It was around October 2008 when I heard about The Spike. There was a calling
to see if the owners would be willing to donate her and volunteers to clean her.
Between October 2008 and March 2009, very little was heard on the subject of
“Spike.”
Around mid March 2009, I was brought to see Spike. She was beautiful. Spike
is a retired USCG Tender that served Mayport Florida from her commission in
1968 to her decommissioning 1988. The US Coast Guard turned Spike over to
Jacksonville’s Safe Harbor Boys Home where she was used as a dormatory and
for maritime training.
Here I began taking photographs of her before anything changed. To document
what would never be again, before it it lost. I also began to video the rooms and
compartments, hatches, and passageways.
Around April/May 2009 time frame things began to pick up. We had the boat
do we have a sound location off shore? How are we going to get her out …