The Historic St. Mary's City Commission and the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum have announced plans to build a new replica of the Maryland Dove, the 17th-century trading ship that brought the first European settlers to what is now Maryland. The current iteration of the Dove was designed by William Avery Baker, curator of the Francis Russell Hart Nautical Museum at MIT, and was launched in 1978. The 39-year-old vessel is in rough shape, requiring either a complete rebuild of the hull or a new ship altogether to represent this piece of history. Mr. Baker was the designer of a number of other replicas, including the Mayflower IL which is currently undergoing a multi-year restoration at the shipyard at Mystic Seaport. The Maryland Dove
Maryland Dove is owned by the State of Maryland and operated and maintained by the Historic St. Mary's City Commission (HSMCC). Baker's designs were based on ships of that era and descriptions of the Dove in contemporary records, but there were no plans or drawings; thus, it is not a true replica. The new vessel will resemble the existing Maryland Dove, but will be designed to incorporate more recent research. The original 40-ton Dove sailed in company with the 400-ton Ark to deliver colonists and supplies to Maryland. The much smaller Dove was sent so that the colonists would have a vessel to use once the Ark returned to England. The two ships set sail from the Isle of Wight in the fall of SEA HISTORY 160, AUTUMN 2017
1633. Three days into their voyage, a gale piped up and the Dove was seen flying distress lanterns at her masthead before she disappeared into the storm. Those aboard the Ark assumed she had foundered. It was not until more than a month later that they discovered otherwise, when the Dove arrived at Barbados and rejoined the Ark. The two ships sailed in company to the Chesapeake Bay and, in time, made their way up the bay and into the Potomac River. By late March, the settlers moved ashore to a 30acre site they purchased from the local Indians, naming their settlement St. Mary's. At the end of May, the Ark left to return to England, leaving the settlers and the Dove behind. In August of 1635 the Dove set sail back to England carrying furs and timber to trade for supplies and was never heard from again. The shipyard at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is well equipped to handle the job of constructing the new ship. It rebuilt the 1955 skipjack Rosie Parks in 2013, and currently is working on the restoration of the 1889 bugeye Edna E. Lockwood. The project will issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for bids from naval architects to design the new vessel. The design will have to incorporate historical research provided by the team at HSMCC and be able to meet specifications for US Coast Guard safety standards. The museum hopes to start construction early in 2019. (CBMM, 213 North Talbot Street,
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St. Michaels, Maryland; Ph. 410 745-2916; www.cbmm.org. HSMCC, hsmcdigshis tory.org) . . . The Port of Ludington Maritime Museum opened in June, in Ludington's first Coast Guard station (1934-2004), on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. Exhibits cover a range of subjects relevant to Great Lakes shipping and Coast Guard service, including lighthouses, car ferries, the lumber industry,
The Ludington United States Coast Guard Station has been reopened as the new Port ofLudington Maritime Museum. and Great Lakes shipwrecks, as well as a play area with a mini replica of the north break lighthouse. A focal feature of the museum is an interactive pilot house exhibit, simulating the process of taking the car ferry Pere Marquette 22 into port. (217 South Lakeshore Dr., Ludington, MI; www.ludingtonmaritimemuseum.org) (continued on page 53)
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