After spending his life working on the sea, last week Chuck Bates, 80, of Newcastle, single-handedly piloted his motorboat, Grigri, down the Damariscotta River, and up the coast of Maine to Castine, where he donated the boat to Maine Maritime Academy (MMA).
The weather was not bad, but not great, according to Bates. It was cloudy and gray most days. He described his journey as long and hard.
Bates’ motorboat, a 27 ft Alpine, is named Grigri. According to Webster’s Dictionary Grigri is a charm, amulet or talisman often associated with voodoo.
He detailed the route he took 13 miles down the Damariscotta River, turning left to travel across the mouth of Muscongus Bay and through Penobscot Bay.
Bates explained he likes MMA, and admires the students and faculty. He also used to own a sailboat and race in a special race there.
“I raced in the retired skipper’s race when I was in my 50s,” said Bates. “It’s a special race with special rules for old geezers and girls.”
Bates grew up in Rhode Island and was always interested in boats. According to Bates, he got his first boat as soon as he learned how to swim.
His career on the ocean began at age 15, working on an Army tugboat in Newport, RI. He said it was a summer job he was lucky to get, because it paid very well for the time, $150 per month.
Here in Maine he was a crewmember on ‘skin boats’ in Rockland in the 1940s. He explained that was the best job he ever had. “I got $15 a week, plus room and board,” he said. “I could save nearly $14 a week, because I had no time to spend it.”
He and his wife moved to Newcastle in 1990, arriving at the town dock after poking around in every harbor on the way up the coast, according to Bates.
“We moved here because we could walk from the boat to do the laundry, to go to the grocery store, and to catch a Greyhound bus, in case we wanted to travel somewhere,” he said. “By the time we got here, Yellowfront had moved, and the bus route stopped.”
They lived on their boat for a month and a half waiting for a cottage they rented to become available.
This is the twentieth or thirtieth time Bates has made this same trip to Castine, however this time he was alone and it was late in the season. Bates and his friend, Rowland Gilbert, had a deal that they would make the trip together, but a last minute conflict kept that from happening.
“He just couldn’t wait,” Gilbert said. “We had the whole week to do this. I was even going to buy the boat to keep him from going.”
Part of the reason Bates made the trip solo was due to his own stubbornness. “They would have come here and picked it up, but I wanted to drive it up there,” said Bates. “I was under pressure. The floats and moorings were being removed soon, I couldn’t wait another day or two.”
Bates didn’t express why it was so important for him to make this journey, but he took some chances to complete it. Recently he had a series of strokes, which left him with balance issues and his left hand partially paralyzed.
This made handling the boat more difficult, but he was determined. Getting the 45 lb. anchor up one-handed was challenging for him at times, according to Bates.
Gilbert gave some insight into his friend Bates, “Chuck Bates is a genius in disguise. All geniuses are pretty eccentric,” he said.
According to Bates, Grigri will be his last boat. “That boat was like a weight around my neck,” he said. “I loved her, but I’m glad she’s gone. She’ll be my last boat ever, unless I make a miraculous recovery.”
