Slop Chest Chronicles the life and times of Dominic Zachorne while growing up on the decks of the Schooner Shenandoah.

“The wind was so strong the schooner made speed just about as quickly as she had fallen off on her tack. We were out from behind the lee of the bluff where the lighthouse stands before I got the hook on the ring of the anchor. The sea kept throwing the anchor to leeward of the stem, so I needed a boat hook to slow the flukes down from being thrashed around. It took two or three tries to get the anchor clear of the forefoot. And once catted, the anchor swung so wildly and hard it hit the hull. Bob was yelling about a fluke going through the hull planking and stoving us in. By the time we got the anchor on the rail, we were halfway across Vineyard Sound, going like a freight train.”

“The anchor burton makes me think of the anchors. Yes, I know the anchors have nothing to do with rigging, but on Shenandoah they are a very important bit of gear, because Shenandoah has no button to push that gives you a gentle vibration in the deck, nor a lever to engage a propeller giving you firmness of position, and of course no throttle to push down on which makes that bearing on the beach that you’ve been eyeing for the last half hour go from sliding forward to inching aft. Without internal power, no engine, nothing to fall back on when you find you’ve made the wrong choice about your holding ground or your position when the wind shifts, there’s no second chance. You need to do it right the first time on Shenandoah. I've seen the port anchor put to use twice; once in Cuttyhunk and once in Nantucket. Actually, now that I think of it, the most chain I've seen out was three quarters of a box, which is about 200 feet, and I've seen four turns jump off the windlass drum when she snubs her chain. Usually one more flake will take care of this, but sometimes it takes two.”

”Dominic Zachorne's new book Slop Chest is a master class in rigging the Shenandoah.”

Joe Keenan, Vineyard Gazette