The first I remember about the Charles S. Haight was seeing an
aerial photo of the grounded ship in the Globe (or the Times) in the spring of
1946. I was living in Danvers winters, Rockport summers. I located the
photographer in Lynn and got an 8x10 glossy print – (which I am still looking
for) – and I looked forward to the summer when I could see the wreck. I was
sixteen.
As soon as school was out, we moved to Rockport for the summer
and I got my sailboat, an 18 foot Alden designed “O” boat, the Cirrus, into
the water. The wreck was a magnet, and several of my friends and I soon sailed
out to the Haight and climbed aboard. There was nothing of value left by then,
but we had fun running all over the ship. We made numerous visits that summer.
At some point – I can’t remember just when – the stern section
broke off and capsized as can be seen in the photos. I was interested in
photography and took the series of photos that are shown here, some while
aboard, the rest while sailing around the wreck. The negatives have been
stored in the attic all these years until this winter (2004) when I found them
and scanned all my old B&W negatives into the computer. I had thought they had
been lost.
Later in the summer of 1946 (as I recall), the stern
disappeared and the bow broke off, capsized and drifted or moved about half
way toward the breakwater – then later, it disappeared also. - Ted Dow
Photos and captions of the Liberty Ship Charles S. Haight,
by and courtesy of, Ted Dow.
