Community Rebuilds Shipyard The blackened, charred ruins of the Gannon and Benjamin Marine Railway, on the Vineyard Haven waterfront in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, made a heartbreaking sight after an early morning fire engulfed it on October! 7 (above). Even if you didn ' t know the hard work and dedication that partners NatBenjamin and Ross Gannon had poured into the shipyard, you might have wept. The fire caused an estimated $350,000 worth of damage to the one-of-a-kind shipyard which specialized in the construction, reconstruction, and repair of wooden boats. Since founding the operation in 1980, Benj am in and Gannon had established a successful center for wooden boatbuilding and, what 's more, had made it work economically. The pair had developed a steady business building large vessels. Although two of these were lost in the blaze, saved from mortal damage were the sloop Java and an English cutter which was perched on the yard 's marine railway. The cutter escaped the flames when its hauling cradle was cut loose and slipped into the water. When NMHS member Nat Benjamin made hi s aftermath pledge, "We ' ll rebuild and it will be better," he could not have imagined how soon. On Saturday and Sunday November 11 and 12, some 100 volunteers, including every capable contractor on the Island, were hard at work rebuilding the yard, not stopping for anything. NMHS Chairman Emeritus Karl Kortum and President Peter Stanford were invited that Sunday to the site by Society member Ralph Packer of Packer Marine. Said Peter of the scene: "The building was virtually completed with very fine workmanship. And they'd only started at 8:00AM the day before ! The volunteers were working at a red-hot pace, no tools down, not stopping to talk to visitors, pause for photos, anything." For Karl Kortum , Chief C urator of the Maritime National Hi storical Park in San Francisco, it was a striking demonstration of the old New England tradition of barnraising and , for everyone, a proof that the traditional values of hard work and cooperation can still accomplish miracles. KH
Above, the Christeen, oyster sloop of 1883, lies quietly at the steamboat dock at the Connecticut River Museum, the village of Essex in the background. Photo courtesy Connecticut River Museum .
Christeen Finds Friendly Berth On November 15, 1989, Sea History Gazette published a plea for help from Ben Clarkson and Bob Eldredge, owners of the Christeen, an 1883 oyster sloop out of New London, Connecticut. The letter warned that Christeen "may not survive the long winter ahead unless immediate action is taken to stabilize her." Plans were to "reintroduce her into the marine commerce trade between Orient Poi nt, New York, and New London, Connecticut," operating as a nonprofit educational institution, working to preserve the tradition of oystering in the Long Island Sound-a trade that died due to the mysterious di sease MSX during the 1950s. Enter the National Maritime Historical Society, who took Clarkson and Eldredge to the Connecticut River Museum. CRM Director Brenda Milkofsky had been looking for a floating ex hibit to make full use of the Museum 's impressive dock space, and so Christeen ¡came to the Museum . "The boat gives an add itional important dimension to the Museum and, frankly," says Milkofsky, "Christeen is the answer to our prayers-an hi storic vessel at our dock that the Museum does not own." Ben Clarkson, a former Coast Guardsman and restoration carpenter, was happily surpri sed at the community's reception to the hi storic vessel. The day they arrived, the attention caused a traffic jam in town , and for Christmas the vessel and her ri gging were done up in holiday lights. "It was really a beautiful thing," said Clarkson. Clarkson and Eldredge (who owns a boatbuilding company) plan to restore the vessel and sail her in Operation Sail 1992 as part of her educational mission . (Connecticut River MN Museum , Essex CT 06426)
FRAMED OIL PAINTINGS
of LIBERTYS, VICTORYS
and FAMOUS SAILING SHIPS
$200 to $1800 Catalog on Request. Write C. REINHOLD
P. 0 . Box 77382 San Francisco, CA 94107 39