Bartholic’s Boat

by Lee Roy Chapman

02/25/2011

Tulsa artist Bob Bartholic was a visionary. One of his visions involved a boat made of concrete that he planned to sail around the world with his family. He began the construction in a barn behind his home in Turley, Oklahoma. A couple years later, with the project near completion, the barn caught fire and burned to the ground leaving the concrete hull intact. Bartholic’s project inspired a local preacher to build his own boat, which he sailed from the Port of Catoosa to the west coast of Africa.