30' Hinckley Sou'wester Sloop (1963) - SHILOH

Shiloh is a 1963 Hinckley Sou’wester. We became her stewards in 2019 as only the fourth owners. She has a rather unique light blue topside color because her original owner thought it would reduce the glare.

In 1964, Shiloh was at the Miramar Yacht Club in Brooklyn New York. A Swedish deckhand with one wooden leg had decided he had enough with the shipping lifestyle and wanted to return home to Sweden. He found Shiloh at her mooring, got her underway and sailed due east by the compass. There were no charts aboard.

He encountered a U.S. Coast Guard cutter 1,200 miles east of New York City and requested cigarettes and water.

He did not make it to Sweden, but did land in the Azores where he began to sell off items from Shiloh in hopes of making enough money to fly home to Sweden. Eventually, when he tried to sell Shiloh herself, the harbormaster became suspicious, contacted Interpol who reported Shiloh as stolen. The deckhand was apprehended and Shiloh was shipped back to New York.

The story made it into the New York Times.

Now Shiloh spends most of her time taking us up and down the beautiful Maine coast, and while we have no ambition to sail her across the Atlantic, it is always comforting to know she can.