Simply after Christmas, the Florida Keys’ Conch Republic misplaced a beloved guiding spirit: Captain Finbar Gittelman, the personification of an “outdated salt.” In honor of the staunch and devoted mariner, Keys Voices is sharing an up to date profile of him that initially appeared in 2018.
For a lot of his life Captain Finbar Gittelman, a longtime Florida Keys denizen, bore a barely unnerving resemblance to the fierce Barbossa from “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Proprietor and grasp of the majestic Schooner Wolf, he was for a few years the venerable First Sea Lord and Supreme Commander of the Keys’ picturesque Conch Republic Navy Forces.
Finbar and his spouse Julie made many humanitarian voyages on the Wolf, carrying aid provides to Caribbean islands after pure disasters.
Regardless of his imposing titles (which additionally included admiral of the Conch Republic forces), the roguish seafarer was merely referred to as “Finbar” by most individuals who knew him.
Rising up on Miami Seashore, he first got here to Key West as a toddler along with his mother and father to take the then-operating ferry to Havana to go to relations. All the time fascinated by the ocean, he sailed into Key West for good in 1973.
“Key West was a really completely different place in these days,” he stated throughout a 2018 interview, recalling an period dominated by industrial fishing, a navy base and illicit marijuana importation. “Seafaring was the whole lot, however there have been no passenger sailboats — so I jumped in to fill the hole.”
In 1980 he constructed the 33-foot sloop Excessive Tide, designed for day crusing and journeys to the close by coral reef. Two years later, he started constructing the 74-foot topsail Schooner Wolf that turned not solely his lifelong ardour, however his frequent liveaboard residence.
“The Wolf was designed to be a historically rigged schooner, the sort widespread within the nineteenth century,” defined Finbar. “I’ve at all times cherished conventional ships. To me, the outdated methods are generally the very best methods, and it was a practice price carrying on.”
The Schooner Wolf was headquartered in Key West and neighboring Inventory Island for some 4 a long time. In addition to working as a passenger boat, providing the whole lot from specialty day sails to non-public charters and prolonged voyages, the basic schooner appeared in movies and at tall ship festivals across the U.S. and Caribbean.

Finbar’s Schooner Wolf departs on a night sail some years in the past — an imposing sight in opposition to the setting solar.
The Wolf was additionally famend for humanitarian aid sails — missions impressed by a private expertise that Finbar by no means forgot.
In 1980 the steadfast captain survived a lethal Caribbean hurricane at sea, spending three harrowing days in a tiny life raft after the ship he was piloting sank. Years later, he and his spouse Julie McEnroe started main the Wolf’s crew on missions of mercy after hurricanes and different pure disasters, carrying cargoes of aid provides to survivors in stricken Caribbean areas.
“Folks maintain asking me why we’re doing this, and my reply is easy,” stated Finbar in 2010, proper earlier than he and Julie set sail for earthquake-ravaged Haiti with greater than 10 tons of donated provides. “We’re islanders, and we have to care for our fellow islanders.”
As a Key West islander, Finbar embraced actions that embody portraying a pirate king at native festivals coordinated by Julie (who he fondly referred to as “Blossom”) and dealing his means up by means of the ranks of the Conch Republic Navy Forces.
In 1985, the Wolf was designated the flagship of the republic — a symbolic “impartial nation” acknowledged around the globe because the Florida Keys’ colourful alter ego. Supreme Commander Finbar led the lighthearted sea battle in opposition to “federal invaders” every April throughout the Conch Republic Independence Celebration.
In all of the roles took on, the captain — who later in life referred to as himself “the traditional mariner” — was pushed by a devil-may-care enthusiasm and a profound affection for the ocean and his Key West life.
“I really like being at sea, however I additionally love being residence on my island,” he stated. “I’ve been to many ports and none of them have the lifestyle I really like right here.”
He was additionally keen about instructing others the traditional artwork of sail.
“I wish to move on what I do know to youthful sailors, and attempt to present them — as greatest I can — the spirit of the ocean,” stated Finbar a number of years in the past.
That spirit, and Finbar’s personal dynamic spirit, have been spotlighted in a charming documentary movie launched in 2018 by Matt Dean Movies. “The Previous Man and the Sea: Return to Cuba” explored Finbar’s seafaring life and first journey to Havana since his childhood.
Now those that cherished him — and who love the Conch Republic — are celebrating his life and making ready to hold on his legacy. Truthful winds and following seas, Finbar. You’ll by no means be forgotten.