Nat Wilson and the Eagle go way back.

Well, not all the way back, as the Eagle was built in 1936 as a training vessel for Hitler’s Navy. At the end of World War II, she was sent to the United States as part of war reparations. That is when she lost her Nazi moniker “Horst Wessel” and was commissioned as the Coast Guard Cutter Eagle.

It is not hard to understand Nat’s fondness for the Eagle. She is a big, beautiful lady. A white 295-foot long, three-masted, square-rigged beauty that can make 17-plus knots when under sail. She sports six miles (9.7 km) of running rigging and approximately 22,280 square feet of sail area.

As part of his service in the Coast Guard, Nat was picked as part of her crew and made two cruises on her, in addition to working on her sails at the USCG Academy sail loft. After his tour of duty was over, Nat wound up in East Boothbay where he established his famed sail loft on the banks of the Damariscotta River.

In an interview, he explained that the Coast Guard, like many government agencies, purchased sails for Eagle by inviting possible vendors to bid on them. They always bought sails from the low bidder. But Nat explained that the (low bid) sails were just overgrown or modified yachting sails and quickly wore out.

For years, Nat was an unsuccessful bidder for the Eagle's sails. In 1997, he visited Coast Guard sailing officials and told them of a poly fabric he helped invent. Named Oceanus, it resembled traditional sailcloth but is half the weight and twice as strong. The Coast Guard knew Nat and his work and decided to give him a chance They asked him to make a couple of topsails and a spinnaker. They liked them a lot.

In addition to the superior strength and low weight, they had an additional feature that even Nat didn’t anticipate – safety. When the young Coast Guard cadets climbed the rigging to work the sails, they found the sailcloth was slippery. That was dangerous. The new cloth was softer and provided the cadets with a better surface to grip. Nat says the Oceanus poly fabric sails last longer, too.

“I remember the Pride of Baltimore made a cruise to Japan. When she came back home, her sails still looked brand new,” he said. In the end, Nat finally designed and made two sets of sails for Eagle, some 40 sails.

For the last 50 or so years, Nat has made sails for many of the nation’s traditional schooners. They include the schooner Bowdoin, built at Hodgdon Brothers Shipyard in East Boothbay, and Clearwater, a Hudson River sloop built across the river in South Bristol.

But he is now 75 and wonders if it is time to stow his palm and needles. Oh, he still has plenty of work in his loft. He is making a couple of sails for the schooner Victory Chimes, a frequent visitor to our shores.

And there is “Effie,” the 1894 schooner, Ernestina-Morrissey. She has been on the ways of Bristol Marine's Boothbay Harbor Shipyard since 2015 undergoing a $6 million rebuild and refit.

The 112 foot-long vessel has been a New Bedford fisherman, an arctic explorer, and transport bringing goods from the Cape Verde Islands to the U.S. When completed, she is scheduled to become the official training vessel for Massachusetts Maritime Academy.

Of course, they asked Nat to to craft her sails.

“We have some work to finish on her and expect to be done sometime in May,” he said.

What will he do when these two jobs are complete? Somehow, I doubt Nat will retire so he can sit on his duff, look at the river and eat bonbons.

He would like to get back to his creative roots, and there is Tarpon, his 100-year-old Herreshoff Fish Class day sailer, and a brace of Ford Model Ts and Model As.

Nat loves his craft, and would like for it to continue. He is proud of the apprentices who have passed through his loft and he points to an apprentice, Sherman Brewer, who has been working in the loft since he got out of the local high school. And then there is his son Eben, a sailmaker and lobsterman who recently moved back to the center of East Boothbay.

But the old sailmaker is tired and admits he doesn’t have energy like he did when he was, say 50. Retirement is starting to look pretty good.

Well,” said Nat. “I can’t sell it. I will just have to wait and see what I will do. I will just let the cards fall as they may.”

“It’s paid for so…”