CMA R. H. Ledbetter - Launch  

Flag	USA
Rig	Full-rigged
Homeport	Lake Maxinkuckee, Culver Marshall county Indiana
Sparred Length	65'
LOA	54'
LOD	50'
LWL
Draft	5'
Beam	13'
Rig Height	49'
Freeboard	5'
Sail Area
Tons	25 GRT
Power	diesel
Hull
Designer	Marine Power
Built	1984

The O. W. Fowler, Culver's first square rigger, was in use from 1941 until 1982-1983, when its hull was found to be unsound to replace the Fowler, a new boat with a sturdier steel hull, named the R. H. Ledbetter, was built.

Robert H. Ledbetter, a graduate of both the Naval School (1951) and Culver Military Academy (1954) ( and a Georgia philanthropist) and Culver alumnus Robert H. Ledbetter , agreed to fund construction of a new square-rigger. Ledbetter insisted that the hull be made of steel. After investigation, the $98,442 construction contract was awarded to theT.D. Vinette Company in Escanaba, Michigan.

Vinette’s proposal provided for the construction of a fifty-four foot steel hull vessel “in accordance with the accompanying preliminary plans, which are our interpretation of your needs and desires.” He added, “It is our intention to furnish, installed and finished, oak or greenheart wood rail caps; cypress woodgrating, raised Poopdeck, and Foc’sillhead. Additional woodwork would allow a new compass binnacle and steering wheel stand with a raised combing covered with a ventilated hinged type skylight.” Construction time was estimated to be 220 working days, Vinette noted that Culver should select the exterior hull color, and the Ledbetters chose the traditional white, but with the addition of a gold boot stripe and blue bottom.

Efforts were made to preserve as much of the hardware and equipment from the Fowler as possible, but its forty-two-year-old engine was replaced by a new Cummins diesel. Hopes to use the Fowler’s wooden bowsprit were dashed when a survey revealed severe damage from age and weather. Vinette’s proposal of a new one of steel was accepted, but he was able to save and incorporate the existing shrouds and stays. It was trucked from Escanaba directly to Lake Maxinkuckee, the long-awaited shipment arrived on July 5, 1984.

Dale Mangun and his crew spent the next day and a half preparing the Ledbetter for launching. The forty-foot mainmast and two smaller masts, all from the Fowler, were brought from storage and put into place, ballast was installed, and the boat readied to go down the ways.

The R. H. Ledbetter was placed into service 7 July 1984. and following its launching on July 7, 1984, final rigging and preparations were made by the boat shop crew and the R.H. Ledbetter assumed its place as the queen of Culver’s Lake Maxinkuckee fleet, where it reigns supreme

Almost every July, on a special Saturday and Sunday evening, the Ledbetter travels along the shore of Lake Maxinkuckee in full sail. On board is the summer naval school band plays old favorites for this moonlight serenade.

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.

"The Ledbetter at Dusk" was an original watercolor done by Esther Powers Miller, watercolorist, resident of Culver; a limited number of prints were made and also notecards were made.

The July 11, 1984 Culver Citizen newspaper reports here on the dedication of the new R.H. Ledbetter 3-masted schooner at Culver Academies, a boat which replaced the retired O.W. Fowler and used 3 of the latter boat's original masts.

R. H. Ledbetter Dedicated Saturday "The "Robert H. Ledbetter" was christened in ceremonies at the Academy Pier on Saturday shortly after nnon. The 55 foot steel hulled craft replaces the "O. W. Folwer," which was the flagship of the Academy fleet since 1941. The masts and rigging of the "Ledbetter" were taken from the "Flower". The ship was stripped of her rigging and salvagable equipment and the hull cut up and taken away a few weeks ago, having been judged unsafe by an insurance company.

The new craft arrived last Thursday afternoon by truck, and after the rigging and ballasts were installed, the craft was put into the water on Friday afternoon.

The vessell and crew provided guests the pportunity to accompany he on her maiden voyage around the lake following her dediction under the power of a prototype deisel engine donated by the Cummins Engine Company of Columbus, In. Her sails were not used since final rigging preparations had not been completed.

The craft was donated by Mr. Robert H. Ledbetter of Rome, Ga. and a 1951 graduate of the Summer Naval School and a 1954 graduate of CMA.

This is to be a rendition of the "R. H. Ledbetter" of 18x24 oil on canvas by Jim Cahill.

In the spring of 2002, as part of the Naval School's Centennial Celebration, the Ledbetter made a spectacular voyage, traveling up the coast from Palm Beach, Florida to Washington, D. C. and a news article found was the following:

Ledbetter Has Love For Sail

Sun Sentinel Fort Lauderdale, FL
March 28, 2002 | By Morgan Stinemetz Special Correspondent

The R.H. Ledbetter can fool you. It looks like the real deal, but for a square-rigger, it's not as large as you might imagine. Patterned after the clipper ships of old, it is about one-tenth the size. And this boat, which can be viewed in West Palm Beach through Saturday morning, is making its maiden ocean voyage.

It is a descendent of the O.W. Fowler, which served Culver Academies, a private naval school on an Indiana lake, since 1941.

The 55-foot Ledbetter is steel with wood trim, mostly oak. Down below, her welded frames and stringers are painted battleship gray. The Fowler was all wood, and her hull had become unsound. However, she lives on, in that her spars and rigging are now part of the Ledbetter.

The Ledbetter carries 14 sails, is painted white with a gold boot stripe and cost 15 times what it cost to build the Fowler in 1941, when boats of that magnitude could be built for $10,000.

The Ledbetter lies now at the Rybovich Spencer boatyard in West Palm Beach. After being trucked down from Culver, Ind., where she had been hauled out for the winter, the boat is being readied for a trip from West Palm Beach to Washington, D.C., to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Culver Summer Camps, which began with the founding of the naval school in 1902.

This is the Ledbetter's maiden salt-water voyage. Both she and the Fowler sailed only on Lake Maxinkuckee, where her crew of 20 is selected from students at the naval school.

While in South Florida, the Ledbetter will be the centerpiece of a Culver alumni luncheon, hosted by 1958 Culver graduate and America's Cup winner Bill Koch at his Palm Beach home on Saturday. The Ledbetter will be tied up to Koch's dock on the Intracoastal Waterway for the occasion.

The boat will leave shortly thereafter on its journey, arriving in Washington, D.C., on May 11, with stops along the way in Cocoa, Jacksonville, Sea Island, Ga., and elsewhere up the coast.

The Ledbetter is shallow-draft and its spars are keel-stepped. She has an auxiliary Cummins 3B diesel rated at 125 horsepower. Below, she is all business. The forward hold is full of things that boats need -- like a quick-start DC power supply that will start the boat's engine when the ship's batteries will not. The Ledbetter does not go to sea with a wish list.

The crew, two men and two women, are all Culver connected. The nominal head of the operation is Bruce Holaday, Culver Academies director of development. Holaday, 49, has run the naval school for seven years; whip-cord wiry, focused and serious, Holaday would be a good man to have around when things were falling apart.

The Ledbetter's skipper is Dave Rudy, 34, who also is the mate aboard a 126-foot crab-fishing boat out of Alaska.

Florida as opposed to Alaska? "It is a lot warmer down here. No waves up to 60 feet like the ones in the Bering Sea either," Rudy said.

Crew member Allison Gilley, 28, from Red Lodge, Mont., owns a brokerage concern and sails in the summer. She knows how this boat sails: " Very well, but it definitely needs a stiff breeze."

A Halcyon Days Enamels Trinket box for the Culver Military Academy Summer Naval School Centennial depicting the RH Ledbetter was commissioned. It measures 2.5" Long, 2" Wide, and 1.25" Tall.