This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
07/20/2016 08:30 AMAnna Milne grew up on her dad’s Thimble Islands Cruise tour boat and now, at 24, she carries on his legacy as Captain of Volsunga IV and head of the family business.
She’s only been in the captain’s chair a short time—in fact, Anna is in the final phase of her training, operating on the water while a mentor captain oversees her helm work—but to see this young lady swing her dad’s 40-foot tour boat into a rather tight spot at the Stony Creek dock is to see confidence in action.
Just over a year ago, Anna says she could never have imagined she would have been among the ranks of the world’s female captains (she points out women make up only five percent of all captains globally), much less as the owner/operator of Thimble Islands Cruise and Volsunga IV.
“I had just graduated from college and I was thinking I might go to graduate school, because I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do next,” says Anna, who graduated from Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire in 2014 and is an alumnae of Branford High School Class of 2010.
In a tragic twist of fate, Anna’s career choice was determined by a devastating motorcycle collision affecting her dad, Captain Bob Milne, known to all as “Captain Bob.” On May 2, 2015, he suffered traumatic brain injuries that have left him with lasting, permanent damage. Today, he remains in need of constant care. A Stony Creek native with a love of the water, Captain Bob took over as captain of the Volsunga in 1986, when he also established the area’s first island water taxi service.
Even before news of her dad’s accident reached her, the captain of another Thimble Islands tour vessel, The Sea Mist, reached out to Anna to let her know Volsunga IV and Thimble Island Cruise would stay up and running, Anna recalls.
“I was at a wedding and the first call I got was from Captain Mike Infantino saying, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll take care of everything.’” Anna says. “And he was true to his word. This is my so-called competition! We’re more like a family.”
Infantino and his own family members, as well as Stony Creek captains David Atkinson, Bob Lilquist, and Bill Smith were among those who took on responsibility of maintaining and running Thimble Islands Cruise aboard the Volsunga IV last summer. The captains would also move employees from their boats onto Volsunga IV and volunteers helped out, too.
Together with Thimble Islands Cruise, a total of three boat companies operate from the Stony Creek dock. At the Sea Mist office, “they had another phone, just to take our calls,” says Anna’s mom, Beth.
While Anna and her mom began the long road of helping her dad come through the accident, then find him care and support for his life-changing injuries, Thimble Islands Cruise operated through the summer of 2015. In addition to the huge thank you the Milne family sends to all who assisted, another goes out to the Stony Creek community, and those beyond, who showed an outpouring of support and care for Captain Bob in the days and months following the accident.
During that time, as it became apparent her dad wouldn’t be returning to his work, Anna began considering becoming a captain and taking on the business.
“My path became clear to me at the end of last summer: get my captain’s license and work hard to maintain the business that he created,” Anna says.
As part of that decision, and in order to help defray the cost involved in undergoing the six-week captain’s course and purchasing the business from her father’s estate, Anna and her mom set up a GoFundMe page in the spring that’s still active here
“We didn’t really know if it would work, or what to expect,” says Beth. “We knew people wanted to help Bob through his accident, but we weren’t sure if they were going to support his daughter, too.”
The answer has been an overwhelming “yes.” The Milne’s goal of raising $20,000 is gathering support (latest tally: more than $13,000).
Taking the captain’s course was grueling, but incredibly educational, says Anna, who was the only female in group populated by mostly older men.
“In a way it was really good that I had just graduated from college, because I was still in the mindset you need,” she says.
Anna says her college studies and American history degree, together with minors in political science, public history and a concentration in women’s studies dovetail well with her role as captain of Volsunga IV and head of Thimble Island Cruises.
“It actually ties in, in a lot of ways,” she says. “Only five percent of the world’s captains are female; I’m a woman running a business; [and] my father loved history and I think hearing him share the stories of the Thimbles all those years is what made me so interested in American history. And while this boat isn’t a museum, what we do is definitely public history.”
The colorful and informative stories Anna shares over the loudspeaker are the very same bits of island history her dad provided to his many guests through the years.
“I think I was doing the whole tour, without the script, by the second week,” says Anna, who got underway during the July 4 weekend this year.
“Bob was really a great storyteller. When he talked about the Thimbles, it was like hearing poetry,” adds Beth.
Bob’s voice and his love of the Thimbles is captured in his book Thimble Islands Story Book—A Captain’s View, self-published in 2005. Copies are available in Stony Creek at Taken for Granite, Seaside Home & Gifts, and The Thimbleberry and in downtown Branford at Towne Pharmacy.
“It’s a wonderful compilation of history, stories and legends, poems, illustrations, and photos from the Thimble Islands, representing a captain’s point of view,” says Anna of her dad’s book.
As she embarks on her first season at the helm, Anna is looking forward to continuing her dad’s legacy and sharing the Thimble Islands with dozens who flock to the Stony Creek dock to board its local tour boats. She’s grateful to have the expertise and assistance of the Thimble Island captains, who continue to support her.
“Right now, because I need to have another captain on board when operating, we have a bit more of limited schedule. People can always check our website for updates,” says Anna.
As for communicating all that’s transpired with her dad, Anna says it’s been difficult, but she has done her best to let him know.
As she notes on her GoFundMe page, “I am confident that this is what he wants, and that this life endeavor is making him proud.”
For more information about sightseeing tours, schedules, private charters, and more aboard Volsunga IV, visit www.thimbleislands.com or call 203-481-3345 or email volsungacruises@gmail.com