RESTORING ESTELLA A

RESTORING THE FRIENDSHIP SLOOP ESTELLA A. By Quentin Snediker

The launching of Estella A. was a remarkable event occurring on New Year’s Day 1904, according to Newell McLaine (1895-1984), son of her builder. It was a cold winter and ice was thicker than usual at Bremen, Maine, on Muscongus Bay. Despite this challenge, a crew cut a channel in the ice to allow Estella A.’s launch. Robert (Rob) E. McLaine, Estella A.’s builder, was promised a $25 dollar bonus, above the contracted price of $425, for an early launch.

Estella A. is 34’6” long, with a beam of 11’9” and draft of 5’6”, typical or slightly larger than the average working “Maine Sloop Boat.” Today the type is more commonly known as a Friendship Sloop, named for the town in Maine where the type is said to have originated during the second half of the 19th century. While known primarily as lobster boats, they found use in a variety of fisheries. “Sloop Boats” were successful in their service and many were found up and down the coast of Maine and beyond.

As engine powered craft replaced sailing vessels in commercial service, many of these original working vessels were converted to recreational sailing because of their aesthetic beauty. In more recent years, they have been reproduced in both wood and fiberglass. Friendship Sloops have become an iconic symbol of the design elements identified with classic sailing vessels: gaff rig, clipper bow and strong shear.

Rob E. McLain built Estella A. at Bremen, Long Island, Maine for Henry Jackson (Jack) Ames of Matinicus. The vessel was named for Jack’s daughter, Julia Estella Ames. Ames operated Estella A. as a commercial fishing and lobster boat. McLain built Estella A. using native red oak for frames with white pine planking and deck. The vessel originally carried iron inside ballast and had a two-cylinder nine-horse power Knox marine gasoline engine. A winch head for hauling gear was fit to her engine. Estella A. is said to have been the first sloop fit with auxiliary power launched from Bremen, later a common practice. McLain selected his own timber, used grown hackamatack (American Larch) knees for floors timbers and used shop made galvanized iron fastenings, helping to account for Estella A.’s longevity. Ames fished Estella A. for lobster and fish, until 1925 when he started hauling freight among the many coastal settlements of the region.

In 1930, Ames sold Estella A. to Lieutenant Commander Duncan I. Selfridge of Jamestown, RI, for use as a yacht in Narragansett Bay and surrounding waters. Selfridge sailed Estella A. in its original gaff rig for several years. By 1937, he removed the iron inside ballast replacing it with outside lead and converted the gaff rig to a “jib-headed” or “Marconi” rig for easier handling. He also extended the cabin house providing more comfortable cruising accommodations. In 1957, after more than half century of active sailing, Mrs. Selfridge donated the vessel to Mystic Seaport Museum to become part of our waterfront floating exhibits. The Museum returned Estella A. to working configuration, removing the added house, sistered deteriorated frames and returned the gaff rig.

As is true of all wooden vessels the boat continued to age and deteriorate until it could no longer remain afloat. In 1967, Estella A. was hauled at the Museum’s railway to await restoration. While ashore, her deterioration advanced rapidly. Mystic Seaport Museum’s Preservation Shipyard was still several years in the future, so the vessel was shipped to Thomaston, Maine to be restored by the Newbert and Wallace Shipyard.

Shipyard Supervisor Maynard Bray supervised the res- As the Museum reopened and we move forward, we toration insuring historic integrity and returning the are poised to complete workshop preparation and bevessel to near original condition. To increase longev- gin the Estella A. restoration project. Shipwright Trevor ity, two notable changes from original were the use of Allen will lead the project. more durable white oak Trevor is a skilled craftsinstead of red and bronze person with deep experiscrew fasteners in place ence and very much enjoys of original galvanized working with Museum voliron. Sailmaker Nat Wil- unteers. The project plan son built her cotton sails calls for Allen to work full in the Mallory Sail Loft. time for two years with an Wilson is at the helm in entry-level shipwright asthe underway images we sisting on a half-time basis. have today. Together they will direct

Now after another 50 volunteers averaging two or years exposed to the el- three individuals each day, ements and rigors of the with the project ongoing salt-water environment seven days a week. Estella A. is again in need Mystic Seaport Museum of complete restoration. is committed to preservIn 2010, we recognized Sail Plan to which Estella A. will be restored as revised by Larry Jacobsen after exhaustive research. MSM WSP 7.22.2 ing its unique collection of the level of deteriora- more than 500 watercraft, tion had progressed to a point where the vessel was in ranging from the 400-ton Charles W. Morgan to canoes, structural jeopardy. We removed the mast and rig and kayaks and other small vessels. Estella A. is one of put it under cover essentially “mothballing” Estella A. to seven medium-size watercraft in the Museum’s collecawait time and resources to begin restoration. Two sig- tion maintained on display, afloat in their natural envinificant large projects took precedence; restoring our ronment. These vessels are docked together along the 1841 National Historic Landmark whaling ship Charles W. bulkhead now referred to as “Fisheries Row”. Over the Morgan followed immediately by our collaboration with last two and a half decades, five of these seven vesPlimoth Plantation to restore Mayflower II. With these sels have undergone significant restoration. Of those, projects behind us, we began actively planning Estella Estella A. is now most in need of restoration. A.’s next restoration. We are fortunate to have a great deal of original

In 2019, we could no longer depend on the vessel re- research done during the boat’s 1970’s restoration maining afloat; this demanded we take action bringing housed in the Shipyard Documentation Office. Maynard her lay up in the water to an end. As proven in the late Bray conducted several oral interviews including Newell 1960’s, the vessel cannot be stored on shore for any McClain, son of Estella A.’s builder; Oscar Ames’s son great length of time before the structure will dry out the first owner; and Mrs. Julia Estella Ames Ripley for and begin to come apart, as wooden elements shrink whom the boat was named. These documents and the and fastening deteriorate rapidly, losing shape and work of many others who have gone before have been damaging those structural elements that are in good the basis of this paper and will greatly contribute to the enough condition to remain in the vessel. We therefore restoration with the highest degree of historic integrity. decided this was the time to begin full restoration. The vessel is in place, the workshop is nearly ready,

In order to accomplish the restoration and optimize we have retained the skilled craftspeople, and much the benefit to Museum visitors, we dedicated a water- of the material is in hand. As the Museum returns to front boat shed, formerly housing Australia, to the proj- operation in a safe phased manner, work will again reect. The new shop is named the Armstrong Workshop sume, adding a safe, educational, outdoor exhibit for to honor the former trustee, Richard Armstrong, who our visitor’s enjoyment and preserving this important donated initial funds for the restoration. This space will watercraft with deep New England connections. allow maximum visibility and will facilitate interaction between visitors and Shipyard craftspeople. Prepara- Quentin Snediker is the Clark Senior Curator of Watercraft tion of this Workshop was well underway last winter and the director of the Preservation Shipyard. and early spring when progress came to a halt due to the present world health crisis.

A NEW PAINTING OF AN OLD SHIP By Paul O’Pecko

The painting seen here is entitled The Golden Age Whaler Charles W. Morgan, New Bedford. It was painted by J. Duncan Gleason of Los Angeles in about 1920. The painting was recently acquired by Mystic Seaport Museum and is one of at least three examples of portraits of the Morgan by artists who worked earlier in their lives as magazine illustrators. The other two illustrator/ artists are Gordon Grant and Montague Dawson, both names well known in marine art circles. Gleason was a fan of Howard Pyle, author and illustrator of The Book of Pirates, whose influence can be seen in this picture. Gleason’s palette, illustrative style and inclusion of a human element in his composition is evocative of Pyle’s The Pirate Was a Picturesque Fellow and other works. Gleason’s colors seem to jump off the canvas as both the boy and his little dog seem transfixed by the old whaleship being pushed through the harbor by the little tug.

Duncan Gleason was a multi-talented man who started working for an engraving company when he was only 14, but later became known as a landscape painter and painter of maritime subjects. In a completely different arena, he excelled as a successful gymnast who won multiple national championships and an international championship on the flying rings. He later worked for several well-known Hollywood movie studios as an artist and consultant on movies in which ships played a major role, such as Captain Blood with Errol Flynn. His physical prowess reportedly earned him a place as a stuntman on a number of films as well.

Before World War I, Gleason moved from Los Angeles to New York to continue his art studies and work in the magazine business, illustrating for a number of different companies. He moved back to California after the war was over and married Dorothy Ferguson who, in 1922 with Gleason, wrote the text to the Gleason-illustrated book Windjammers. The etching of the Morgan seen here is one of two of the ship in the book done by Gleason at that time. It is likely during the time he was doing this etching that our newly acquired painting was completed as well. Gleason had an obvious affinity for the Morgan as other paintings of the whaler appeared in exhibitions in Los Angeles in later years. While many of the ship portraits in the collection give a broadside view of the vessel for easy identification, this portrait of the Charles W. Morgan presents us with a little more life and character, both of which the ship deserves in full measure.