Bringing Home the Kit Jones By Aimee Gaddis Photos provided by Friends of Kit Jones, Inc.
The Kit Jones often served as a means of transport for island residents.
T
Sapeloe Plantation, Inc. 1939-1957 The 1940 census for Militia District 1312 (including Blackbeard, Wolf, Egg, Commodore, and Sapelo islands) shows a population of 380. The waterways were a vital means of travel between islands, and the Kit Jones was a vital link in the daily operations of Reynolds’ Sapeloe Plantation, Inc., as well as a primary means of transportation for island residents. Sapelo native Bennie Johnson was the first captain of the Kit Jones, followed by long-term helmsman Louis “Chief” Olsen, who had previously served as chief engineer of the Zapala. Alongside primary crew member, or “striker” Glasco Bailey, these men skippered the Kit Jones until 1957. In June 1942, the U.S. War Shipping Administration requisitioned the Kit Jones for service in World War II. She was painted deep red, outfitted with pumps, and put to work as a U.S. Coast Guard fire boat based at the Port of Savannah. In October 1946, the boat was decommissioned from government service and returned to ownership of Sapeloe Plantation, Inc. In early 1957, title to the Kit Jones was transferred to the Universtiy of Georgia. Upon Chief Olsen’s retirement, he turned the ship over to Captain B.J. (Jimmy) Rouse. UGA Marine Institute 1953-1977 R.J. Reynolds’ service in the U.S. Navy and passion for the sea was the inspiration for his establishment of the Sapelo Island Research Foundation in 1949, which later evolved to become
he Kit Jones is a wood-hull, 60-foot tugboat built on Sapelo island nearly 80 years ago. Friends of Kit Jones (FoKJ), a non-profit dedicated to preserving this historic vessel, are determined to bring her home. Origins Richard J. Reynolds, Jr. commissioned a design from the renowned yacht firm Sparkman & Stephens, Inc., of New York City. In 1938-1939, the tugboat was built using heart pine and live oak timbers that were cut and milled on-island. Axel Holger Sparre and Emmett Johnson, Sr. were primarily credited with building the Kit Jones. Sparre was an immigrant living in Brunswick, hailing originally from an aristocratic Danish ship building family, while Johnson was a well-known boat builder from the Johnson Hammock community on Sapelo Island.
A 1938 plan drawing of the vessel.
The Namesake and the Lady Behind It! In March of 1939, the vessel was named for, and christened by, Katharine “Kit” Talbott Jones. Kit was the young wife of Alfred W. “Bill” Jones, who had been Island Manager on Sapelo during its ownership by his cousin Howard E. Coffin. In 1928, at the age of 25, Kit joined her new husband Bill in a move to Sea Island. There, they joined Coffin in developing the Cloister at Sea Island, which is still managed by the Jones family today. Bill negotiated the sale of Sapelo Island to R.J. Reynolds in 1934 for the cost of $750,000, a price which included $50,000 for Coffin’s 124-foot luxury power yacht Zapala. Bill and Kit were frequent guests of R.J. Reynolds, Jr. at his new Sapelo Island home, and the naming of this sleek and lovely new tugboat was a natural outgrowth of this friendship.
The Kit Jones in 1964, Captained by Jimmy Rouse.
20
Southern Tides Magazine
June 2018
