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Washington. "She sank in Ketchikan, Alaska in 1971." The Flyer ingloriously sank twice while tied to the shore in Port Townsend. The half sinking occurred in 1965 when she was towed to safety. "I heard about John buying the boat and sent him an email, saying I'd like to be involved," Chase says. He now works full time directing restoration of the Flyer. "The sinkings didn't do the boat any favors. She needed everything. And she's going to get everything." That's because Gregg is fully committed to restoring the Western Flyer to sea-worthy condition, with the idea of turning her into an educational platform, based in Monterey and travelling the West Coast for educational outreach. Shillinglaw is Education Director for the Western Flyer Foundation, the nonprofit that oversees the project. "We star ted out thinking about just science, but if we limited it to that, it could be any boat," she says. "What the Western Flyer represents is that intersection of science and the humanities. Our programs will be based on Steinbeck and Ricketts' vision of ecol- ogy and community." The goal is to have the Western Flyer docked in Monterey by 2020. "About 70 percent of the boat is being replaced," Chase says. "A lot of that is due to old age and sinking and a lot is due to what the Foundation is asking for it to do. The boat must be extremely seaworthy." A major obstacle has been sourcing the nec- essary woods. "She was built in Washington from locally sourced materials: old-growth oak Much of the boat's interior is original, including this desk. Chances are John Steinbeck sat here while jotting notes here for what would become the book he co-authored with his friend, marine biologist Ed Ricketts. 186 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • W I N T E R 2 0 1 9 Photos: Courtesy of The Western Flyer Foundation