To the editor:
…I read the story “Anchor to Windward” by Sally Noble with some passing interest as it is about my competitor. I felt it necessary to pass along several corrections to “facts” contained in the story.
Brown Ship Chandlery was not started by anyone in the Poole family. It was started by Mr. Brown in 1941, and purchased by the Poole family somewhere in the neighborhood of about eighteen years ago. It was previously located on Maine Wharf in the space now occupied by the Chase Leavitt Company.
Despite what it may say about the resources of Brown Ship Chandlery on their website, the truth is actually somewhat different. They do not, in fact, have a 40-foot launch, but a 32-foot launch. OUR launch is 40 feet in length, which we can document through our federal documented vessel papers. WE can also prove our 11-ton capacity through the same documents….
The hold of our boat can accommodate a 24-foot length of steel, pipe, etc. Their hold CANNOT accommodate even a 21-foot length of steel, and they have to drape such an item over the stern or along the rails, meaning that they are able to handle much less in the way of volume than our launch. As far as them having a 1 1/2 ton crane, I suspect that their crane is the same as ours, which is 1000kg, or 2,200 lbs….
Short of utilizing trick photography, there is no way to make it look as though their launch can hold anywhere near as much as ours. This is critical when it comes to deliveries being done by the hour, where having to make a return trip can be very costly, and where the vessel is surrounded by a boom, and each roundtrip opening of the boom can run as much as $650. As you can imagine, extra trips can run up the bill very quickly….
Mark Usinger
President, A.L. Griffin Inc.
Portland