I realize that every one of us, from conception to birth, develops and is nurtured in our own private water world (ok…I guess for twins, triplets, and so on it isn’t quite so private). As an adult human being our bodies are made up of approximately the same percentage of water as the earth…60 to 70 percent. But I think there was some special relationship that existed between Scott and water.
A childhood memory Scott passed on to me had to do with wading in the streams along the Washington coast, turning over rocks to gather small animal (periwinkles?) that he would then sell or trade to the local Indians to use for bait. Later he started fishing with that bait and passing his catches on to the same Indians to sell.
As he grew up his family spent a lot of time fishing together, and as a teenager he crewed on charter fishing boats that took tourists out fishing for a day. By the time he graduated from high school he was a licensed skipper, and soon after that owned his own fishing boat…the Moonlighter. He went on to become the most successful (as in his clients consistently caught the most fish almost every day) charter boat captain in Westport, Washington.
As his interest moved into computers and programming, he moved back to Seattle, joined Info Express, and went on to develop the most sophisticated software and hardware available in the ocean survey industry.
Scott split most of the rest of his life between programming and going to sea to manage his software and hardware on ocean surveys. He charted the floor of the oceans so that other people could construct oil wells and wind farms, lay power cables and communication cables, locate sunken ships and lost treasures, dredge canals, and diverse other activities.
But his relationship with Westport Water wasn’t always friendly…shortly after he left Westport heavy rainwater found its way into his house and eventually destroyed it. As I recall, Moonlighter also suffered from some disaster and sank. I think that was in the winter of 1994/95, as I saw an insurance check for $18,708.96 that was issued on June 13, 1995.
In December of 2009, while Scott was away on a survey, water in a supply pipe in the attic of his house in Bath, UK, froze, and broke the pipe. When the water thawed it ran freely for several weeks before the people in the adjacent unit saw it dampening their walls and called a plumber. The interior of Scott’s house and most of the contents were destroyed.
Scott had purchased an old boat-building facility near St Davids, in Wales, so had what could be salvaged hauled up there and stacked on the floor of one of the buildings. The roof had skylights and there was a massive roll-up door on the west end of the building. The roof leaked from the start, but after Scott died a big storm blew in, demolishing the door and blowing the skylights out from the inside. Water flowed down from the top and blew in from the west, again soaking what was stored there.
Scott purchased a 20-meter boat in 2009 or so. He planned to convert it to a survey boat, but never got around to doing that, so it essentially spent its time tied to a dock. At some point rain water found a path in, and slowly filled the bilge. After Scott died the boat started settling in the water. The marina operator spotted this before it sank and managed to break in and pump it out. I had spent a week on this boat in 2012 helping Scott document it and plan what needed to be done to it to convert it to a survey vessel. It was a lovely boat.
When I returned in 2019 to determine its value to the estate it was a disaster. Through total neglect the hull and deck were rotting and water had saturated everything below the main deck. The boat is currently more a liability than an asset.
The relationship between Scott and Water seems to be almost of a spiritual nature. If the Water Spirits would like to contribute to this story, they are welcome to do so.