
DATE: Friday, September 12, 1997            TAG: 9709120611

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY                    LENGTH:   91 lines

THE REBECCA LEE SELLS FOR $120,000 ON AUCTION BLOCK

The Rebecca Lee, a paddle wheel boat that promised so much fun and very little profit, sold for $120,000 to a Massachusetts man Thursday in a mildly contested auction here.

The red, white and blue boat had sat lifeless at a dock near Waterfront Park since November 1996 after four short months of tours on the Pasquotank River and the Dismal Swamp Canal. In the end, the $250,000 debt was too heavy for owner and captain Daniel Hallock.

He left town and his debt, and is now working in a vineyard in New York state.

``You'd need to be in Norfolk,'' said local businessman Bill Rich, who owns the dock where Hallock left his boat. ``It might work on the Outer Banks. I don't think there are enough people around here, yet.''

The bidding began at $50,000 and quickly narrowed to two men from the five who paid a $25,000 deposit just to participate.

High bidder Stanley Tavares of Plymouth, Mass., plans to take the vessel up the Intracoastal Waterway to become part of his business, which includes whale watching, waterway tours and fishing.

This will be his first paddle wheel.

``It's something a little different,'' Tavares said. ``It will be a new attraction for the tourists back home.''

Joe Reardon, one of his boat captains, will sail the Rebecca Lee north for about a week to get home, traveling at seven or eight knots, he said. He has never piloted a paddle wheel.

``I don't want an adventure at all,'' Reardon said. ``I want a nice, smooth ride. It's going to be a learning experience, no doubt about it.''

``I wish both of them luck,'' said Bruce Starring, who contested Tavares in the bidding before stopping at $115,000. Starring, here from Michigan, runs a touring business and already owns a paddle wheel.

Just before the auction, the boat's two 3-53 Detroit Diesel engines purred while bidders and a handful of onlookers talked about how much the Rebecca Lee would sell for.

Rich said the boat is in excellent shape. ``We started the engines yesterday for the first time since last year and they just cranked right up,'' Rich said, snapping his fingers to demonstrate.

Representatives from the North Fork Bank of Long Island, N.Y., who financed Hallock, said if they did not get at least $100,000 for the vessel, they would take it south to Florida, Rich said.

New York auctioneer David Maltz expected to get between $130,000 and $150,000.

``The bidding was just a little light,'' Maltz said as he prepared to leave. ``Banks are always hoping to get more than they get.''

Many of the onlookers at the brief auction questioned why the bank loaned Hallock a quarter-million dollars for such a project.

``You've got to remember, banks in New York will finance some crazy things,'' Maltz said.

Hallock brought the boat to Elizabeth City just over a year ago with hopes of starting a profitable touring business. Between August and November, Hallock ran the Rebecca Lee run up and down the Pasquotank River on two-hour tours. Tickets were $10.

Hallock hosted parties, school groups and fund-raising events. One trip up the Dismal Swamp Canal to the visitors center on U.S. 17 nearly filled the boat to its 150-passenger capacity.

``A lot of people from Virginia discovered Elizabeth City because of that trip,'' said Ron Pagano, a retired Elizabeth City resident who served as Hallock's first mate. ``People really liked it.''

Pagano was on the Rebecca Lee Thursday morning greeting potential buyers who wanted to look the boat over. He was sad to see her go.

``The boat is really seaworthy,'' Pagano said. ``She is the only true paddle wheel registered to go 20 miles off the coast. We came across the Albemarle Sound in it fine, and it was kicking up pretty good.''

Hallock built the Rebecca Lee in his back yard in a community in Long Island, N.Y. He finished it in 1993. Hallock - some reports put him at 60 years old - had been building boats for more than 20 years, but this was his first paddle wheel.

A house mover transported the steel hull from his yard 1,000 yards to the water, where Hallock finished building the upper deck and wheel house.

The boat cost $300,000 to build. It is 61 feet long, 20 feet wide and weighs 35 tons. Two bright red paddle wheels propel the boat from the rear.

Hallock had tried start a profitable touring schedule in New York, in New Bern and finally in Elizabeth City. ``Dan wasn't a very good businessman, but he was a good captain,'' Pagano said. ``I think he will eventually get back into it. It's in his blood.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]

PADDLE-WHEELER TO HEAD NORTH

DREW C. WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot

Above, John Trimpi, 22, cleans the windows and bridge of the paddle

boat Rebecca Lee in preparation for its auctioning Thursday. At

right, potential buyers check out the vessel before it is sold. The

highest bidder, Stanley Tavares of Plymouth, Mass., plans to take

the vessel up the Intracoastal Waterway to become part of his

business, which includes whale watching, waterway tours and fishing.