By Justin George, Times Staff Writer
Monday, November 2, 2009

Chase wanders through his home of 50 years as customers pick through his things. His wife died last year, and he has moved into an assisted living facility.

TAMPA — The old ship's captain saw the people coming to his estate sale like pirates to plunder. He handed a painting to a friend.

"This one I didn't mean to leave here," he said. "Can you take it and hide it?"

Raymond Chase, who earned his living piloting corporate yachts, lived in this South Tampa house for more than 50 years. After his wife died last year, leaving him alone at 88, he put his place on the market and moved into an assisted living facility.

The house he left was a virtual maritime museum, stocked with beer glasses from Germany, porcelain plates from Holland and dozens of pictures of ships, painted from memory. Old sailing charts papered the walls and a railing taken from one of his ships formed a door handle to the back porch.

Now, in mid October, it was time for the inevitable estate sale, time to part with the artifacts of a long life. On this day Chase wore tinted spectacles, carefully ironed pants and black Velcro shoes. He drifted among the Saturday morning garage-sale hunters like a ghost looking over their shoulders.

One man found an old captain's hat and slipped it on for his daughter to laugh at. Chase saw the symbol of his career sold for $5, destined to become part of a little girl's costume.