I think it was a prune juice bottle, the vessel inside was handmade by my maternal grandfather. Grandpa was a lifelong mariner from the far Down East Coast of Maine. He first went to sea in the age of sail, eventually becoming Captain in the heyday of coal hauling steamers plying the Atlantic coast from Virginia to Boston. In his early career he entered the Lighthouse Service as a surfman, patrolling the coast, rescuing fellow mariners in vessels run aground, capsized or in trouble along the rocky shores. Later, he served as quartermaster on a Lighthouse Tender, delivering goods to Maine lighthouses.
After his stint as Master of vessels loaded with coal he joined the Coast Guard and served on Lightships anchored on dangerous shoals off of our New England coast. He served proudly on vessels with names like the Pollack Rip, the Handkerchief, the Relief.
Bottled for time, I'm lucky enough to have the Relief on my windowsill. A ship model somehow inserted in a bottle as green as the Atlantic where the real Relief bobbed and rolled at anchor protecting vessels so many times her size.
I retired from public school teaching after happily spending twenty eight years playing in Kindergarten. Now I fill my days watching cat antics, taking endless...
