Emmanuel: Boat built for the Lord

Special to The Log

Emmanuel was built to take advantage of the inherent advantages of the catamaran design. Building it of fiberglass reduced the trips to the haul out weighs to one a year or less.

Wooden hulls need at least two, with each haul out costing up to $5,000. The twin hulls offer a stability that monohulls can only dream of. This reduces sea sickness tremendously.

The width also allows more deck space which can be a real advantage when there are more than 100 passengers aboard. The large sundeck was a huge advantage for it could hold at least 40 who took advantage of the sunshine and fresh air.

Perhaps the greatest advantage was the design allowed two engines instead of three like on Her Majesty II. The price of fuel was climbing and this alone was a real blessing for now we could make a day on about 100 gallons instead of 170-200.

I made 18 trips to Cape Coral, Florida, during the construction, each being 1,000 miles roundtrip. On about the fifth, while we were negotiating with the builder on design and equipment, I asked the Lord what He wanted to name it. This occurred as Joan and I were driving down Hwy.20 north of Panama City. I didn’t expect an answer, but loud and clear I heard Him say, “Emmanuel”.

Joan had fallen asleep and when I told her she jumped up and shouted for she knew what it meant — God with us.

All during the construction I sang, not too good, but praise songs like How Great Thou Art. I would walk through the large building singing and the workers knew they were building a boat for the Lord. I never let them forget it.

On the maiden trip to Destin, some 330 miles, we were clobbered by a terrible storm. While 50 miles south of Apalachicola, it became evident we couldn’t make it. So a long and difficult trip north to an island off Apalachicola was made. My son-in-law and I were absolutely exhausted.

We anchored in a calm area at about 3 a.m. The tidal change caused the vessel to turn sideways to the current, awakening me. This was God with us for at that moment the research vessel Athena (my first daughter’s name) was near. I could just read the name and with my VHF radio I called and they answered. After telling me the gulf was way too bad to venture into, I bemoaned the fact we were trying to make it to Destin.

The captain told me to follow him. I said you are going north and I need to go west. He said I could go up the Apalachicola and then turn through Lake Wimeco and then to the southwest on to the coast just east of Panama City at Port Saint Joe. After refueling we took his advice and with a huge amount of caution we reached the gulf.

The storm was still raging, but now the water was deep enough near shore for us to proceed on to Destin.

We arrived in the dark and, unknown to us, one of the fittings on the engine for shifting the gear was now loose.

When I pulled the engine into reverse it still continued in forward gear.

“God was with us,” for one of our experienced crewmembers was on the pier and quickly secured us so we didn’t hit the sea wall. That was a huge blessing!

We left Cape Coral with the vessel not completed since the builder was in some financial difficulty and had been spending some of our bank money on other projects. We were concerned the sheriff could come and seize Emmanuel until his debts were paid off. But God was with us!

We operated Emmanuel successfully for about eight years. The thing we enjoyed the most was a summer where we took cruises with some choir members from St. Andrews who led singing for the passengers.

The trips were made to benefit Food for the Poor. At this time there were many starving folks in Haiti, like now.

We were able to raise more than $10,000 during this time. My wife says this effort is her favorite memory of all.

It was a lot of fun, but a bit dangerous, for a lot of boaters don’t know the rules of the road and at night it is even more important. The tug boats were also a hazard while in the narrows which are near the Fort Walton Beach bridge.

Emmanuel is now in Virginia Beach, Va., where it serves as a whale watching vessel. The name was changed to Miss Virginia Beach.

Capt. Ben Marler is a longtime Destin resident and can be reached at captben61@hotmail.com.