Cape Ann Marina to Salem
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Our Position is 42:31.134N 70:52.393W
By 11:30 we were waiting for the Blyman Canal
bridge to open and, as the tide was ebbing down to the bridge at some speed, and
the wind was behind, and the dredged channel narrow, I was not inclined to get
too near until I was sure it was going up. Once out into Gloucester harbour we
could hoist the sails and look forward to the passage down to Salem. It was a
Sunday with an excellent forecast so we were not alone on the water
 The helpful bridge keeper told us when to start our
run to his
bridge
Plenty of action in the bay including this cruise ship.
It was a treat to be sailing down the coast under
full sail on a close starboard reach in a good breeze. As the 15NM passage
progressed the wind backed and strengthened so in the end we had to put in a
short tack to enter the Salem Passage. As we passed between the islands we were
picking our track to keep out of the way of the many racing yachts in the bay.
It was here that we were entertained by a lot of chat between various Coastguard
stations and harbour masters about a paraglider who had landed out on Children's
Island, one of the smaller outer islands. There seemed quite a lot of confusion
and in the end overkill, but he was eventually picked up even if the
harbour masters launch refused to bring his parachute gear back with him. The
other paraglider we could see in the air had the good sense to land on the
mainland. Once we had picked up our assigned mooring we called the launch to
take us ashore for lunch and sightseeing. I had been to Salem with Kirsty but it
was new to Kay.
  The Custom House and the House with Seven Gables.
(I think it is the original building but with new walls and seven new gables,
that has been re-roofed)
In the mid 1800s Nathaniel Hawthorne worked in the
former while writing a book about the latter. After my earlier trip with
Kirsty I downloaded his works onto the Kindle and had a go at reading his magnum
opus "The Scarlet Letter" It is pretty hard going. A Dickens plot just
flies along by comparison.
We went to the free town museum to find out about
the witch trials, but as with Kirsty avoided the rest of the witch related
stuff.
 Two of the very many witch emporiums
 We did not go in but the band playing outside were
good
I know a crew who believes she can be trusted.
 It is hard to get Kay past a good grave yard
without a visit and this was no exception. It was very well cared for and the
graves were quite old. Captain Richard Moore was obviously quite young when he
arrived in New England aboard the Mayflower, 12 if my sums are right, so I
googled him and found the following :-
Richard More was the only surviving Pilgrim child of four that Commander Samuel More(1), his father had put aboard the Mayflower in the Care of Carver, Winslow and Brewster. Why would a father commit four young children to such a hazardous undertaking? The tale is a woeful one. Samuel More, the childrens' father was married at the tender age of 16 to his third cousin Catherine More, the heiress of Larden, then 23, "presumably in order to keep that property in the family(1). Four children were born and baptised as Samuel's before he became aware of "the common fame of the adulterous life of said Katherine More with one Jacob Blakeway(1)." He also came to note the resemblance between most of the children to the said Jacob Blakeway. Subsequent to a divorce proceeding by Catherine and her rejection of the children, Samuel ultimately arranged with "honest and religious people"(1) to transport them into the new world; to see that they were properly lodged, maintained fed and clothed; that at the end of seven years they should have 50 acres apiece. It was his desire to remove them from "these partes," where "great blotts and blemishes may fall upon them(2)." Sadly only one child, Richard, survived. Not a great start perhaps but he seemed to have made out ok. He had two wives (sequentially he was a puritan ) and five children and lived to a decent age for the period 
 To be the oldest or the first seems to be very
important in the US whether it happens to be a candy company or a militia that
confronted the British army.
Well after an indifferent lunch, we should have
tried The Lobster Shanty, and all the fun of Salem we headed back to
Moorglade as the sun was setting.
 Nice launch!
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