The Francis Lifeboat Lives On

Publication

-

Saugatuck Douglas Historical Society

Name/Title

The Francis Lifeboat Lives On

Entry/Object ID

2021.46.16

Description

Single-page photocopied flyer about the history and restoration of the Francis Lifeboat. The header includes photos of people who worked on the restoration. Two photos of the boat are at the bottom of the page. This entry includes additional images (digital only) of other versions of the flyer.

Context

Information about the lifeboat in the OSH garden

Collection

Nautical

Cataloged By

Winthers, Sally

Acquisition

Accession

2021.46

Acquisition Method

Found in Collection

Notes

A envelope of these flyers were discovered in a drawer in the Old School House map room in July 2021.

Publication Details

Date Printed

circa 2006

Notes

Author unknown.

Location

Box

028 B Francis Lifeboat Restoration 2

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

Francis Lifeboat/Gallinipper (boat), Batchelor, Dean R. 1929-2025, Johnson, Bob, Simonds, Bob 1930-2021, Lyons, Thomas R. "Dick" 1956-2023, Mauger, David W. 1932-2019, Lyon, Alan, Francis, Joseph, Bird, John Moffat 1899-1973, Bird, Charles Edmund “Carl” Jr. 1879-1968, Saugatuck Sea Scouts, Brittain, Leonard Spaulding "Cappy" 1880-1964, Rietveld, Walter Scott 1963-

General Notes

Note

Peg Sanford speech from 2006: I'd like to introduce to you the Francis Lifeboat crew: Thomas R. Lyons, Alan J Lyon, Dean Batchelor and David W. Mauger. Many years ago the Van Dis family donated the rusted hulk of the Francis lifeboat to the SDHS. This final Francis Lifeboat crew took the dreams of Bob Johnson and Bob Simonds and made that dream come true. With the encouragement of Dick Lyons who always believed it could be done - the team spent over a 1000 hours working on the restoration. Their research included a trip to Put-in-Bay, Ohio to see the only other known restored Francis Lifeboat. Now the research trip sounded like a lot of fun for them, but we all know the hours that were spent measuring, cutting, chipping, scraping, sanding, priming and painting did nothing to add to their beauty! They cleaned up nicely though. With the assistance of RJ Peterson who supplied the crew with a workspace and sand blasting and with the advice from Dave Anderson (boat builder) they brought the boat back from a rusty wreck to a valuable artifact. We hope you will be able to attend the first public showing of the restored life boat at the museum opening on Saturday, May 27.

Create Date

July 11, 2021

Update Date

May 9, 2025