I am an old friend of Arthur and Gloria Kimberly - I have been in touch with them and "Romance" since the late 1960s when I was a foreign (French) student at FSU in Florida. The "Romance" was of the first still-existing square riggers I became aware of and I fell in love with her. I finally got to meet the Kimberlys in 1984 when I chartered the ship for an event in Quebec. I spent a few weeks aboard at that time. A few years later I put them in touch with the Japanese who bought the ship from them and then lost her to the yard owner in the Virgin Islands who in turn lost her to hurricane Luis.
From 1972 to 1999 I was living in England. I stayed in touch with the Kimberlys until the late 90s (after "Romance's" demise) and Skipper was doing sailmaking work for the brig "Niagara". I have been sailing on such vessels since 1970 and wrote a few books on the subject, in English and/or French. I keep quite an extensive database on traditional sailing vessels in existence and spend a few hours every day keeping it up-to-date.
Back in the latter "Romance" days I was already amazed how they managed their charter business with no shoreside office or agency, no telephone (I seem to remember they had a friend's phone number where one could leave a message for when they got back to Tortola) and, of course, no fax.
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