Fred L. Woods Jr. had salt water and sailing in his veins from the very beginning, his father Fred Lester Woods Sr. was an avid sailor who commissioned and owned a number of significant wooden yachts, including an Alden Schooner and an L.Francis Herreshoff designed sloop. Mr. Woods Sr., a well-heeled business man who amongst other ventures owned the Boston Herald Newspaper, lived on Gregory Street in one of Marblehead's grand harbor-front homes.

Fred Jr. got his early training as a member of the Pleon Yacht Club, later, in the tradition of many yachting families he was enrolled at Tabor Academy in Marion, Massachusetts, a seacoast town on Buzzards Bay. At that time, a key component of Tabors' experiential learning program was sailing around the world on the schools small ship, the Tabor Boy, a program in which Fred took full advantage.

After Fred graduated from Tabor be enrolled in the service where he eventually became a Lieutenant Commander.

In 1938 Fred founded F.L.WOODS Nautical Instruments & Supplies, at first in his home on Pleasant Street, in Marblehead's' historic Old Town. At that time Fred would travel to Boston in the morning to collect charts and navigation information and return to Marblehead in the afternoon to meet customers in his living room to sell the latest charts and navigation information. Later he purchased a lovely Federal period building in the old town at 76 Washington St. from Benjamin Chadwick and moved the business there. The business has remained in continuous operation at this site ever since.

Fred soon became the first official U.S. Government Chart Agent on the North Shore and his shop quickly became well known in yachting circles up and down the coast. By the early 1940's, along with the Graves Yacht Yard, F. L. Woods Nautical had become an epee center of yachting in Marblehead - The Yachting Capital Of America!

In 1950, Fred along with his bride Nathalie Hawks Frost, built a lovely period reproduction home overlooking Little Harbor, from there Fred rode his bike down Orne Street to the shop - he would not get a driving license or an automobile until later in life. It has been said that the shop was a stepping-stone for Fred, from there; he was free and could go anywhere. Fred enjoyed sailing and often sailed with his good friend L. Francis Herreshoff, both members of the Boston Yacht Club at that time. He had a custom designed wooden sloop called Driftwood moored in front of the house in Little Harbor and a wooden powerboat called Brownie.

Fred was an interesting character with a twinkle in his eye, he was a Yankee and had that direct Yankee style, if you wanted to purchase a yacht club burgee, you had better be prepared to produce a membership card if he didn't recognize you.

Fred built a wonderful reputation for knowledgeable service, important and obscure products and irregular hours of operation! We continue to carry on most of these traditions.

Unfortunately, Fred went out of harbor much too early at the age of 74 - he moored no more.