8-maritime

8. The Kennedys’ Contribution to Maritime Heritage

The Cape Cod Maritime Museum, to the east, and it’s 1886 Crosby catboat replica, Sarah, docked here at Gateway Marina, was made possible by funding obtained by Senator Edward Kennedy. Here the Kennedy legacy continues, sharing with the community their love for the sea and the need to preserve and celebrate the Cape’s rich maritime heritage. Included in the museum’s exhibits is a limited edition print of his beloved sailboat, Mya, donated by the Senator himself.

Senator Ted Kennedy

“For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die”, is a famous quote by Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy. The youngest brother of JFK, Ted served for almost 47 years as a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts and became known as The Lion of the Senate. His time as Senator was marked with numerous achievements by working with Republicans to find compromises. Kennedy was passionate about ensuring quality health care for all and called it, “the cause of my life.” Here in Hyannis, you could often catch a glimpse of the Senator enjoying a day sailing aboard his sailboat, The Mya. He inherited "The Big House" at the compound after his mother, Rose, died in 1995 and he lived there full time until his own passing in 2009.  

The Dedication of Sarah

Senator Ted Kennedy attended the dedication of the Cat Boat, Sarah. The ceremony was held in 2007 right at the site of this trail marker, here at Gateway Marina. Senator Kennedy said in his dedication speech, “Today is about wood, not about fiberglass. It’s about hemp not nylon. It’s about compass and charts, and not GPSs. Let me mention a few wonderful quotes from a marvelous book about the sea, with words from Eugene O’Neil and how he describes the sensation of sailing: “I lay on the bowsprit, facing astern, with the water foaming into spume under me, the masts with every sail white in the moonlight towering high above me. I became drunk with the beauty and singing rhythm of it, and for a moment I lost myself—actually lost my life. I was set free! I dissolved in the sea, became white sails and flying spray, became beauty and rhythm, became moonlight and the ship and the high dim-starred sky! I belonged, without past or future, within peace and unity and a wild joy, within something greater than my own life, or the life of Man, to Life itself!”