburgh lies. Skippers favorite ship wreck that I do believe the Romance visited several times. I found a burnt piece of her teak deck and brought it home as a souvenir.

Was Sam the dad and Terry his son? Shouldn't have picked on Terry's carving abilities cause I love it and still have it. I really liked staying at the Young's house. I remember waking up late and the whole family was sitting there waiting for me to get up. I remember a great egg breakfast and getting introduced to Jam tea. Sam always sweetened his tea with jam. As we approached Pitcairn Skipper told me since I was the mate I would be staying with Mr Christian (can't remember his first name). When we arrived and the Pitcairner's came alongside in their long boat, Mr Christian was the first to jump aboard. then rushed right past me and up to the obvious 1st mate aboard Philip Loyd (tall, handsome, Muscular and swashbuckling ) and said you’ll be staying with me. So my one night ashore was spent with the Young's and I was very happy and remember that fondly.

a hui ho, wretched robie