Buyboat Central

By Eric Detweiler

Walking around CBMM’s Shipyard recently, Christian Cabral was hit by a thought that made him smile.

“You could snap a picture of our yard right now in black and white, and it’s arguably indistinguishable from the pictures we treasure from 50-, 100plus years ago,” said Cabral, CBMM’s vice president of shipyard operations. “I believe that speaks to what truly is at the heart of the CBMM Shipyard’s mission, which is the preservation of a skillset and a culture. It’s not preservation in the sense that it’s recorded and archived. It’s preserved in the sense that it’s active and taught and lived.”

Indeed, it’s a unique moment in the Shipyard’s history.

Following the completion of their epic Maryland Dove build, CBMM’s shipwrights have been busy working on a series of Chesapeake Bay buyboat projects that offer guests a glimpse into the past while highlighting the future for a historic style of vessel vital to the story of the Bay.

Whether called buyboats, deckboats, freight boats, packet boats, or run boats, these cross-planked workboats used for hauling oysters from skipjacks to market in season and anything else that needed transporting the rest of the year evolved as a necessary adaptation to the needs of the region.

These days, though, there are estimated to be fewer than 30 or so that continue to ply the Bay’s waters, so it’s a rare opportunity to see a group like this

in one place, learn what makes them special, and gain an understanding of the work that goes into preserving and maintaining them.

“The Chesapeake buyboat is an iconic design, and it’s one that’s found aesthetically appealing by a large group of people,” Cabral said. “It’s lent itself to the act of preserving them, it’s lent itself to the act of converting them from their once-commercial selves to a recreational or pleasure craft, and its unique look and style and characteristics also inspire new constructions today.”

As 2023 began, that sentiment was on full display in the Shipyard.

Winnie Estelle, the floating fleet’s venerable 1920 buyboat, was drydocked there to undergo a refit that will allow it to continue its role as CBMM’s

primary passenger-carrying boat into its second century.

Choptank, a 1938 buyboat meticulously restored with a modern look, was docked beside the yard awaiting completion of its renovation with a brandnew interior and rig and readied for Coast Guard certification.

In the Boatshop, Mr. Dickie, a 36-foot new construction inspired by the historic Mundy Point, was springing to life.

Docked on the other side of the Small Boat Shed was another historic buyboat, William B. Tennison. The Shipyard performs annual maintenance on this 1899 bugeye conversion for the Calvert Marine Museum, which this time included the fabrication and installation of a new mast.

Each vessel tells a different story and offers the shipwrights a different challenge.

“They’re all very different projects,” said Curatorial Shipwright Sam Hilgartner. “Meaning the vessels themselves are unique but also the work that we’re performing. With the projects so distinctive, each one requires a little different approach.”

Added together, those projects make for an immersive interpretative experience in the Shipyard.

“Every day, people come in asking, ‘What are you building here?’” Shipyard Foreman Jeff Reid said. “Right now, it’s great because I can actually say, ‘This is the 36-foot version that we’re building, and over there’s a 70-foot version that exists.’ There’s so much for someone to learn just by looking around the yard.”

There will be plenty to see over the coming months as CBMM’s shipwrights get these buyboats prepared for a triumphant return to their native waters.

With this full slate of eclectic projects, all involved are proud to be doing their part to preserve and share the legacy of such an important Chesapeake vessel.

“It’s not really a re-birth for the buyboat but more a continuation and a next chapter for these once-entirely commercial vessels that have a second lease on life,” Cabral said.

Choptank

Just a few years ago, the buyboat now known as Choptank was Crow Brothers II and seemingly nearing its end on a mud bank in Knapps Narrows next to Tilghman Island.

That’s when the team of Joe Robillard, Mike Avery, and Wes Abell stepped in to help, with a vision for what the 1938 buyboat with a long commercial history could be again and a plan to make it happen.

“That’s not atypical for a workboat’s life, but what’s special is that team chose to save it and restore it,” Cabral said. “They did an incredible job and gave a meaningful object a second chance—or maybe a third or a fourth chance because I’m sure it had been worked on previously.”

Rebuilt locally with painstaking care over a period of years, Choptank has retained its historic charm while gleaming with modern style. Late last year, the boat made its way to CBMM for the completion of its renovation.

The Shipyard is overseeing the final fit-out, which involves building out the interior with cabins and heads for expedition-style overnight trips, outfitting it with modern safety equipment, and fabricating and installing a new rig.

“We’re excited to make something nice there,” Reid said. “They’ve done a really nice job with what they’ve done thus far, so we’re going to do everything we can to keep the standard at that level of craftmanship.”

Later this spring, CBMM will initiate the review for Coast Guard certification, with inspections and stability testing that will enable Choptank to carry passengers. After that process is completed, the plan is for it to stay at CBMM to allow for increased on-the-water programming, including overnight excursions.

“It’s an incredible opportunity,” Cabral said. “The capabilities of that vessel and its mission-appropriate design and construction will make it a very powerful tool to help us complete the education and experience missions that we have as an institution with guests of all different ages.”

Mr. Dickie

Mr. Dickie is an homage to the 60-foot buyboat Mundy Point. Named for Dickie Whaley, owner Grigg Mullen’s neighbor when he was growing up in Queen Anne’s County, this new build brings the buyboat look to a scaled-down 36-foot design that features heart pine, white oak, Atlantic cedar, and western red cedar. A retired engineering professor, Mullen started the process of building Mr. Dickie at his home in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, but when he decided he needed help, it was a natural fit to bring the project to CBMM.

“The idea that we could move the construction of Mr. Dickie over here, and it could provide training both for the apprenticeship program and be part of the educational program at the Shipyard, suited the heck out of me,”

Mullen said. “It seemed like the perfect thing to bring it to CBMM and let more people learn from building that boat.”

Mullen has turned the build over to the CBMM team while continuing to source materials and pitching in whenever he has time. He’s watched the buyboat progress toward his vision in recent months under the lead of Reid, who has enjoyed sharing the framing and lofting techniques that have been used for 100-plus years with the latest generation of builders.

“It’s a really good educational tool for us,” Reid said. “We’re talking about what we’re doing and learning more and more about these buyboats, and it’s especially great for the newer builders and apprentices out there to get an opportunity on a new build like this.”

For guests, it’s a rare look at the step-by-step process of a traditional Chesapeake build that encourages repeat visits to the Shipyard. Already, they’ve seen the keel laid, the hull take shape, and the crossplanking begin. More milestones are ahead on the way to the finished product later this year.

“One thing that’s really cool about full construction is that as a guest you can really become a stakeholder in the project,” Cabral said. “For better or worse, the visual result of constructing a vessel kind of happens in fits and starts. There’s a lot of milling and fabrication and then, all of a sudden, a part of the boat is added.

“If you’re stopping by every couple weeks, you can track the progress of our shipwrights and the progress of the boat. And then, we hope everybody joins us on launch day to celebrate all the great work that we’ve put into this build.”

Winnie Estelle

Back in August, a group piled onto Winnie Estelle to escort Maryland Dove on its voyage out of St. Michaels Harbor toward its new home at Historic St. Mary’s City. That cruise was a chance for some volunteer crew and staff to say goodbye to Winnie, as well as part of the final week of the venerable boat’s ninth season at CBMM and 102nd year overall before a needed refit.

Winnie was craned and drydocked last fall and will spend most of 2023 undergoing a significant refit. This spring, CBMM shipwrights have to lift the boat to pave the way for the removal, fabrication, and replacement of its structural timbers, including the keel, chines, and many of the bottom boards.

“It’s an interesting job because that’s essentially the backbone of the boat,” Cabral said.

It’s not the first refit for Winnie Estelle. It had approximately 80 percent of its original wood replaced while being renovated by Roberto Smith in Belize in the mid- 80s, but the keel is original.

The new one will be made of white oak sourced from New York, and the CBMM team will try to reuse as much of the wood as possible while maintaining as much historical integrity as practically possible.

This project is on the scale of previous refits performed on historic vessels Edna Lockwood and Rosie Parks Cabral said he and his crew don’t take the opportunity ahead of them lightly.

“Having a hand in the life of a vessel like this is meaningful when you think about it,” Cabral said. “In the zoomed-out perspective, you’re just one person among the company of many who’ve been part of the vessel’s preservation, which is both humbling and exciting at the same time.”