Just southwest of the village of Starboard in Machiasport there is a timeless piece of land that continually stands watch. The Point of Main is where both human and animal lives coalesced amidst water, granite, forest and field. The machinations of life there have placed a boat's future on a path to perhaps continue the headland's story.
      In early August a 1937 motor surfboat was lifted from that place in hopes of seeing another day on the water. It is a boat that served its duty and then arrived at the "Point," where the Sprague family lived. Acquired by Bruce Sprague, supposedly from Cross Island where at one time there was a U.S. life saving station, the family used the boat for both work and travel, and then one day it came to rest behind the house. As sometimes happens, life took over, and there the boat sat for a long time.
      John Jacobsen, a captain and harbor pilot living in Florida, is a summer resident and neighbor of the Sprague family. A purist when it comes to wooden boats, Jacobsen wanted to see if he could obtain the boat while inquiring about its past. He was surprised by both answers. Given permission by the family, Jacobsen then began learning what he could about both the boat's past and how to properly retrieve it so that it might be restored.
      "My heart quickened whenever I crossed from my property onto their property," says Jacobsen. "But then the surfboat caught my eye. It was lying out in the open across from the house. It had two old tires wrapped around the stem. In the old days they'd wrap natural sisal rope around the stem of workboats to protect the bow if it was pushing against another boat's hull. Bow pudding, it's called. So, my first instinct told me this was some kind of workboat. But then I saw that it was double ended and lap straked and old." He adds, "I grew up on Long Island and am old enough to remember the surfboats the lifeguards used for ocean rescues."
      According to Tim Dring, the motor surfboat was a workboat used by both the United States Coast Guard (USCG) and its predecessor, the U.S. Life Saving Service. Commander Dring is considered an expert on surfboats. He retired from the U.S. Naval Reserve after 27 years of active and reserve duty service on board destroyers and frigates. "Very few of these wooden surfboats survive today," says Dring. "For the Type SR motor surfboat, of the total of 318 boats built over the years 1934 to 1957, only about four are known to survive in their original as built condition. This Point of Main boat now makes the fifth to possibly see another day."
      According to Dring, in both the U.S. Life Saving Service and USCG surfboats were primarily intended for rescue use from stations that were located along the beachfront and which did not have a dedicated ramp or marine railway available for boat launches and recovery. The manned surfboat would then make as many trips back and forth from the beach to the shipwreck as needed to evacuate the ship's survivors.
      With photos and plate information of Jacobsen's boat, Dring says the boat was built at the Coast Guard's Curtis Bay Yard on July 15, 1937, and initially assigned to Coast Guard Station Ocean City, N.J. Records indicate the boat was transferred to U.S Navy's Cutler facility on February 13, 1968. As to the timing of the surfboat being utilized in Maine on Cross island, Dring believes it occurred sometime after WWII and then transferred to Cutler or vice versa.
      What is certain is the boat is one of two pre war built motorized surfboats, making a total of five known boats of this type to be in existence. Build schematics from that time period have been provided by Dring. Jacobsen hopes that his surfboat will be able to be fully restored.
      With the assistance of Eastport's Deep Cove Marine Services and Justin Albee of 4 Shore Construction providing the crane, the boat was transported to Eastport. The surfboat is currently being evaluated for restoration. Knowing The Boat School in Eastport is trying to make a comeback, Jacobsen thinks this surfboat would make a fine first project.
      "Wooden boats are organic living things," says Jacobsen. "Built by good men and women. I've never met a shipwright I did not like. They are of unfailing good cheer, and I like people of good cheer and so I am drawn to wooden boats. As a professional mariner, I am beholden to the people who risk their lives to save mariners. I've never saved a life, but maybe I can play a part in saving a boat that saved lives."
      Possibilities for its use range from returning it to Cross Island, giving boat rides or displaying it in Eastport, Cutler or in Starboard aside the one room schoolhouse where a number of island children came by boat.
      "It can serve as a potent reminder of our not too distant past," says Jacobsen. "A past when we made things well. When we cared for and took pride in the things we made like this boat. It is in remarkable condition, and it seems to want to live on. Why not give it a helping hand? After all, it helped so many others in need when it was in service as a rescue boat."