We don't know what happened to the boat after it was owned by Dr. Good but at some point in the fifties, we are told, Cheechako was found on the beach, abandoned and without a rig, in Alaska. She was found, pulled off to the beach, and towed down to Seattle where she was given a new life. Sailmaker Franz Shattauer designed a new rig and built sails and she was sailing again in the late fifties.
Over the years since her resurrection, Cheechako had at least four owners. She was owned in the fifties and sixties by Chuck Gustafson and subsequently by Lanson Ross, Joe Kahle, and Art Erickson. At one point here name was changed to Rogue, but was changed back to Cheechako before coming to us.
In September 2010 we acquired Cheechako, in south Seattle. She had been taken out of the water in 2001 by her previous owner, who began a complete restoration before being forced to sell the boat. She was purchased and was subsequently abandoned about a year later in a shed at the South Park Marina. There she sat untouched for approximately eight years despite the marina's attempts to sell or even donate the boat. In the face of a need to consolidate and make use of valuable space, the marina was on the verge of sending the old boat to the landfill when we were introduced to her in the summer of 2010. She came to us as a project in need of a lot of energy and time as well as an organized group to make it all happen. Thus the Libertatia Voyaging Collective was born and in late September we took on ownership of the boat and began paying rent on the shed that housed her.
Historical Articles:
Pacific Motor Boat
March 1935
Small Sailboat Rides Out Gale
Spokane Daily Chronicle
December 20, 1937
Small Craft With Girl Skipper at San Francisco to be Repaired
Lewiston Morning Tribune
December 17, 1937
Cruise North Seas to Stop Toothaches
The Telegraph Herald
March 10, 1927
The Skipper's Name is Anna (Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4)
by Richard Emery
The Rudder
January 1939
by Glen Carter
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