Ernest K. Gann - After Flying

After Flying

During his tenure with Matson, Gann and his family relocated to the San Francisco area and it was there that he began writing professionally. In his autobiography he describes cycles of "boom and bust" as he would earn seemingly vast sums of money for a book or an article, spend wildly, and then suffer through long periods with little or no income. He attempted several other lines of work—fishing, for example—but always returned to writing. Gann began to chafe under the difficult and tedious routine of family life and he found himself missing the adventures and freedoms of his previous career. His marriage began to suffer and he eventually decided to divorce Eleanor. She was afflicted with numerous health problems, including severe rheumatoid arthritis, and following several years of declining health, she died on December 23, 1966 at Pebble Beach, California. Gann would endure several more tragedies in his personal life, including the death of his eldest son in 1973; while working on an oil tanker in the Gulf of Alaska, George was swept overboard in a storm.

Gann had a lifelong love of the sea and sailing. He made many friends in the nautical community in and around San Francisco and, when money was tight, tried a few different jobs- mainly in the commercial fishing industry. He owned several boats of various types and sizes during his lifetime. Eventually, after years of planning and preparations, Gann purchased a large metal sailboat in Rotterdam,The Netherlands, which he christened Albatross. Along with his family and a few friends he sailed the boat across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal and on to San Francisco Bay. Albatross was extensively overhauled and Gann then sailed her around the South Pacific. He later leased the ship to a film company to be used as the major prop in a movie based upon his book Twilight for the Gods. Shortly after the production wrapped, Albatross was sold and became a school vessel. She was later lost in the Gulf of Mexico. (Her sinking is the subject of a 1996 movie called White Squall.)

As his family life was deteriorating, Gann began spending much of his time with a friend, Dodie Post, whom he would eventually marry. Both before and after they were married they were partners in adventure, travel, and later, environmental causes. In 1966, Ernest and Dodie purchased an 800-acre (3.2 km2) ranch on San Juan Island, Washington. This marked the beginning of his next great passion: environmental conservation. To that end, they later donated the bulk of their ranch to the San Juan Preservation Trust.

Gann converted a chicken coop near their ranch house into a writing office. After his death, the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) moved the entire coop and its furnishings, including the barber's chair Gann used at his desk, to the EAA Aviation Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where it is on public display.

In the fall of 1991, Gann again took to the skies to mark the 50th anniversary of his promotion to Captain at American Airlines; it would be his last flight. On December 19, 1991, Gann died in Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, Washington, at the age of 81.