I noticed it missing since this fall. Anyone have a sighting?
Quote:
SC 1342. In 1977 Richard Lindsay of St. Paul, MN, an enterprising young man unafraid of hard work, spotted the remains of SC 1342 on the Wisconsin side of the St. Croix River. She had been towed there from New Orleans several years before, stripped of everything of value including her pilot house and deck planking, and abandoned. There, for over a decade she remained, half sunk in the mud. In December 1977 Lindsay purchased salvage rights and hauled her out of the ice up onto a hill where he and a neighbor, Brian Larson, worked in their spare time repairing the hull and making it re-floatable. After two years she was re-launched in the nearby Mississippi and “Rick” has lived aboard ever since, making improvements with Brian’s help until today, although a lot of work remains, parts of the vessel are looking quite respectable.
For 23 years, Rick Lindsey has lived aboard a renovated World War II warship that he salvaged himself. Previous owners had stripped the ship of everything of value, including the deck planking and pilothouse. Eventually, it was abandoned in the St. Croix River. There the wooden hull lay, half submerged, until Lindsey found it one day while fishing. He bought the salvage rights to it, and, with the help of two Caterpillar tractors, hauled it from the river in 1976. “At least I think it was ’76—it’s getting a little hazy,” he joked, noting that the ship’s previous owners all are long dead.
With the help of some friends, Lindsey rebuilt the vessel on the banks of the St. Croix. It took three years.
When they relaunched it in 1979, there was much fanfare; all three national TV networks covered the maiden voyage. Taking into account several feet of additions Lindsey built, the ship now measures 116 feet. It is bedecked with huge solar panels, wind generators, a DirecTV dish, and a small derrick in the stern.
Since 1984, Lindsey has moored the ship on the Mississippi at the Island Station Marina across from Lilydale Regional Park, about a mile downstream from downtown St. Paul. Built in 1942 in Texas as a subchaser-class warship, USS SC 1342 participated in the D-Day invasion in Normandy, Lindsey said. Although their numbers dwindle each year, veterans who served on similar ships in World War II occasionally visit, and they recognize many of the components still present on the hull, such as the depth-charge mounts in the stern, the engine room, and the bedrooms.
When The Rake met Lindsey the other day, he was busy rebuilding an aging motorhome on the riverbank near his ship. A DeSoto and several Chryslers in various states of resurrection also occupied the yard. Rick is a wiry 50-something, with owlish glasses and long black hair. The grease-stained dress-shirt he wore had obviously seen the undercarriage of many an automobile. Although he hasn’t moved his ship in several years, he said its two diesel engines are still operational. Between Lindsey’s various car projects, his carpet wholesaling business, his role as caretaker at the marina, and his intense interest in the Internet, though, USS SC 1342 doesn’t get around much anymore. “I used to cruise a lot, but I’m just too busy these days, you know?” Lindsey said.
Lindsey’s reliance on solar power is more inspired by practicality than any bright-eyed environmental notions. He began installing his solar panels—he claimed to have the second largest array of panels in the state—a couple years ago, after the city cut off power to the dozen or so people living in boats at the marina. “People say to me, ‘That’s so great that you’re conserving energy.’ Bullxxxx! It’s free power,” he said. Six forklift batteries are charged by the solar panels each day. They provide Lindsey with 150 amps of electricity, easily enough power to run his big-screen TV, computer, stereo, air conditioner, and hot water heater.
Lindsey stays in the boat year-round. He said the river ice remains slush during the winter, and, aside from a few logs that get snared in his rigging, the spring floods are mostly uneventful. “You’ve got to keep an eye on your cables, though,” he said, casting a watchful gaze at the steel lines that anchor him to shore.
From 2002 The Rake<<
For the last 2 or so years, this WWII veteran has been anchored between the swimming beach and the bridge in Prescott, WI.
Kinda hard to hide a skiff like that.
