Petunia is the last wooden Crosby cat boat ever built.
Cedar on oak frames with mahogany cockpit detailing and canvas deck. She sleeps 2 and has ample room for 6 adults in her dry cockpit.
She was launched in 1969. There were two boats built in that last wooden boat season in the Crosby yard, the other is a museum piece and on dry land in the Osterville Museum. Petunia still sails and has participated frequently in the cat boat class at the Wooden Boat School in Brooklin Maine.
She frequents the waters around Mount Desert Island and is often the first boat launched in April and the last retrieved in October. She is stored in Southwest Harbor Maine and cared for by Ryan Donahue and Tim at Ocean House Boat Storage. She sports a Nat Wilson sail, has a wood stove where she burns only Eastern White cedar.
If you sail by in a hansom boat or hail her from shore she will give you 2 bells from her bronze ship’s bell.
She is a national heritage treasure and we consider ourselves stewards of her for the people of the United States.
Excerpts from her log books, and stories have been published from time to time in the Cat Boat Bulletin published by the Cat Boat Association.
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Petunia was built by Crosby’s the same year as Frances (as you mentioned). Frances had a different transom with an underslung rudder as you probably know. She belonged to “Townie” Hornor, my father’s college roommate and brother’s godfather. Townie sailed Frances extensively on Nantucket Sound, Osterville and Cotuit waters. She had “Osterville Free Library” emblazoned across her sail the way so many old ‘day passenger’ catboats had insignia of various sorts sewn on. He eventually donated her to the Osterville Historical Museum along with other Crosby boats in their care: https://www.ostervillemuseum.org/the-wooden-boat-legacy/
Petunia was built by Crosby’s the same year as Frances (as you mentioned). Frances had a different transom with an underslung rudder as you probably know. She belonged to “Townie” Hornor, my father’s college roommate and brother’s godfather. Townie sailed Frances extensively on Nantucket Sound, Osterville and Cotuit waters. She had “Osterville Free Library” emblazoned across her sail the way so many old ‘day passenger’ catboats had insignia of various sorts sewn on. He eventually donated her to the Osterville Historical Museum along with other Crosby boats in their care: https://www.ostervillemuseum.org/the-wooden-boat-legacy/