O. W. Fowler, Culver's first square rigger  

The O. W. Fowler, Culver's first square rigger, was in use from 1941 until 1982-1983

1940-1 - Was built in the CMA boat shop by Wilfred "Bud" Craft who also designed it for the Culver Miliary Academy Naval School. It was a wooden hull 3-Masted stem to stern it measured fifty-four feet and had a beam of twelve feet, eight inches. Its draft was four feet, six inches square rigger, and the mast soared forty foot above the deck; stem to stern it measured fifty-four feet and had a beam of twelve feet, eight inches. Its draft was four feet, six inches (forty-two feet above the waterline) and ten tons of ballast filled its hull . It had a displacement of 23 tons and carried 1630 square feet of canvas and supplemented with an eighty-five horsepower General Motors marine diesel engine (133 horsepower diesel motor) which assisted her in leaving and returning to mooring and in calms or in contrary winds. Under sail in a moderate breeze she had a speed of almost 10 knots.

It was named in honor of CMA's Lt. Commander O. W. Fowler and it was placed into service in July 1941.

Alas, despite the tender loving care of Dale Mangun and his boat shop crew, there was no cure for the dry rot that consumed her wooden hull. During the spring of 1983, it was determined that the Fowler was unfit for service. Throughout her last summer she remained moored to the naval pier, except for a single weekend when she was towed to near the Culver Town Park for a final Moonlight Serenade. She passed gracefully from the scene, but not from memory, during the winter of 1983-84 being tore down and parts salvaged from it.. Named for Comdr. Orrie B. Fowler, director, Culver Naval School.

This tradition began with the O. W. Fowler and which instantly became an annual event and has continued ever since excepting when it was deemed unsafe in 1982-1983. Col. Edward Payson, a resident of the town of Culver, was CMA Band Director, founder and creator of the The Moonlight Serenade" on Lake Maxinkuckee which began in 1942. The tradition resumed with the "R. H. Ledbetter" and has been a favorite for all these many years.

When its hull was found to be unsound to replace the Fowler, a new boat with a s turdier steel hull, named the R. H. Ledbetter, was built.