The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum has grown into one of the nation's most popular maritime museums with an evolving floor of exhibits, virtual fishing, maritime history, a lighthouse lens, and world renowned speakers in it's in-house theater.
Santa Barbara's George Writer has devoted a tremendous amount of time in the development of many of these attractions, including the Honda Tragedy Exhibit. The Honda Tragedy was the worst peacetime maritime disaster in the history of the US Navy. Lt. Commander Leslie Bratton, George's grandfather, played a significant role in diverting one of the US Navy destroyer ships from hitting the rocks of Pt. Conception on September 8th, 1923. Lt. Commander Bratton's destroyer, The Stoddard, was involved in the rescue along with other ships. Several hundred sailors were in the water and miraculously, only 23 sailors perished. The book, "The Tragedy of Honda", written by Admiral Charles Lockwood and Colonial Hans Christian Adamson, covers the remarkable story with detail.
Listen to more details of George's love of sailing, his passion for maritime history, his commitment to serving his community, as well as the Honda Tragedy in this 30 minute episode.
George is still an active sailor and resides in Santa Barbara with his wife, Judy, of 57 years.
This interview was conducted by Katie Writer, one of George's children who is also the youngest of five.
For more information of the Santa Barbara's Maritime Museum, go to their website at:
https://www.sbmm.org
Katie Writer is an aerial photographer/pilot/journalist living in Alaska. Check out her wilderness photography that she takes out of her Super Cub Airplane at:
https://www.katiewritergallery.com
She is a spokesperson on climate change in Alaska.