by Jere Dennison

The headline in the Sports Section of the June 22, 1956 edition of the Richmond Times-Dispatch proclaimed: Southern Star Arrives Flying Stars and Bars. The first Richmonder to enter the famed Newport-Bermuda Race had completed a difficult and stormy passage in 75th place out of a record field of 89. Thus began a 14-year quest by Dr. James Mullen to earn his laurels in this prestigious biennial ocean race that began in 1906. Ultimately frustrated in his final attempt to capture the first-to-finish award, Jim Mullen’s campaign involved a series of four yachts culminating with the behemoth 75-foot aluminum cutter, Southern Star IV, that the yachting establishment disqualified after the 1970 race by lowering eligibility limits for the 1972 race.

While he flew another club’s burgee in his earlier races, Mullen joined FBYC during the 1960’s and represented our club until his retirement from racing in the early 1970’s. In 1975, Southern Star IV was donated to Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and to his alma mater St. Christopher’s School. To commemorate this donation, an article appeared in the Summer 1976 issue of The St. Christopher’s News that profiled Mullen’s life and sailing adventures. With the permission of St. Christopher’s School, that article is reprinted below:

Jim Mullen: Adventurer

by Jerry Jones

In 1975, Jim Mullen (1935 Alumnus) gave St. Christopher’s School a one-third interest in his 75’ sloop, Southern Star. Since this was certainly one of the most unique gifts the School has received, I felt a short article in the STC News would be of interest. A scheduled half-hour interview with Jim turned into a fascinating 2 ? hour discussion with a man I, at times, viewed as either Walter Mitty or Horatio Alger. I had a feeling our interview would be longer than I expected when I asked, “Tell me a little about the history of Southern Star,” and Jim answered, “Which one?” It turned out that there had been four Southern Stars since 1956.

But I have jumped too far ahead. To understand Dr. James W. Mullen (he earned a PhD in chemistry from Princeton in 1942), you have to go back to his summers as a St. Christopher’s student. His interest in boats started in 1928, when he learned to sail small boats in the Cape Cod area. The excitement of sailing, which he would enjoy later in life, was not enough for him as a teenager. Even though his sailing friends disapproved, he took up outboard hydroplaning. Noncommittal on whether he had Dr. Chamberlayne’s (StC Headmaster at the time) approval, he traveled from New England to Texas to race his hydroplane.

 

In 1935, his senior year, he won his class at the National Interscholastic Championship in Wooster, Massachusetts. At Princeton, he was Collegiate champion in three classes, setting Collegiate records in the two fastest classes. Following graduation, he continued racing while working on his PhD. His proficiency at the sport was such that he set several world records and became the first man to break the 70-mph barrier, which at the time was considered a near suicidal speed. His hydroplaning career ended with victories in the 1940 and 1941 National Championships.

Jim Mullen shown on far left at Experiment Inc.

During World War II, Jim’s knowledge of chemistry was put to use by the Rubber Reserve Corporation. Later his top-secret work was concentrated on the early development of the country’s guided missile program. His association with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory began at this time and continued long after the war. It was Jim’s work in the guided missile program, which led to his founding Experiment Incorporated in 1945. The company’s main efforts were directed toward fuel and propulsion problems related to guided missiles and space vehicles. In 1959, he sold his business to Texaco, Inc. His work with them continued until his retirement in 1969.

 

With the exception of a six-month trial with a cabin cruiser in 1954 – which he found extremely dull – Jim was not involved with boats from 1942 until 1955, when he bought the first of four Southern Stars, an Alden Ketch. After a year of familiarization and shakedown cruise, the Mullens enlisted Bob Carter (Alumnus 1936) to serve as navigator for the 1956 Newport to Bermuda race. Recalling with obvious pleasure his first entry in this prestigious race, Jim had high praise for Bob’s navigation and little praise for the speed of his boat. Many sailors might have retired from the Bermuda race after a dismal finish. Jim, however, not only did not retire, but commissioned Bill Tripp, the skipper of the one of the boats that he did beat, to design a more competitive Southern Star for the 1958 Bermuda race.

 

Southern Star II (Block Island 40)

Even though his future Southern Stars would be bigger, more sophisticated, and faster, the second boat, a Block Island 40’, is probably Jim’s favorite. With it he raced nearly every offshore race on the East Coast. With six crew members (Mrs. Mullen as cook and Bob Carter as navigator), Southern Star finished seventh in the 1958 Bermuda race (out of 111), won the Annapolis Fall Series by the highest margin ever, was third in the Southern Ocean Racing Circuit, and won its class and fourth in fleet in the Annapolis-to-Newport race. Following a twelfth place finish in the 1960 Bermuda race, Jim bypassed the event until 1966, when he entered his third Southern Star, a 52’ sloop.

Built in Holland, this second boat designed by Tripp, enjoyed early success on the European circuit, winning six out of six ocean races. Jim did admit that the competition in Europe was substantially less than that in the States. Buoyed by this early success, Jim entered the 1966 Bermuda race and met with near complete disaster. Of the ten winches on board, only two were working at the end of the race; the roller reefing broke down, as did one of the spreaders. Jim did not say what place he finished in that Bermuda race, and I did not ask.

 

 

The enormous Southern Star IV underway

Plans for the final Southern Star were started in 1967. Jim wanted to take one more crack at the Bermuda race and had Tripp design a boat at the upper limit of eligibility for the Bermuda circuit. Nearly two years of design work resulted in a 75’ all-aluminum sloop, which was probably the fastest cutter in the world. Built by Stephen’s Marine in Stockton, California, the ship was completed in January, 1970. After a few short shakedown cruises, Jim and his crew left San Francisco March 1 and arrived at the Chesapeake Bay May 1, only a month and a half before the 1970 Bermuda race. Preparations for the race were considerably more complicated than those for the 1956 race. The new Southern Star required a crew of twenty-three for a major race. No longer was Mrs. Mullen the sole cook. Jim was kind enough to provide an assistant.

Blessed with rough seas and strong winds, conditions which were best for the huge ship, Southern Star covered the first 650 miles in three days. With Bermuda only 30 miles away (and Southern Star leading the entire fleet), an absolute flat calm hit; and the craft and its crew were dead in the water for over twelve hours. Recalling with obvious disappointment, Jim said they were less than a quarter mile from their main competition throughout the calm and when the wind finally came, it filled the opponent’s sails first and blew away their hope for a Bermuda Cup (finishing second in elapsed time). This race turned out to be Jim’s last since the upper eligibility limits were lowered for the 1972 race and Southern Star failed to qualify.

For six months in 1972, the Mullens cruised Southern Star through the Azores, Europe, the Mediterranean, Canary Islands, and off West Africa before turning to the States via the Caribbean and Bahamas. Jim commented that the marinas in Europe were for the most part awful – extremely dirty and polluted. In fact, he agreed with Jacques Cousteau that the Mediterranean is really a dead sea due to pollution.

Because of her size, the logistics of cruising with Southern Star were formidable. Jim chuckled in pointing out that rounding up a crew of a dozen for a day’s sailing was just part of the problem. In fact, the dullness of his early cabin cruiser began to look very attractive. Having done nearly all he wanted with Southern Star, he gave her to the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory to be used in experiments it is conducting for the US Navy. The one stipulation of his gift was that St. Christopher’s would have a one-third interest in Southern Star when she was sold.

I asked Jim if there were any plans for a fifth Southern Star; and he said there were not, since he had retired from anything strenuous, but he might get some type of long range ocean-going powerboat. Having thanked him for his time, I prepared to leave when I noticed a picture of a glider or sailplane on the wall. It turned out that Jim’s retirement from anything strenuous was a question of semantics. In 1973, he got his gliding license and purchased one of six self-powered gliders in this country. He describes his newest sport as three-dimensional sailing and frequently takes two-to-three hour “thermal glides” over the Chesapeake Bay.

Walter Mitty, dream on. Did you know? by Jere Dennison and Tad Thompson The high water mark for FBYC participation in the Newport-Bermuda Race was 1966 when four clubmembers entered yachts. They were Alan McCullough’s revolutionary Cal 40 Altair, Jim Mullen’s Southern Star III, Gene Sydnor’s bright-hulled Corncordia yawl Ad Astra, and George Wayne Anderson’s Allons. It is said that the only design concessions that Jim Mullen made on his Bill Tripp designed, California built 75-foot Southern Star IV was to accept an engine room with less than stand-up headroom and to give up on lead-encased spent-uranium ballast in the keel. The number-one genoa on Southern Star IV was purported to weigh 800 pounds and was hoisted with a halyard, bag and all, from the cavernous sail loft under the foredeck. With her centerboard down, the boat drew over 14 feet, and, with board up, she drew 7 feet so Jim could get to his double docks on the Coan River. “Shoal draft” also allowed him to religiously cut at least 1/3 inside Windmill Point Light on the way up the Bay. Bay racers had to watch out for Mullen’s propensity to launch cherry bombs with a slingshot toward the competition during mid-day summer calms.

Did you know?

• Jim Mullen in his first 1956 Bermuda Race competed in the same class as Carleton Mitchell’s legendary Finisterre that was the overall winner in that race as well as in two future Bermuda Races, a record that still stands.
• The high water mark for FBYC participation in the Newport-Bermuda Race was 1966 when four clubmembers entered yachts. They were Alan McCullough’s revolutionary Cal 40 Altair, Jim Mullen’s Southern Star III, Gene Sydnor’s bright-hulled Corncordia yawl Ad Astra, and George Wayne Anderson’s Allons.
• It is said that the only design concessions that Jim Mullen made on his Bill Tripp designed, California built 75-foot Southern Star IV was to accept an engine room with less than stand-up headroom and to give up on lead-encased spent-uranium ballast in the keel.
• The number-one genoa on Southern Star IV was purported to weigh 800 pounds and was hoisted with a halyard, bag and all, from the cavernous sail loft under the foredeck.
• With her centerboard down, the boat drew over 14 feet, and, with board up, she drew 7 feet so Jim could get to his double docks on the Coan River. “Shoal draft” also allowed him to religiously cut at least 1/3 inside Windmill Point Light on the way up the Bay.
• Bay racers had to watch out for Mullen’s propensity to launch cherry bombs with a slingshot toward the competition during mid-day summer calms.