Posted on Wednesday, October 08, 2003 - 05:26 pm:

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Hi,
My name is Linda, I am Larry & Marlenes daughter. We are trying to generate community interest in helping us to raise and restore Larinda. She had many ports of call this past season in your area. Please help up to get the word out. Thank you.

Linda Lauzon
443 Flint Street
Marstons Mills, MA 02648

To all of Larinda's fans and supporters:

This letter has been sent to most of the News stations in New England. Please copy this letter and forward it to all who wish to help Larry & Marlene. Thanks
Rob & Kate Bussiere

This letter is intended to alert the media of the importance of the preservation of the Schooner Larinda. While tied up at the dock
in Halifax Harbor, Nova Scotia she was "holed" and sunk by the retired Canadian Navy Corvette Sackville during Hurricane Juan on 09/30/2003 at 3am.
Larinda's masts are still visible, but her hull is 30' below water.
Every minute she sits there she sinks further into the muck. As you may well guess, we treat the Larinda and Captain Larry Mahan and his wife Marlene, among one of Cape Cod's treasures. The lifetime of devotion and commitment
invested by the Captain and his wife is one of extraordinary measure, and needs to be preserved at all costs. I call upon all the people who have enjoyed the Larinda, to assist Captain Larry
and his wife in their endeavor to raise the Larinda from the shallows of Halifax Harbor and get her to dry dock for repair. We here on Cape Cod are relying on our brothers and
sisters in Halifax and elsewhere in the United States, to assist in preserving a part of history as well as the efforts of one man
who diligently achieved his dream and then set out to share it with the world. Our main objective is to alert the thousands of
people who have enjoyed visiting or sailing on the Larinda, as to her plight, and to expedite the raising of her from Halifax Harbor. Anyone who would like to assist in any manner
they desire, may contact Capt Larry at [email protected], or
donate to The Larinda Fund by mailing their contribution to:

The Larinda Fund
c/o Rockland Trust
442 Main St
Hyannis, MA 02601

For information regarding this wonderful vessel go to:
www.larinda.com

Your Friends,
Kate & Rob Bussiere
50 Tobisset St
Mashpee, MA 02649
508-737-4840

Sail on, Larinda
If the Larinda can't be refloated, at least we have the wonderful story of a Marstons Mills man who brought his dream to life.
Every voyage comes to an end. But we hope against hope this isn't the end
for the schooner Larinda.

The antique replica lovingly built by mechanic Larry Mahan in the backyard
of his Marstons Mills home lies sunk beside a Halifix, Nova Scotia, dock,
the victim of an errant Canadian naval vessel torn loose by Hurricane Juan.
If the Larinda cannot be raised and patched - her ferro-cement hull may be too brittle - it will prove a devastating loss for Mahan and his family. The only salvation then will be the memories, and the recounting of a wonderful
story.

Mahan says his boatbuilding dream began in the fourth grade. He started building the Larinda's hull in 1970. As it took shape neighbors came to
watch and help. Customers at his Hyannis alignment shop flipped through the
photo albums of the construction and walked around the seven-ton Wolverine diesel engines Mahan salvaged from Central American sugar plantations. As word spread more people pitched in. The vessel's trim grew elaborate, the
carvings fanciful: seahorses and gnomes, with a frog for a figurehead.

It took 26 years, but in 1996 the ship was floated in Falmouth. Mahan closed
the alignment shop and set out to live his dream, piloting the Larinda
wherever sailing ships were appreciated.

To be sunk by a hurricane in Nova Scotia is an irony, but it was not the first to befall Larinda. It was her fate to go unappreciated in her hometown, where a berth was hard to get and official recognition denied.
Naysayers concentrated not on Mahan's beautiful creation but on the Larinda's eccentricities.

She was appreciated elsewhere. A couple of weeks ago Ed and Kathy Lamberson of Great Valley, N.Y., sent us a snapshot of the vessel taken at the Tall Ships Festival in Cleveland in July. "We could not believe our eyes to see
the talent in workmanship... How proud your community must be... "

Indeed. Larry Mahan's story is an American classic, a testament to every
backyard inventor. The difference was that Mahan never let go of his dream.
He stuck with it until he had a beautiful and functional machine that
carried him on a wonderful adventure.
(Published: October 4, 2003)

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Posted on Sunday, October 19, 2003 - 08:19 pm:

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News from Halifax harbour from NS native Cliff Hall. Horray for the
Lorinda!!

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Great News Bruce, they successfully raised the Lorinda today. The 6:00 news showed her afloat (being held in slings by a hugh crane) with water pouring out through a large hole in her side. They're making temporary repairs here in Halifax and then bringing her to Lunenburg for repairs.
Regards,
Cliff

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