Wow. What a story.
It’s heartbreaking, isn’t it.
Yes, very heartbreaking.
I spent a week on her in 1990, and it was incredible. In her early years, someone had remarked “she sailed with amazing grace.”
That set a tradition. Every evening as the crew prepared to set sail, they would blast Amazing Grace over the sound system — the bagpipe version, followed by other versions (Judy Collins, etc). One by one, the sails caught wind, making that “whoop” sound, and she would start to move slowly, picking up more and more speed until all of the sails were up.
As all of this went on, I would see people on other small sailboats anchored nearby with their mouths wide open. I still get chills thinking about it.
To this day, every time I hear “Amazing Grace,” I think of the Fantome and her crew.