Page 26. MAINE COASTAL NEWS April 2009
TOM MORRIS AND YOUNG BROTHERS
INDUCTED INTO BOATBUILDER'S HALL OF FAME
The Young Brothers, is made up of three and three of them certainly did, Benny, Otto who did, like Ernest Jr.”
Continued from Page 1.
bothers, Colby, the oldest and the two twins, and Herman Jr. Benny built boats and also The Young Brothers started building
Morris Yachts was saddened by the loss Arvid and Arvin. They come from a worked at the Boston navy yard. Otto worked boats right out in their dooryard. They started
of their founder Thomas D.C Morris Sunday, boatbuilding family and when young always at Southwest Boat in Southwest Harbor dur- with a Newman and Webber’s Cove hulls.
December 7
th
2008. Tom was diagnosed with visited the area boat shops. Their great grand- ing World War II. Herman Jr. spent the World First for themselves and then for a customer
cancer in the summer of 2007 and fought it father on their mother’s side came from Fin- War II in the Coast Guard, but came back and from New York, which was 1974. Arvid added,
valiantly. To those who knew him it will not land to New York on a sailing ship when he built a number of boats. “I think it was Vin who said to our mother, ‘if
be surprising to know that he outlived all the was about 15 years old. He took passage on The Young Brother’s father was born we are going to build boats let’s build them for
doctors’ prognosis. a boat from Jonesport, which needed crew and brought up at Corea. Colby added, “The ourselves.”
The Young Brothers. and promised him he could return on their only thing he could build was a lobster trap. Colby added, “They were up on the
Anyone that has been along the coast of return. Well, when he landed in Jonesport he When he married our mother he said to her wharf one morning, chewing the rag, and I
Maine very long and loves lobster boats liked it so much he never left. ‘All I do is fish, that’s what I do. Want walked up and they said, ‘what do you think
certainly knows who the Young Brothers are, This was Herman Backman, known as anything done you gotta do it or get it done,’ about building a boat? I said, ‘What do you
especially if you followed lobster boat racing Jack, who became a fisherman. It is thought and he went fishing.” mean build a boat, we just did.’ ‘No, build our
in the 1970s and ‘80s. that he never built boats, but he had five sons, They all spent some time on Beals Island, own.’ ‘Well, I guess if you want to do it I’ll go
but Colby more than his brothers because he with you.’
A New Nautical Book You
spent a lot of time with his grandparents. A local fisherman had one of Osmond
When they all got older they visited any shop Beal’s 38 footers in the harbour, which was
that was busy.” three years old. At that time she was a big
Have to Own!
There father had a new boat built in 1942, boat, with the classic lines. They asked if he
which Colby would own later, and another in could use his boat as a plug. He said that he
1963. needed something to fish in and they told him
captains offers adventure of another kind.
All three Young Brothers loved the wa- that they would take care of that. Colby
Sewall captains were required to make regular
ter and their country and when they got out added, “We didn’t know diddly squat about
reports to the Sewall office, and this
of high school they joined the military. Colby building boats.”
correspondence is a treasure-trove of stories
joined the Navy in 1956 hoping to be a bosun’s In the fall of 1976 they hauled the boat
about the voyages of Sewall ships—surly
mate. However after the tests they wanted out, took off her guards and put her in their
crews, mutinies, plagues, shipwrecks,
him to be an engineer and he ended up a pipe shop. When she was launched they sold six
“cannibal isles,” destitute widows, and more,
fitter. Then when he was in Florida he got boats, four hulls and two completions. Arvid
along with details of ship performance,
married. added, “It was now fish or cut bait and we
weather encountered, trouble in port, and
Colby’s first two boats were built by went building boats.”
even lawsuits. The Sewalls also invested in
Harv Church of Steuben. The first one he When the Young Brothers looked for
railroads and other non-maritime securities
bought when he got out of the service and their next model, enter Ernest Libby Jr. of
and speculations, and also became involved
said it was older than he was. Fishing was Beals Island. Arvid said, “Nernie came to us.
in politics, but it is in the maritime world that
poor at the time and he sold the boat and One day he was putting his shoes on and
they are best remembered. As the owners of
applied to the Department of Marine Re- Myrtle said, ‘What are you doing?’ ‘I am
the last surviving important fleet of American
sources and Bath Iron Works. BIW called going to the Young Brothers.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Be-
square-riggers engaged in worldwide trade,
first and he went to work for them. Colby cause they can do a lot more with my model
“Live Yankees it was the Sewalls’ fate to draw the curtain on
explained, “After eight months, I quit. I found than I can and he come up to see us.”
THE SEWALLS AND THEIR SHIPS” this economic enterprise. No family had
out quick why ships cost so much. I came Libby was building the 33 in his shop and
By W. H. Bunting worked more assiduously, more stubbornly,
home, set out 50 pair traps with my grandfa- the Young Brothers asked for a few changes.
Published with Maine Maritime Museum or with more enterprise to delay the arrival of
ther in Winter Harbor and have been here They removed the tumblehome, added a fuller
Hardcover, $30; 512 pages, photographs that day.
ever since.” bow and some other minor changes. Arvid
During 1965 Colby sold his used boat said, “We did the 33 and then we did the 45,
that constantly needed repairs and went fish- the 40, 38, 30 and 42 and we built about 550
ing with his father. During that time he or- boats over 32 years.”
dered a new one from Vinal Beal on Beals There is no question that the Young
Island. Brothers had a good model and built a good
Arvid added, “We come home after our boat. However, in business one needs to
first stitch in the Coast Guard and things market and they did this with a passion of
wasn’t good on the coast of Maine, so we theirs, racing. Arvid said, “The racing part
went back and re-enlisted for six more years.” was mostly Vin.”
During boot camp Arvid had the top “The first race they had at Winter Harbor
bunk and Arvin the bottom. But of all the nine Festival I was in it,” added Colby. “There
years the twins spent in the Coast Guard they were three boat and I came in third.”
only spent a month together on one ship a They would pull out an engine one
weather vessel out of Portland. evening and be on the race course the next
Colby added, “Boatbuilding came natu- day. It was their SOPWITH CAMEL, I and II,
ral. When I was a kid I was always tinkering which would make headlines for over a de-
mechanical. When we started the business if cade. Their biggest competitor was the Corliss
The launching of the ship HARVESTER in 1875.
there was something we couldn’t do or think Holland’s RED BARON and between the two
“This stunning voyage through a
we couldn’t do, we went and found someone they certainly made the headlines.
century of maritime globalization welds
In 1987 the SOPWITH CAMEL II was
sailing-ship seafaring, building, and owning
retired undefeated. Since that time they came
into a sumptuous exploration of the Maine-
Marine
and raced in their lobster boats and still made
coast capitalism, modernization, and
a great showing.
determination which kept great sailing vessels
Two years ago the Young Brothers
afloat and profitable far into the steamship
closed their shop and continued with their
era.” — John R. Stilgoe, Harvard University
Parts
first love, lobstering. In 2008, Arvin passed
away. Their 32 year run building boats and
For nearly a century members of the
the reputation they built is an incredible part
Sewall family built and managed a fleet of W. H. Bunting is the author of Portrait of
Express
of the history of boatbuilding in the State of
more than one hundred merchant vessels, a Port: Boston 1852–1914; Steamers,
Maine.
mostly stout deepwater square-riggers. No Schooners, Cutters, and Sloops; A Day’s
family has been more intimately associated
Continued from Page 5.
Work: A Sampler of Historic Maine
Maine Coastal
with the history of the city of Bath, then Photographs, 1860–1920 in two volumes; parts. Now, more and more people go on the
among the most productive shipbuilding Sea Struck; and The Camera’s Coast. With Internet and the margins have really de-
communities of any size in the world. Despite Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr., he was co-author of creased. Everybody goes out shopping. We
News
a veneer of old-fashioned formalized civility, An Eye for the Coast: The Maritime and have people buying $40-50,000 engines
international shipping in the late 1800s and Monhegan Island Photographs of Eric through the Internet, which in the past you
is now on the web at:
early 1900s was a highly competitive, low- Hudson. Bunting lives in Whitefield, Maine. would never do.”
margin, and often cut-throat business. While To order call (207) 223-8846 and save 10 So if you need an engine or parts for an
"www.mainescoast.com"
the Sewalls’ shrewd responses to market % and support the International Maritime engine, or may be you have an old engine just
changes make a fascinating story, the Library. sitting under a tarp outside, call Marine Parts
surviving correspondence from their Express of Edgecomb I bet they can help you.
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