Bishop’s Yacht Ripple, Bradenton Municipal Pier
While the Bishops resided in Bradenton, they were active in the civic and cultural life in both Bradenton and Sarasota as well as in various other communities along the east coast of the United States, including Annapolis, Maryland. Ned was devoted to sailing and power boats. They were well known in yachting circles and owned numerous yachts and other sailing vessels. These included the 45 foot Alice, the 45-foot Patty B, the 46-foot Ketch Lady Patty, the 60-foot Gaff rigged schooner the Derigo, and the 29 foot Mary Grande. Perhaps the most famous was The Ripple, a 134-foot motor yacht which had previously been owned by Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany. The Ripple had a crew of seventeen! It was sold in the early thirties after income taxes were vastly increased, and with its sale, the Bishops established what is now the Snead Island Boat Works, located on the Manatee River, providing work for the crew. The Boat Works is well known to yacht people and sailors throughout the east coast of the United States. It continues to be owned and operated by the Alderman family which had been instrumental in the operations of The Ripple, and were particular friends of the Bishops.
In the 1930’s the Bishops purchased a property near Annapolis, Maryland, at the point where the South River empties into Chesapeake Bay. This property, known as Quiet Waters Farm, consisted of more than 350 acres. The Bishops referred to this as “the farm” and spent summers there each year from the time the property was purchased until their deaths.