In September 2008, the 42’ yacht named PILGRIM left her port in Florence, Oregon returned to Portland and moored at the R.A.Rasmusen Sea Scout Base on the Columbia River, near the Portland International Airport. This completed a circuitous voyage started in Portland in 1965.
PILGRIM was built by Gladding & Hearn in Somerset, Massachusetts in 1958. PILGRIM is a custom yacht built on a tug boat design hull. The hull is of steel construction and the topsides are of wood. The boat is heavily built. PILGRIM was originally ordered built by a couple that intended to go on a
worldwide cruise and conduct marine research. PILGRIM has three electrical systems: 12 VDC for instruments; 32 VDC for engine starting and lighting; and a 120 VAC generator. The later was installed because the original owner wanted to have world wide radio capability and planned to be offshore for weeks at a time and wanted to power his radio equipment with 120 volts.
The owners took delivery of PILGRIM from the building yard and commenced a shakedown cruise from the Atlantic Ocean, through the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Great Lakes. Unfortunately, a few months into the cruise the male half of the ownership died.
PILGRIM was sold by the surviving spouse in 1959 to Donald B. Ayres, an accomplished yachtsman and recognized sailboat racer in Southern California.
Donald Ayres kept PILGRIM in Southern California waters for several years. Then, in 1965, well known Portland Yacht Club member Eliot Jenkins bought PILGRIM and sailed PILGRIM to Portland and moored her in a boathouse at PYC.
Eliot Jenkins turned 90 years old in January of 2009. He now lives in a retirement villa in Milwaukie. He has trouble walking, so he uses a wheelchair. He doesn’t use the wheels on the chair , but rather scuttle quickly around using his feet. He is still razor sharp. He dress in khaki pants and the striped work shirts favored by lumbermen. He recalls, with great detail, the logging/lumber business in Portland and the Willamette Valley from the 1920 through the current era. Likewise, he has many memories and stories of his activities as a boatman. He is a past commodore of Portland Yacht Club, and has cruised extensively on the West Coast and Columbia River system.
Eliot Jenkins has lived most of his life in Portland. His father was the general manager of Jones Lumber, a saw mill located in what is now the John’s Landing area of the Willamette River. Eliot started working there as a boy, cleaning up debris and sweeping up. He worked there into his teens. In those days, logs were being shipped to the Orient. Most of the business was to clients in Japan, and was conducted by Dante and Russell of Portland. These were the days of the Great Depression. Dante and Russell owned steam ships for the shipment of lumber and logs. Eliot shipped out aboard one of these vessels. He was still in high school at the time, attending Lincoln High. Eliot said that he made three trips as a sailor on these ships. He said that he was pretty well pleased with himself and the work. When he returned to Portland at the end of his third voyage, his father told him that he needed his help at the mill. So Eliot went back to school and resumed working at the mill. He finished school, and worked the rest of his life at the mill and in the wood industry. Eliot Jenkins has some particularly interesting tales of bringing logs down the Willamette from Corvallis.
Eliot Jenkins was always around boats at work, and owned boats for recreation as well. In 1965 he was looking for a yacht and found PILGRIM in California. He purchased PILGRIM and brought her up the coast to Portland, and Portland Yacht Club on the Columbia River.
Eliot and his wife sailed PILGRIM coastwise, but especially in the Columbia River and in the parts of the river above Bonneville and The Dalles. When Mrs. Jenkins health declined, Eliot decided to sell PILGRIM and get a smaller boat that he could operate by himself. So, PILGRIM was sold to an owner that took the boat to Everett, WA.
Eliot Jenkins is a tinkerer and something of an inventor. All the while that he owner PILGRIM, he never changed the oil. At least in the conventional fashion. What he did was to draw off a gallon of the used oil. He would then run the oil remaining in the engine through an onboard centrifuge. The centrifuged oil was returned to the engines’ crankcase. He would then add a gallon of new lubricating oil. He maintained the big Cummins Diesel in PILGRIM this way for 30 years. With all the current talk of sustainability and weaning of dependence on foreign oil, there may be something of importance to learn from Eliot Jenkins here.
After Eliot sold PILGRIM to a new owner in Everett, WA, Eliot acquired a 28’ “AllWeather” named HARD TACK. In 1997, Eliot Jenkins donated the boat HARD TACK to the Portland Sea Scouts, and also donated the boathouse he had kept at PYC to the Sea Scouts. The boathouse is still in use by Sea Scout Ship CITY OF ROSES. HARD TACK was used for several years by Sea Scout ship VOYAGEUR. When VOYAGEUR obtained a much larger boat, HARD TACK was sold and taken to Puget Sound by the new owner. 
During June 2008, Mr. and Mrs. Watkins of Escondido, CA, contacted Pat Kelley of the Portland Sea Scouts. They wanted to know if the Portland Sea Scouts would be interested in a donation of a 42’ trawler. The boat was located in Florence, OR at the time. From the description and name, Pat Kelley realized that the boat that was being offered was the PILGRIM formerly owned by Eliot Jenkins. The Scouts were definitely interested. The paperwork transfer was finally completed in the late summer 2008, and arrangements were made to bring the boat coastwise to Portland. 
Finally, on September 1, 2008, PILGRIM arrived at the R.A Rasmusen Sea Scout Base, and joined the Portland Sea Scout flotilla. The PILGRIM completed the circle of thousands of miles back to Portland. For the foreseeable future, PILGRIM will be used to train Sea Scouts on the Columbia River
The Sea Scouts welcome any 14 to 18 year old youths, male and female, that want to learn about boats and nautical skills, including sailing. Adult volunteers are also being sought. Call Pat Kelley, 503-667-7835 for more information on how to join. See our websites at: http://www.sss601.org & http://www.joinseascouts.com.
Subscribe to RSS Feed
