The most current information we now have comes from this account of David Wheaton’s:
I crewed on her when she was sailed to Key West in December 1979. She was meant to go to Ft. Lauderdale where the owners I believe intended to restore her and make her into a houseboat, but her engines were in such bad shape, we eventually had to be towed into the Coast Guard basin in Key West.
We had made an abortive trip earlier that month and nearly went down when we ran into a huge “Norther” about 120 miles out from Cayman. Her rudder was in very bad shape and eventually jammed, and we also discovered that the hawse pipes were split where they passed through the chain locker between the bows and the deck and she was taking on water at a frightening rate. We managed to turn her and running off ahead of the storm just about made it back to Cayman. Temporary repairs allowed us to have a second go, but it was one of the hairiest sailing trips I have made.
I actually worked in the financial industry, but was between jobs waiting for a work permit, when I met a chap called Mike Perrine who was the owners representative. I had done a fair amount of deep water sailing and racing in Ireland and the pay offered, including flights back to Cayman, for what seemed at the time a fun trip, could not be ignored – in the end we earned every cent of it.
The Captain, who was probably the finest sailor I have known, and almost certainly saved our lives, was a very famous Caymanian schooner sailor from the old days – Dalson Ebanks – sadly now dead. The engineer who did an incredible job keeping the engines alive as we rounded Cape San Antonio on the second trip was George “Ed” Bush. I was first mate and a very young Caymanian boy Damien Eldemire was deckhand.
David then spoke with Jim Dailey – Mike Perrine’s agent for the boat in Cayman:
At the insistence of the Coast Guard, the owners moved her from Key West and she somehow made it to Miami – to:
Jones Boatyard
3399 NW South River Drive
Miami, FL 33142
(305) 637-8212
Jim also mentioned a marine antiquities business with whom he did business over the years, which is right across from the boatyard:
Stone Age Antiques
3236 NW South River Drive
Miami, FL 33142
(305) 633-5114
If she was ever stripped down they would probably have had great interest in any artifacts.
As to the stained glass windows, Jim confirmed that they had been removed before she was brought to Cayman, and if they had been stowed onboard, they were well hidden – we never saw them. The saloon doors I am sure still had their windows.
In 2018 Jon and MC Curtis went to Miami to follow up on the above two leads along the Miami River. Jones Boatyard was sold with new owners around 2008 and no longer has records going back to the 1980s. However, we did speak to one employee from that period. She said that the boat yard does not typically work on sailing vessels. When I showed her photos of the Pious Puffin she was quite certain she would have remembered such a boat if they had done any work or salvaging.
We also spent several hours combing through the contents of Stone Age Antiques. We could find no evidence of any items from the Puffin, including things like the telephones, port holes, stained glass, hatch covers, name plates, and such. The shop specializes in providing props for historical movies, so it would have been a likely place to find pieces. The owner did say that there was a room that goes back 30 years, but it was unsafe to go into it. What could be seen from the door provided no additional clues.
There were other possibilities along that stretch of the Miami River, but it seems that area of Miami is unsafe and we were unable to gain access to any other shipyards because entrances were gated for owner-access only.
This website has had no further correspondence from owners, visitors, and workmen of the Pious Puffin since 2009, only an occasional message from their children. So it is likely that we will never know the her final fate.