THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 29, 1994 TAG: 9409280122
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
``Captain's log . . .''
Nowadays that has something to do with the Starship Enterprise.
In 1939, it had to do with Amedeo Obici's yacht ``Alura,'' originally owned by P.T. Barnum, American circus patriarch and creator of the wonderful line, ``There's a sucker born every minute.''
Peanuts, not suckers - Planters, specifically - paid for the 195 ton boat that was home-based at Sleepy Hole Bay Estate, a palatial home that was literally bought for peanuts.
The Alura was captained by Martin G. Ott, who came aboard May 1939, replacing a pilot who ran the boat aground in familiar territory - near the dock at the drawbridge at the foot of Main Street.
The log he kept let it be known that he was a workaholic - sunup to sundown and then some.
Ott's diary is page after page of the chores he tackled to keep the Alura spit-polish clean. Incidentally, he never referred to himself in the first person - always as ``the captain.''
It is not as exciting a read as, say, ``Mutiny on the Bounty,'' but it does tell a tale of Suffolk's most famous ship, the people who visited, the sailors who worked it.
One of those sailors, James Turner, worked on the Alura Aug. 1 from 8 a.m. to Aug. 8 at 5 p.m. - eight days, eight bucks.
Ott's pay was a little healthier. One notation mentions buying a car. The only other luxury seems to have been trips to beautiful downtown Suffolk for meals.
There were plenty of meals served aboard the Alura - you step aboard, you eat. When you finish, you often got to see a movie. That was a favorite pastime.
Whatever happened, Ott was the man in charge. His entries show that he seldom let up. Well, there was one exception: Aug. 27, 1939: ``Captain stood around all day.''
Then there was the Sept. 2 entry: ``England and France declared war on Germany at 7 a.m.''
Two years later, the United States entered the worldwide fray and that meant another chapter in the life of the Alura.
The government decided they needed the craft. It was stripped at the Norfolk Naval Yard, guns were put on it and the vessel became a Coast Guard patrol boat, patrolling Hampton Roads.
Obici got it back later, but it was not the Alura of old. Someone noted that it looked like a barge.
It was sold to the highest bidder.
``Captain's log . . .''
Final entry. Book closed. ILLUSTRATION: File photo
Amedeo Obici entertained friends aboard his yacht, the Alura, in the
late '30s. (Obici is the tieless gent in the center.) The yacht was
originally owned by P.T. Barnum, the American circus patriarch.
by CNB