June 2012 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 21. A VIEW FROM THE PILOTHOUSE III
Erroll George and I spent a lot of time in the “Scurse”. We’d take her out for sails, and sometimes one of us would take her out, and we enjoyed operating her. Our dads said she was automatic, because all they had to do was get aboard and we’d have her underway. She got a lot of use. We carried lobsters in her, they went trawling for hake, they dragged scallops, and we towed crates with her. She would lug, meaning she’d carry a heavy load. A wet crate of lobsters would weigh about 140 pounds. One time at Blackduck Cove we loaded her with, I believe, 50 crates. She was deep loaded, but still had freeboard aft. The load was in her cockpit from about midships aft, and would have weighed about 7000 pounds. She’d easily carry 4000 - 5000 pounds of hake home from off shore.
Our dads had a trip of lobsters going to the west’ard, I think it was either to Dyers Bay or Winter Harbor, and whether the smack was broke down or going somewhere else I don’t remember, but Uncle Shirt took the lobsters in the “Scurse”, and Erroll George and I went with him for a fun adventure.
The Studebaker was replaced by one or two more engines over time, the last one being an eight cylinder Buick Special. All replacement engines were piped off up through the pilothouse. The “Scurse” was a good sailer, and one time she outsailed a brand new boat, this when she was soaked up and maybe needed her bottom cleaned. The MARGARET S. was a wonderful addition to the family business.
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Cracker Gower built a 38 footer, maybe 10 feet wide, with a flush cabin and a pilothouse, and built down keel, for a fellow in Rockport, MA. I think the man had originally come from the Jonesport area. His boat was HELEN
MAE. The boat was for sale so Dad bought her. The famous torpedo stern racer RED- WING was owned by a fellow from home who lived in Kittery. “Josie” Alley from Alley’s Bay, Beals, bought REDWING at that time, so Josie and “Lovey” Beal and Bub Peabody and Dad went to get the boats. Dad and Bub left Rockport with the arrangement that they’d meet Josie and Lovey off of the Isles of Shoals outside of Kittery, and come home in company. Before reaching the Isles of Shoals Dad and Bub encountered thick dun- geon fog. They got to the Isles and hunted around in the fog for REDWING, but she was nowhere to be found. They figured Josie and Lovey must still be in Kittery, given the fog, so they ran in there and they were in there tied up, waiting for HELEN MAE. When the weather cleared the two boats in company made the trip home to Beals. I was in about the seventh grade, and I remember how excited I was that those two boats were coming home. HELEN MAE looked big for a 38 footer and she was high sided. We nicknamed her the “Lump”. She had a Buick Special engine. She was able and could carry heavy loads. HELEN MAE served well and it was good having her in the family business. I could run her, too.
On one wet Memorial Day Dad took some lobsters over to the pound at the West End, Jonesport, in the “Lump”, and I went with him. It was a rainy day, and one memory that has stuck with me all these years is how the water surface looked as the rain drops hit it. As a boy and a future physics teacher I found that fascinating.
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Exploding steak??!! One time Dad and I were staying aboard ARTHUR S. WOOD- WARD while some engine repair work was being done at Southwest Boat Corporation in
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Sou’west Harbor. It was a damp misty morn- ing, but we walked up town to get something for dinner. When he and I were running the smack I was the cook, using that wonderful Shipmate cast iron marine stove, burning hard coal. Parts of the stove would get red hot at times, and biscuits would bake in just minutes. Uptown we decided a steak would be good, so we got a beautiful big one and went back down aboard the smack. (Side note: the cabin had a fresh coat of paint...) Dad was resting on the sidelocker in the cabin and I started to get dinner and get ready to fry the steak. I think Dad was asleep. I wanted to sear that nice steak so I took a damper off the stove and set the big cast iron fry pan right there on the stove just above the very hot coals. The fry pan heated alright! I dropped the steak into the frypan and instantly there was a burst of smoke and grease flying out of that pan! Just as instantly Dad yelled out, “Put the damper on quick!” The cabin was filling with the greasy smoke, and how he knew I had taken the damper off the stove I don’t know. I guess we both were envision- ing what that greasy smoke would do to the new paint. We managed to clean up as nec- essary, and I suppose we proceeded to finish dinner and enjoy it. So, let that be a lesson to you. Next time you’re cooking on a very hot coal stove don’t heat your skillet over the coals without the damper in place, unless you want to replicate the exploding steak aboard the A S W !
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Once we hauled out the A S W on the railway at Southwest Boat Corporation in Sou’west Harbor. When the work was fin- ished it was determined that we’d lanch (launch) her on the tide late Saturday after- noon and go home. All was in readiness, or so we all thought, for the lanching. The process
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started, sliding the big cradle holding the smack down the ways. She moved down OK for several feet, and then something went wrong and the cradle stuck on the ways. Try as they might, the cradle remained stuck. The only reasonable thing to do was to wait until the next high tide early in the morning and try again, meanwhile attempting to fix the cradle with its heavy load. Early Sunday morning we and the boatyard crew were ready to try again to get the smack afloat and free of the cradle. This time it worked! The cradle slid down the ways and the water took the weight of the smack and she floated free. It being Sunday morning, the Lord’s Day, it was unusual to be aboard the smack and going in her. Sundays she was generally on the mooring - no work. We got underway and headed for home, about 40 miles and four hours to the east’ard. The diesel ran perfectly and screamed her delightful sound at 1750 RPM. We arrived home and put ARTHUR S. WOODWARD on her mooring , rowed ashore, went home and greeted Mom (who of course was going to church), cleaned up, and made it to Sunday School and church. A rather busy and atypi- cal Sunday morning.
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You know how the salt water spray leaves your pilothouse windows with a coat- ing of salt? I recommend that you try to keep your pilothouse windows clean so that the views from your pilothouse are crystal clear.
Missed the first two Views From the Pilothouse?
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“Lofting” provides a full size pattern of a two dimensional plan. The bow and stern sections were drawn in full scale to ensure
all angles and views met properly.
Traditionally, the fi rst section of a new boat laid is the keel. Gundalows do not have a keel (single central
timber at the bottom of the boat), so the fi rst section laid is the planking and fl oor timbers in the fl at center section of the boat. Following lofting, the curved bow and stern framing is cut and assembled along with side frames.
Trunnels “tree nails” connect wood parts in the gundalow much like pegs are used in post-and-beam
construction. Thousands of trunnels were used in traditional gundalow construction. We also use hand-cut bronze fasteners for longevity and strength.
The sheathing that wraps the sides and the bottom of the gundalow are called planks. Long
continuous timbers are set in a steam box to make them fl exible and then are bent to fi t the curvature of the boat frames.
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The shear clamp, deck beams, and deck framing and
blocking are installed once the planking is completed. The deck is caulked to insure water tightness.
Thousands of feet of white cotton caulking and oakum will be driven into the gaps
between the planks to create a water tight seal.
Once the decking is in place, the house,
hatches, deck boxes, rails, rudder and stump mast are installed. Our local blacksmith fabricated and installed sweep locks, stanchions for life lines, the yard band and the windlass.
The entire boat is oiled and painted to protect it from the
water, air and sun. Oiling begins as soon as timbers are secured into place.
Sea trials and adjustments are
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completed once the gundalow leaves the shipyard and is launched at Prescott Park. Small fi nal repairs, fi nish work and adjustments are made after it is in the water —then it will be ready for the fi rst public sails!
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©2011 Sam Manning studio NACL
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