By Lory Newmyer

Ed McCabe has retired from his role as Maritime Program Director of the Hull Lifesaving Museum, after more than 40 years of service.

Ed has impacted the lives of literally thousands of kids and adults over that time – and that’s just the people he’s affected directly. The ripple effect of the work he began, messing about in boats, in the mid-1970s has touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, changed the shape of entire organizations, and fueled a love and appreciation for open-water rowing across the country. Ed is many things to many people: Mentor, crew-mate, inspiration, sparring partner, and coxswain.

Above all, Ed is a friend.

A Merrimack Valley boy by birth, Ed returned to New England after becoming a collegiate rower and social worker in Philadelphia. Flying into Logan, he was captivated by the beauty of the Boston Harbor Islands. With an energy and drive that would characterize his career, he moved to Hull, borrowed a dory, and launched onto the waters that have fascinated him ever since. Island by island, Ed fell more deeply in love with the waters, lands, and history of the harbor and, being who he is, was passionate about sharing his enthusiasm.

Enter the birth of the Hull Lifesaving Museum.

If you ever want to hear his version of the story (highly entertaining and worth the two hours), come to rowing any Saturday morning at the HLM boathouse at Hull Gut. With relative brevity, I’ll just say that Ed was there from the beginning.

In 1978, when talks began of restoring the old Life Saving Station, Ed raised his hand and said he’d help by taking kids out in boats. Thus, the idea of treating skills as artifacts was born: Not only would the museum preserve the medals, boats, tools, and stories of Joshua James and his fellow legendary surfmen, but also their skills, courage, and caring. This became the backbone of HLM’s mission and work, and remains so today. In those early days, too, he became the second “Flying Santa,” being handed that honor by Edward Rowe Snow’s wife and daughter, Anna Myrle and Dolly, after his passing.

A self-described “fallen-away social worker,” Ed has never strayed far from those roots. While he loves working with all kids, his passion is for his adored “city kids” – kids hailing from BPS, the Departments of Youth Services and Child Protective Services, public housing, sober houses – you name it. Early on, in addition to galivanting in rowing boats with them, Ed hired these kids through CETA summer jobs programs to do the physical restoration of the Point Allerton Lifesaving Station.

This model of “doing well by doing good,” introduced by Ed, propelled the museum’s growth as well as its ever-more focused and significant social impact. This culminated in the early 2000s with the museum’s esteemed Maritime Apprentice Program, which became a national model for effective long-term programming for violent youthful offenders.

A cadre of like-minded adult adventurers soon joined Ed on the water (notably, Craig Wolfe, with family in tow), and adult rowing became a Hull mainstay. Every Saturday morning for 40+ years (and many weeknights, too), boats have been plying the waters of Boston Harbor, bringing a sense of community, well-being, and even (occasionally) athleticism to participants.

Early on, Ed discovered that people learned more quickly when they had a goal in mind – so Open Water Racing in New England was born. The first Snow Row, in 1980, boasted fewer than 10 boats – but, hey, if the 19th century lifesavers set forth into snow and ice to save lives, today’s Hull rowers could do so for bragging rights! Thirty years later, the winter race was featuring 110+ boats and 350+ rowers. Ed then created the Head of the Weir to highlight the beauty of the Weir River, as part of an effort (successful!) to have it protected as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern. The Icebreaker, Northeast Regional Youth Open Water Rowing Championships, attracts hundreds of middle- and high-schoolers every fall in a wild and adored celebration. Hull rowers race all over the world, and HLM draws many from far and wide back to our beautiful town. A lot of that traces right back to Ed.

A self-described “wood butcher,” Ed loves boats, particularly classic wooden boats. In the early 1980s, while at the World Championships in Douarnanez, France with 50 HLM rowers, Ed discovered the Pilot Gig – and open water rowing in the US was changed forever. Bringing the boat design across the Atlantic, crews in Kittery, Maine built Kittery and in Hull, built Pilot, and the pilot gig revolution was underway. (You can row both of these storied vessels at Windmill Point any Saturday morning!) After a few years, the New York-designed Whitehall Fours joined the scene, and more recently, the four-oared Skiffies. It’s a rich, evolving world. If you’ve read this far, you know who to thank for it!

More than a hundred programs are now active across the country based on the model of kids and adults building and repairing boats for kids and adults to row. Pretty cool to think that it all began in Hull.

Thanks, Ed.

Lory Newmyer served as executive director of the Hull Lifesaving Museum for 26 years, and has listened to more of Ed McCabe’s stories than just about anyone in town.