THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 5, 1995 TAG: 9511040116
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 125 lines
Hugh L. ``Buddy'' Eure's sure hand on the wheel guides the Captain Latane, a 60-foot-long Chesapeake Bay workboat, steadily through the waters of the Chuckatuck Creek while John D. ``Jack'' Eure Jr. walks the deck, scanning the creek for crab pots and other hidden dangers.
Like two schoolboys cutting class, the Eure brothers have happily slipped away from their downtown offices to demonstrate this newest addition to a series of boats they have owned, individually and jointly, since they were youngsters.
Jack Eure, a 53-year-old lawyer, and Buddy Eure, 50, own Eure Real Estate Inc. The men grew up in the Riverview section of Suffolk and spent every spare minute on the water. ``We both just love the water,'' Jack Eure said.
Six months ago the Eures bought the Captain Latane, a 51-year-old deadrise, on Tangier Island and began refurbishing it. For decades the Captain Latane was worked as a buy boat, carrying as much as 50 tons of oysters from local watermen to market in Newport News.
During the off season the boat, also called a coastal freighter, hauled produce to market from the truck farms on the south side of the James River, dredged crabs, and even ferried automobiles from the mainland to Tangier Island.
Now with the Eure brothers, the Captain Latane has semi-retired to life as a spacious leisure boat, unshaken by rough waters and large enough to carry the Eures, their families and friends for daylong excursions on the water. The throbbing diesel engine sent rhythmic vibrations through the pilot house floor as Buddy Eure gazed across the long deck to the bow and reflected back to similar boats he used to see anchored off the village of Crittenden.
``I have admired Chesapeake buy boats since I was a child,'' he said. ``We don't intend to turn this one into a yacht; we want to keep it looking as original as possible.''
Describing the boat as ``incredibly heavy and remarkably solid,'' Buddy Eure explained that the hull was built of heart pine with planking 4 inches thick. The keel is solid timber 14 inches square.
Designed with a high bow and a rounded stern, Chesapeake Bay workboats were built for stability in heavy water and a large load capacity. Drawing only 5 feet of water means that the boat can maneuver in shallower waters, a plus for the Eures, who both live along Chuckatuck Creek where the water depth fluctuates greatly with the tide.
A small pilot house sits two steps up from the watertight deck at the stern of the boat. Just large enough for the wheel, instruments, two bunks, and a small restroom, the pilot house is paneled in juniper which the brothers restored to a natural finish.
An old rope and block steering system requires some extra muscle from the pilot, but once the boat is on course it tracks straight with little adjustment. The Captain Latane has a cruising speed of 9 or 10 knots and is stingy on fuel, according to its owners.
The five curved windows on the front of the pilot house are ``opened'' by slipping the panels down into a channel directly below the window frame. ``A primitive system, but it works well,'' Buddy Eure said.
When the Eures look at their boat they see history and a remnant of a fading lifestyle, but they also see beauty and grace. ``It is a workboat but I think it has really pretty lines,'' Buddy Eure said.
The Eures, along with their younger brother Douglas, were given their first boat before they were in their teens. The boat, a 12-foot Arkansas Traveler, was given to them by their grandfather, Hugh Latane Eure.
Even after they were old enough to drive a car, the brothers would be just as likely to take their small boat for a day's run to Virginia Beach from Suffolk. ``Back then it was just as fast as driving a car to get there,'' Jack Eure said.
Admitted boat nuts, the Eures have owned more than a dozen between them. Jack Eure favored smaller sailing craft like Hobie Cats while Buddy Eure was partial to bigger power boats.
One special dream came true for the brothers three years ago when they were able to buy the Raven, a sleek 44-foot yacht built in 1980 in Hong Kong and modeled on the classic rum runners that sped along the Eastern Seaboard with contraband cargo during Prohibition.
Jack Eure agreed to his brother's suggestion of a partnership on the Raven sight unseen because it was a model he had admired in yachting magazines for years. Later, when Buddy Eure told him about the workboat, Jack Eure had the same reaction. ``It really captured my imagination,'' he said.
``The Raven and the Captain Latane are both classics and both draw lots of attention,'' Buddy Eure said. ``People keep telling me that if I ever want to sell this boat, please call them.''
When the brothers bought the workboat one of the first things they did was change its name from ``Georgie E.'' to ``Captain Latane.'' Traditionally buy boats were named after their captains, but in the Eures' case Latane, a distant ancestor, was not a waterman but a Confederate cavalry officer. His story, however, makes his name a very fitting one for the brothers' boat.
Captain William Latane was just 29 when he led a troop of Confederate cavalry into a skirmish against the Union General George McClellan's forces at Linney's Corner not far from Richmond in 1862. Latane's troops included his younger brother John Latane. When the captain was killed by Union gunfire, John Latane commandeered an ox-drawn cart and drove his brother's body to Westwood Plantation, begging the women who remained there to give him a proper burial.
The story, full of wartime pathos and brotherly devotion, inspired a painting of the burial that hung in the Confederate capital in Richmond, over a collection box for donations to the Confederate cause. Prints of the painting were sold all across the South to raise money for the lost cause.
To the Eures, the local watermen represent another lost cause and they hope that by restoring the Captain Latane that they can preserve a small part of the watermen's history. ILLUSTRATION: [Color cover photo]
Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
The Eures take friends for an outing on the Captain Latane, a
51-year-old deadrise that has been refurbished.
Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Buddy Eure takes the wheel in the pilot house.
Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Aboard the Captain Latane, Buddy Eure casts off from his pier on
Cotton Farm Road, ready for a cruise down Chuckatuck Creek.
Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Buddy Eure, left, and brother Jack have a lifelong love affair with
boats.
by CNB