The lady pictured above is a customer who just stopped by to say hi during our recent open house. We were chit-chatting about this and that when our lobby monitor started playing one of the award winning movies we put together for another client, “The Lucy Evelyn: From Ship to Store.” Suddenly, she stopped mid-sentence and exclaimed, “OMG! That’s my grand-uncle!”
Turns out she is related to Captain Everett C. Lindsey, the man who commissioned the building of the Lucy Evelyn in 1917. She was a 166 foot, three masted schooner and one of the last of her kind built, as the steam engine was just beginning to take over the commercial nautical world. She was named after Capt. Lindsey’s two daughters.
Sailing from her harbor in Machias Maine, the Lucy Evelyn was primarily used as a cargo vessel, transporting lumber, tobacco, coal and other products to all parts of the world. Using a 5 person crew, she proved difficult to captain, as the only power she had on board was for a small winch that was used to help raise her sails. She was often blown off course or otherwise delayed during her journeys. She was once shelled by the Germans during WWII.
In 1947, she was bought at auction by entrepreneur Nat Ewer for the sum of $1,550.00. Nat had her towed to the shores of New Jersey and beached her in the town of Beach Haven where he had her converted to a high end gift shop. He and his family ran “The Sea Chest” out of the Lucy Evelyn for 22 years before she was lost in a devastating fire in 1972.
The grand-niece of Capt. Lindsey had never seen the ship, having visited the area after the fire. But of course she had heard all the stories. We’re so pleased that she came into our studio and got the opportunity to see a movie where her ancestor had played such a major role.
Michael Ondrasik and Home Video Studio Mount Dora specialize in the preservation of memories through the digitalization of film, videotape, audio recordings, photos, negatives, and slides. For more information, call 352-735-8550 or visit our website.
