At one point in her long and storied career, the 1885 built, 131-foot schooner yacht Coronet was owned by a rather dodgy religious group which called itself “The Kingdom.” The group was led by Frank Sandford who circumnavigated the globe on the yacht in 1905. What was odd about the voyage was that no one ever went ashore. Instead, Sanford claimed to “subdue the world for Christ” through prayer and by sounding brass instruments as they passed by the various continents. He was not notably successful and on a subsequent voyage, several of his crew died of scurvy. The Coronet, however, has survived and is now being restored by the IYRS School of Technology and Trades in Newport, Rhode Island.  

A recent event not too far from Newport reminded me of the story of the Coronet and the sounding of brass offshore.  Joe Trillo, an ex-Republican state legislator is running for governor as an independent in Rhode Island this year. His campaign style is almost as unusual as Frank Sandford’s on the Coronet. He is campaigning by yacht and had rather a rocky weekend. 

Trillo has been bringing his 65-foot power yacht, the Lady M, as close as he can to local beaches, where he unveils a campaign banner and addresses the beachgoers with a bullhorn. He generally announces that if elected, one of the many things he would do is put garbage cans on beaches so beachgoers wouldn’t have to carry their trash out in plastic bags. He will then play notionally patriotic march music, loudly, over the sound system on his yacht. He is fond of John Phillip Souza. Beachgoers have complained about the cacophony.

This Sunday, however, things did not go as planned. While blasting music at beachgoers, Trillo struck a rock off Charlestown, RI and started taking on water. The Charleston harbormaster took off the passengers and crew while the US Coast Guard dropped dewatering pumps, which saved the Lady M  from sinking. The commercial towing company SeaTow then towed the boat back to port.

Despite complaints by beachgoers, the Coast Guard said there are no federal restrictions they’d enforce on loud music and Trillo wasn’t cited for anything related to the accident.  Trillo says that he hasn’t decided whether he’ll campaign from his boat again once it’s fixed in about two weeks. 

The former Republican lawmaker has said that President Trump inspired his gubernatorial run. The latest polls suggest that Trillo is running third in the three-way race.

Joe Trillo’s boat strikes rock, takes on water off Charlestown