Throughout Sabino‘s restoration over the last 20 months, we have been hearing a number of stories from people who had a special moment in their life on board the steamboat, usually on the 90-minute downriver evening cruise. That got us thinking: How many people out there have a similar story? Whether it be a first date, a proposal, or just that moment when something important fell into place, Sabino seems to have been the catalyst, or at least the setting, for more than her share. Do you have a Sabino story? If so we would like to hear it. Please email us or call 860.572.5307. The following is the story Jennifer and Fed Bogue recently shared:
Last year, for their 35th wedding anniversary, Jennifer Bogue tried to book a downriver cruise as a surprise for her husband Fred. That’s when she found out that the Sabino was out of the water undergoing restoration in the Museum’s Shipyard.
Sabino holds a special place in the heart of the Bogue family. Jennifer and Fred had their first date on one of the downriver cruises in 1977. Jennifer had just started as a hostess at the Museum’s Seamen’s Inne and met Fred, who worked as a line cook. Fred had never been on Sabino before and Jennifer had only worked a few parties on board, pouring wine, helping with food service, and, in her words, “not actually sitting there and enjoying the ride.”
At that time the Seamen’s Inne Restaurant (now Latitude 41° Restaurant & Tavern) was fully owned and operated by Mystic Seaport, so Jennifer and Fred were employees and still have their 1970s-era badges.
As Jennifer explained, “We could come and go at Mystic Seaport anytime we wanted. That’s why the Sabino trip was a very reasonable date! We made prime-rib sandwiches at work and brought a bottle of wine and some strawberries. We sat on the back and it was a lovely date… it was a down-river cruise, a sunset cruise.“
The Bogues continued to work on and off at the Seamen’s Inne over the next decade, during which they got married, Fred attended culinary school, and they had children. Fred found his way into carpentry by helping rebuild the oyster bar at the restaurant during the slow winter season. He said, “I helped the gentleman do a lot of demo work. I became friendly with him and he gave me my first carpentry job.”
Leaving the restaurant business shortly before their marriage in 1980, Fred stayed in the carpentry business for over 20 years. In 2004, the couple opened the Bogue’s Alley Deli in Pawcatuck, named after the area near Fort Rachel in Mystic where Fred’s family lived. Fred’s father worked as a welder for Electric Boat and they recently learned that he may have helped build another Mystic Seaport vessel, the tugboat Kingston II. Today, the deli is owned by a former employee and Fred has returned to doing small-craft carpentry.
