Maine’s First Ship Maine’s First Ship: Reconstructing the Fall 2019

Special points of interest: • Virginia’s sails under Women’s shipbuilding day brings out construction • “Beach Pea” peapod talent and enthusiasm, as always raffle supports launch • Caulking makes Virginia watertight • Spars and rigging • Traditional shallops dur- ing the Popham era • MFS volunteers sail on Portsmouth’s Gundalow • School groups visit MFS • Summer at Freight Shed series continues with lectures and hands-on events A sunny Sunday morning, following the wright Rob Stevens led plank, it was clamped into extra hour of sleep due the many hands in mark- place. More are ready for to clocks being changed ing, cutting, planning, installation this week. Newsletter produced (plus widespread power shaping, and fitting deck courtesy of the outages for some in the planks on Virginia. Publicity area), brought out nearly Shipbuilders Committee: 20 participants for MFS’s spent the day cutting Roger Barry, Lori Benson, annual Women’s Ship- and shaping the white Allison Hepler building Day. Helped out pine decking, which has by shipbuilding volunteers been drying under cov-

Paul Cunningham, Orman er for a number of Hines, Gail Smith, and years. After signing the underside of the first Annual Appeal Elise Straus-Bowers, ship- Please contribute to the MFS Annual Appeal as you are

able. We appreci- ate all donations

and your support will help keep Vir-

ginia on schedule for a 2020 launch.

Thank you. Page 2 Maine’s First Ship: Reconstructing the pinnace Virginia President’s Notes It has been nine years Maine’s First Ship. we launch, with a diesel since we laid the keel There are so many motor and lead ballast for Virginia and it seems wonderful connec- to purchase, bulkheads like yesterday. Next tions: First Ameri- to install, deck con- June 7th we are planning cans, European histo- struction and a myriad to make a big splash ry, early shipbuilding of details to accomplish. with the launch of our and colonial history. We have an sturdy little pinnace, so You will not only gain amazing group of volun- save the date. Tenta- a wealth of teers that will be bring- tively we plan to have knowledge but meet ing Virginia to comple- speakers, music by Cas- people from around tion. I hope that you tlebay, reenactors from the globe who have will continue to support Virginia, and Shake- similar interests. You us as we move into a speare’s The Tempest. don’t need to be an new phase of actually If you enjoy his- expert. Just a little sailing Virginia. tory I encourage you to enthusiasm will en- Full sails and a volunteer as a docent gage visitors. following sea, telling the story of the There is still Popham Colony and much to do before - Orman

MFS a regular participant at the Woodenboat Show hardwoods, woodworking tools, and uous display of traditional adhesives. smallcraft out in the harbor Amateur-built boats in a dis- behind us. play area entitled “I Built it My- Our presence at events self! were a short walk from guided such as the Woodenboat tours of the reconstructed-and-soon Show helps ramp up interest in -to-be-launched Mayflower II, all dis- and enthusiasm for the Virginia played on the museum grounds of within the world of traditional By Jim Parmentier the historic and traditionally re- boatbuilders, nautical histori- In June, Orman Hines, Jim Par- stored shipbuilding port of Mystic. ans, and the general boating mentier and Jeremy Blaiklock Aided by wonderful weather, public. trailered Jane Stevens from Maine and displays of models and items to Mystic Seaport Village, in Con- we brought from our exhibit in necticut, to tell the story of the Freight Shed we told the story Maine’s First Ship at the 29th An- of Maine’s First Ship to a steady nual Woodenboat Show. Each stream of visitors from all parts of year this show brings together in- the country. In our off time we water and on-land boat exibitors, toured special collections of wa- expert skill demonstrations, and tercraft that are not normally marine vendors from sailmakers, open to the public, visited nautical kayak dealers, and composite exhibits and art galleries in the makers to persons selling exotic museum, and watched the contin- Maine’s First Ship: Reconstructing the pinnace Virginia Page 3 MFS raffling off donated 15’ “Beach Pea”rowing and sailing peapod By Jim Parmentier of the Hyland’s Peapods, like dories, are sturdy peapod design. double-ended boats between 15 Paul and 20 feet long that developed in Gamache, one many parts of the world for use by of our MFS do- fishermen who worked in ocean cents, was the waters. They had to be reliable financial advisor and trustworthy in big waves and to the Landing also easy to row. They had to re- School at the sist capsizing as heavy fish nets or time, and decid- lobster traps were hauled over ed to buy that their gunnels. Their oars and oar- boat. Paul, his locks often were large, and fisher- wife, Claudette, men could row them in either di- and their dog rection and by sitting or standing Poppy (…short for “Popham”) MFS Educational Fund to sup- up. enjoyed rowing and sailing their port the many onboard pro- Peapods transported nets, peapod for many years. jects and programs we have bait, and catch to and from ships Now Paul has graciously planned for Virginia. Thanks, or to shore with speed and safety. donated his boat to MFS to be Paul, for your generosity! Doug Hyland, of Hyland & raffled off as part of our cele- Brown – Boatbuilders, Brooklin, bration, next June, of the launch If you have any valuable nautical Maine, originally designed the of Virginia. The boat will be items that might be suitable for Beach Pea Pod to be 13’ long and barn-stored over the winter offering in the grand and glori- to be built using modern glued lap- and in the spring MFS volun- ous Virginia’s Launch Cele- strake construction. In 2006 stu- teers will give it a fresh coat of bration Auction, Raffle and dents in the Landing School, in Ar- paint and prepare it for a new Yard Sale please contact Jim undel, ME, built a 15-foot version owner. Parmentier at The pea- [email protected]. pod will be raffled off with two sets of oars and a complete This newsletter is always a sailing joint effort. This issue is rig. especially so. Thanks to Money Dorsey Harrison, Orman Hines, Kimberly Madden, raised in Jim Nelson, Jim Parmen- the raffle tier, and Rob Stevens. will go - The Editor into the Page 4 Maine’s First Ship: Reconstructing the pinnace Virginia

Virginia’s sails under construction in Appleton, Maine

By Jim Nelson and went to work at Bierig While research and discus- Sailmakers and then later for sion is still on-going concerning the Nat Wilson of East Boothbay, engine to be mounted below Virgin- the premier traditional sail- ia’s deck, work is well underway maker in the country. on her true means of propulsion The sail loft at Tradi- — her sails. Through a generous tional Rigging Co. is commit- grant from the National Society ted to building historically Daughters of Colonial Wars, authentic sails and is quickly Maine’s First Ship has been able to becoming the go-to loft for contract with a local sailmaker to many traditional vessels. Dayle tive was used. build Virginia’s six sails, and the first has already built sails for May- The rig (that is the ar- part of sail construction is already flower II, Mary E. and a number rangement of masts and sails complete. of other ships and boats. that Virginia will carry) is an un- The sails are being made by Virginia’s sails will be usual one even by the standards Dayle Tognoni Ward, co-owner, made from a fabric called Clip- of traditional sailing ships. with her husband Tom, of Tradi- per Canvas, woven in the UK. She will carry three Clipper Canvas is a squaresails — the spritsail, un- polyester cloth that’s der the bowsprit, and the main- made to look and feel sail and main topsail. The oth- like natural canvas, but ers, the staysail, the sprit and much lighter and more the lateen mizzen, are fore and durable. Rather than aft sails, that is, they set parallel the traditional white, to the ship’s centerline. This Virginia’s sails will be arrangement is dubbed the “tanbark”, a brownish “deep-sea rig.” Research into red hue. the design of the vessel led to Tanbark is a the conclusion that the colo- tional Rigging Co. in Appleton, brew made from boiling tree nists might have re-rigged Virgin- Maine. Dayle’s knowledge of sails bark, often oak, in water and it ia for her trans-Atlantic sail, re- came, initially, not from sewing was used for centuries as a placing the simple, two sail them in a loft but from handling preservative for hemp or cot- “coastal” rig shown on the them at sea. ton canvas. When the sails Hunt Map with the more com- Prior to becoming a sail- were soaked in the tanbark so- plicated rig our replica will maker she worked professionally lution they took on a reddish sport. as a crew member aboard tradi- color, which the Clipper Can- With the ship launched tional sailing ships, and has thou- vas will mimic. and rigged, and the sails bent sands of sea miles under her belt. As with many things on, we look forward to seeing Dayle first went to sea at about our new Virginia, there is how Virginia will handle when age 17, sailing in the ships Niagara, no way to know if the original driven by the power of the Pride of Baltimore II, and Spirit of ship’s sails were tanbark or wind. One thing, however, is Massachusetts, among others. After not, but there is every likeli- already clear – she will be a dra- two trans-Atlantics and a European hood that they were, given matic and eye-catching sight. tour in Pride II, she moved ashore how commonly that preserva- Maine’s First Ship: Reconstructing the pinnace Virginia Page 5

Lecture series moves to summer; brings variety

navigation at sea by Mark Phillips, Gayle Bowness of the early interactions with Wabanaki Gulf of Maine Research Institute by Ken Hamilton, and a history described changes in New Eng- and description of the shipyard land’s coastal environment. If you Bath Iron Works (BIW) by Nick missed this presentation you can Nichols. The shipyard is Maine’s go to the following weblink to find oldest and fourth largest employer. more information about this top- Begun in 1856 as the Bath Iron ic: https://gmri.org/news/blog/gulf- Foundry, it has since produced maine-explained-sea-level-rise. more than 425 ships, including 245 The series was jointly military ships. Today, over 5,000 sponsored by MFS and our non- The 2019 MFS Sum- people work in the BIW shipyard, profit partner, the Kennebec Estu- mer Lecture Series featured building and repairing ships. ary Land Trust (KELT). 6 presentations at the Bath Another talk by Jim Par- MFS is now planning our Freight Shed on several mentier discussed the physics be- 2020 Summer Lecture Series to Thursday nights from June to hind global weather patterns and be held again on Thursday nights September. An average of described how to make short-term in the Freight Shed. Look for an- over 40 attendees came to predictions about local weather nouncements on our website each lecture. patterns through an understanding www.mfship.org and via email. The topics ranged of cloud formations and their We hope you can join us. widely, including a history of movements.

MFS Presents Summer at the Freight Shed 2019 The volunteer crew at ing techniques. Lori Benson pre- visit from the USCG Auxiliary Maine’s First Ship offered a second sented on “17th Century Sailcloth” Flotilla 25 out of Boothbay Har- Summer at the Freight Shed pro- for which she experimented with bor. gram with the 2019 schedule in- creating a tanbark solution, used cluding lectures, previously offered to prolong the life of the sail. in the springtime. New activities Woodworking and knot tying joined several events that ap- returned, as did the estuary pro- peared in 2018, the first summer gram with our friends from the of the series. Kennebec Estuary Land Trust; The Solstice Soiree was a and Castlebay treated us to festive evening with music, danc- “Ballads from the 1600s.” Ship- ing, and a bonfire. MFS Volunteer wright Rob Stevens gave a guided Phil Helgerson opened and closed tour of Virginia and MFS President the season’s daytime offerings with Orman Hines led a site visit to two sessions of “Now You’re the Popham Colony. Other Caulking,” with a chance for folks events were the 6th annual Fiber to have a go at 17th century caulk- Day at the Freight Shed and a Page 6 Maine’s First Ship: Reconstructing the pinnace Virginia MFS welcomes local classrooms When you think of Maine’s First MFS provides around this project? riet Bee- Ship you probably think first of In addition to the interpre- cher Virginia, under construction by tive displays that are part of the Stowe the volunteer shipbuilders. Is Jane Stevens Visitor Center and the School in your second thought the educa- lectures and hands-on programs Bruns- tional programs—from maritime offered to the general public, MFS wick heritage to colonial history— volunteers host hundreds of local booked students on field trips to four con- the Bath waterfront. secutive Wednesdays (that’s two The middle of classrooms each week), sharing one October and the early day with their Brunswick neighbors part of November we St. John’s Catholic School and also had six visits planned Phippsburg Elementary. from three schools with If you know a classroom, or two other schools in the other group, that would like to visit process of planning. The please contact the office. 5th grade from the Har- Gundalow Piscataqua offers MFS volunteers sailing and educational opportunities in New Hampshire By Jim Parmentier tion of the many gundalows that were propelled only by the wind Members of the MFS moved with the tides up and and/or the tide, and occasionally by Board got a chance to experience down the Piscataqua, transport- oars. The operators would tie off first-hand what it is like to take ing hay and horses, and agricul- along the bank when the tide an educational cruise on an his- tural as switch unfavorably, and it some- toric ship. They boarded the gun- well as times took two or more tidal cy- dalow Piscataqua at the dock of manufac- cles to reach their destinations the Jackson Estuarine Laboratory, tured Our more modern model had an located on the edge of the Great products on-board diesel engine, and we Bay of all kinds made it back to Portsmouth Har- Na- from the bor in about two hours. tional farmlands The memory will last quite Wild- of New Hampshire to the ship- a while, and will help inspire us as life ping ports in Portsmouth and we develop our own plans to sail Ref- Newburyport. Virginia on the Kennebec. uge The gundalow ride intro- Photo: Strawbery in the duced us to the excitement as Banke Museum up- well as the organizational struc- per ture necessary for developing reaches of the Piscataqua River in our own educational program New Hampshire. for Virginia once she is launched The 65-foot lateen- next summer. rigged Piscataqua is a reproduc- The original gundalows Maine’s First Ship: Reconstructing the pinnace Virginia Page 7

Virginia becomes watertight and ready for the sea

~~~ Virginia became more watertight over the summer with oakum, Virginia is also one step closer to which is traditional hemp and sailing the pine tar, and cotton (which seas with would not have been used in the the near original ship). MFS hired ship- completion wright Andros Kypragoras for of her the masts. Fred work, Gosbee which and Stu is Gillespie nearly shape the com- spars with plete. traditional tools such as axes, MFS planes, and drawknives, as well volun- as the good old traditional chain teers saw! assist- ed Andros in his work, which included spinning the oakum and painting the finished oakum to prevent it from “walking out” and from leeching oil out of the seam compound, which will be payed over the seams. Maine’s First Ship: Reconstructing the pinnace Virginia

Wabanaki Shallops of the Northern Colony By Rob Stevens “Biskay,” Davies appears to other whalers and if it There were many boats to be making a distinction was lost, there was no Maine’s First Ship mentioned in the Davies between these shallops compensation because a PO Box 231 Journal of the North and the larger ones (I be- rent had been paid. The Bath ME 04530 Virginia Voyage. Two lieve based on capacity) Basque chalupa was built Ph: 207-443-4242 types were canoes brought by the Colonists. in Europe, about 26 feet Visit Virginia and the Jane and shallops in the pos- Sometime in the long, round bottom, Stevens Visitor Center at session of the Wa- 1500s, if not earlier, curved stem and stern, lug 27 Commercial Street banaki. By August of Basque whalers and cod sail, 6 crew. (on the water side of the 1607 the Wabanaki fishermen had been com- In the 1500's there Bath Freight Shed) would have had 100 ing to the Northeast are numerous references years of experience with coast from Spain in June by Europeans and Natives European boats. On July and returning MFS shallop Jane Stevens Like us on Facebook 31, 1607, the Mary and by early Janu- John met a "spanishe Keep up with our ary. They shallop" with 8 brought with progress on the web "Salvages" and a boy them partially www.mfship.org who approached but disassembled could not be enticed to chalupas to be trade. After a used as whale- while they boats. These “boldly” ap- chalupas were proached the ship rarely brought and 3 of them back to Spain stayed on board and it is estimated 100s using boats. Europeans overnight. The were left behind yearly. often commented on how next day a differ- These would be sub- confident and competent ent "Biskay shal- merged in ponds and la- the indigenous peoples loppee" came with goons, like birch bark ca- were in using these Euro- three women with noes, to secure them and pen-style boats. For ex- beaver skins to prevent them from drying ample, the "Salvages" the trade. By labeling these out. These chalupas were Popham colonists met shallops “spanishe” and expected to last three told of their chief Mes- years. Sometimes the samouet, an influential Wabanaki would buy one, Mi'kmaq chief who built or often they would just shallops, spent one winter take them when the in France, and would sail whalers returned to Eu- his shallop off shore to rope. When the whale meet the Europeans so as harpooners returned they to control the trade be- would recover it if possi- tween Europeans and In- ble and it was not consid- dians. ered a big deal that it had Stay tuned! In the been used. Harpooners next newsletter I'll write who did not return about Wabanaki canoes would rent their chalupas and English boats .