Reward Offered for Missing Jolly Roger
For the last 25 years or so, Latitude 38 has been proud to sponsor a competitor in the annual Master Mariners Regatta. This involves donating a few bucks to the Master Mariners Benevolent Association, a nice bunch of folks who are dedicated to the maintenance, restoration and sailing of classic wooden yachts. In return, a sponsored boat flies your house flag and takes one person from your organization aboard as crew. This has been a delightful arrangement that’s worked out terrifically over the years for all concerned.
The sponsored boat is supposed to return the flag after the regatta, and we never had a problem getting it back until a few years ago, when one of our flags went missing and has yet to show up again. That’s where, hopefully, one of you come in.
The MIA flag was about 3×4 feet. It showed a white skull and bones on a black background, with the skull wearing one of those beanie hats with a little propeller on it. The shorthand of its disappearance was that the boat that flew it that year — this was sometime in the early part of the decade — was sold right after Master Mariners and left for the East Coast within the month. It is currently based out of Washington, but several communications with the new owners indicate the pirate flag is no longer aboard. We’d just get another one made, except that the person who designed it passed away and did not leave any sort of master design to work from. We don’t even have a good photo decent enough to use for a remake.
We really, really miss this flag. Having exhausted all other avenues, we’re hoping one or more of you readers can help us out. So we are officially offering a reward of both a Latitude 38 T-shirt and ballcap for any information leading to its return. Email John with any tips.
In the meantime, look for Latitude’s also-pretty-cool ‘clipper ship’ flag flying from the main truck of a yet-to-be-determined competitor in this year’s Master Mariners Regatta, scheduled as always for Memorial Day Saturday, May 23. Might your company be interested in sponsoring a yacht? Log onto www.mastermariners.org for more information — and get busy designing a house flag of your own.