in shallow waters allowed Mimi to be used both in the open sea and the extensive canal system in Europe at that time. After serving many years in the Northern part of France, Mimi was sold to an owner in the Southern part of France where she was converted to a fishing trawler for tunafish. Nazi commandeer, sinking and salvage The Mimi was used by German soldiers during the Second World War to transport munitions. In 1942, the Germans seized the Mimi for the purpose of transporting supplies to military outposts in the region of the Brittany coast. When the Allied Forces pushed the retreating Axis forces back eastward through France in August 1944, Nazi protocol was to destroy any military property that might possibly be used against them by the invading forces (i.e. fortresses, ammunition, vehicles, etc.) For reasons unknown, Mimi was not destroyed by retreating Nazi forces, but rather left tied to a tree on a mudflat. After the war the Mimi was sunk, and remained so until the 1960s when a Frenchman and his family bought it and converted it from a trawler to a sailboat. Television career By 1984, the Mimi had a new owner, Peter Marston. The boat was kept moored in Gloucester, Massachusetts, throughout the filming of the series and thereafter. In addition to its role in "The Voyage of the Mimi," which began in 1984, the boat was used from the late 1980s through the 1990s to teach schoolchildren using the Mimi curriculum. Each school year, the Mimi sailed from New England to the Gulf of Mexico and back, stopping at pre-arranged ports of call to meet with students in grades 4 through 7, and their teachers. At each port, "Mimifests" were held, which included various activities and presentations about marine life, seamanship, and navigation. These events were attended by approximately 30,000 students each year. In 1988, Peter Marston and other freelance musicians produced a cassette, Sea Songs from the Mimi Crew, of old-time sea songs self-published under the name "The Barn School" based in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Other souvenirs were also available from the sailing vessel Mimi such as T-shirts and buttons reading "I was on board the Mimi". The souvenirs are no longer manufactured, and are even difficult to find within the online resale market. Marston retained ownership of the vessel until 1998, when the boat was sold to new owners Captain