1967 Corsair History

This is where the known history of the Corsair begins.  BU purchased the Corsair in 1967.  Still no knowledge if it was purchased new or not but with stories that Donoratico sent to boatbuilders to Boston to fix the boat at now cost would lead one to believe BU purchased the Corsair new.

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Frank Barrett’s story begins with his discovery of the Corsair resting on a rack in the BU Boathouse shop, where its unusual appearance immediately raised questions.

Barrett later described first seeing the Corsair in the summer of 1968, when it was sitting on the top rack in the shop at the BU Boathouse. Even from a distance, it was clear that the shell was not a Pocock. Its shape and color were different from the Western cedar shells familiar to the crew. The hull’s profile resembled an upside-down A, with the legs slightly bowed, and its finish was a deep, rich mahogany brown, more like fine furniture than a racing shell. The boat was striking: dark, high in the middle, with a rudder set partway back on the stern deck rather than hinged to the stern piece, as was customary on Pocock shells. From below, Barrett could see bulkheads in both the stern and bow. Curious, he began asking the seniors about it:

 

Barrett asked, “What do we have here?”
The seniors replied, “That’s a Donoratico made in Italy; we got it a couple of years ago.”

 

Barrett asked why it was in the shop.
The answer was simple: it had cracks in the hull.
When he asked why the shell had not been repaired, the seniors explained that no one knew how to fix the cracks.

Barrett then asked whether the boat had ever been rowed.
The response was that it had, but it was extremely difficult to keep stable and had been deemed unrowable.
The boat was intriguing, to say the least.
  
The next morning, Barrett called Italy using the phone number copied from the invoice in the Athletic Business Manager’s office. His question was direct: “How do we repair this boat?” [Ed. note: Barrett’s reference to an invoice suggests that BU had ordered the shell directly from Donoratico, or at least had acquired the original paperwork if the shell had been purchased from another school.] Barrett could no longer recall whom he spoke with, but by the end of the call Donoratico had agreed to send two men to Boston for about a week to repair the hull and address anything else that needed attention—at Donoratico’s expense.

 

About ten days later, two gentlemen from Italy arrived at the boathouse. Although neither spoke English, they went straight to work on the Corsair.

 

During the week or so that they were in residence, Barrett learned that the shell’s hull appeared to be formed from three skins, with the grain of each layer running perpendicular to the grain beneath it. As he remembered it, the skins were not glued together but laid one upon another. Once the repairs were completed and the shell had rested, Barrett put the Corsair in the water. After several days of rowing at paddle pressure, then half and three-quarter power, the crew began doing 500-meter pieces at full power. Barrett timed the first piece and thought his watch must have stopped: it showed about 1:24. He turned the crew around and timed another piece, watching carefully to make sure the watch had not hung up. Again, the time was fast. The pattern repeated over and over, with several pieces under 1:20. The water was dead flat, with no wind, tail or otherwise, and Barrett remembered one piece at 1:18.6.

 

After a spring of racing, he was convinced that the Corsair was a fast boat. When Barrett returned to Northeastern in the fall of 1969, he told Ernie about the Corsair. Ernie was intrigued. Barrett thought they might order a shell from Donoratico; Ernie thought they might buy the Corsair from BU, which they eventually did.