As I digitize the massive film library of my father, Edward H. Roberts, I find lots of glimpses of events from times long past… often wishing I had been able to do this while he was still alive to answer questions. This is one of those.

Through the 1940s, he actively raced his Star-class sailboat, Dabih, in Lake Erie. There are some glimpses of that time in my post about his sailing years, and a few videos are in the pipeline. But this is not about his boat… it is an event that took place on Memorial Day in 1946. If you know any of the people in these photos, or what caused the dismasting, please contact me so I can add details to the story. The Erie Yacht Club commodore in 1946 was Clarence M. Krug.

1946 Erie Yacht Club – Memorial Day Dismasting from Steven K Roberts on Vimeo.

(The tools I am using to digitize my father’s library of about 150 films have become the basis of a business… if you have old movies you’d like to recover or share, please contact Harbor Digitizing for more info.)

And then, sometime later… no time stamps on movies back then. Something happened out there, and the boat is now dismasted in East Slip.
The crew is surveying the damage, not happy.
A scene no sailor likes to see.

And that, I’m afraid, is all the information I have about the dismasting in Lake Erie on Memorial Day, 1946. Do you have history from Erie Yacht Club events that can let us identify the boat or the participants? Writing this 73 years later, with only a faded bit of film, I’m curious to hear the story.

My father’s Erie Yacht Club hat from the forties.
Posted in Film Archives and tagged