American Eagle rounding Owls Head

American Eagle is my favorite schooner in the windjammer fleet; , I teach on her twice a year. Launched in 1930 in Gloucester, she fished until 1983, when she came up to Rockland to be rebuilt by Captain John Foss. Here I’ve paired her with my favorite lighthouse, the one on the promonatory at Owl’s Head. I sometimes see this light on my daily amble up Beech Hill, marking out safe passage into Penobscot Bay. It’s been doing that for generations.

I think of boats as symbols of our human journeys, which are often storm-rocked and precarious. And there’s no boat I’d rather ride out bad weather on. In this painting, Eagle just cuts through the waves and clouds, her position certain.