September 2014 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 9. Waterfront News Maine Maritime Museum Opens Blacksmith Shop Exhibit


Blacksmith Shop Exhibit completes important chapter in Maine shipbuilding legacy


BATH – When the ribbon is cut for the Kenneth D. Kramer Blacksmith Shop Ex- hibit during a member’s reception on Friday, August 15, it will mark the latest transforma- tive addition to Maine Maritime Museum’s campus and will complete the curated story of the historic Percy & Small Shipyard, part of the museum’s campus and a remarkable story in Maine’s maritime heritage. From 1894 to 1920, the Percy & Small Shipyard built an astonishing 41 four- fi ve- and six-mast schooners. Of only 11 six-mast wooden schooners ever built in the Americas, 7 were constructed at the P&S yard including WYOMING, largest of them all. When the P&S site was donated to the museum in 1975, it was remarkably intact, the only U.S. shipyard that built large wooden sailing vessels that still had original buildings. The only one missing was the blacksmith shop.


“While it may seem surprising that a blacksmith shop would be an important part of a wooden vessel shipyard, WYOMING was built with more than 300 tons of iron and steel,” says Amy Lent, the museum’s executive director. “In addition to the an- chor and usual metal fastenings and fi ttings present in all ships, the huge wooden ship’s hull could not have borne the incredible pressures created by the 6,000 long tons of coal in her holds without the iron strapping that kept her timbers in place.”


During the 26 years that the P&S shipyard was in business, there were two different buildings that served as the black- smith shop. The fi rst, which outfi tted all of the six-mast schooners, was destroyed by fi re in 1913 – not an unusual occurrence for wooden buildings housing open forges in an environment fi lled with wood shavings and sawdust. Very little information is available about the interior of that building and few clear exterior photos exist. The shop con- tained at least one forge and also a boiler for the yard’s steam box for making heavy planking pliable. The second blacksmith shop building was torn down in 1939, long after P&S had ceased operation. The exhibit approximates the original


building’s dimensions of 84 x 26 feet and lo- cation due east of the Paint & Treenail Shop. To preserve the integrity of the shipyard’s original historic buildings, the new structure is not an attempt at a historical recreation of the original building. Instead, the propor- tions, dimensions and materials used evoke the original building and its purpose while clearly being a contemporary structure. To develop the plan of how to represent the blacksmith shop building, the Arrowsic, architectural fi rm of Theodore & Theodore was selected.


“As architects we always want our building to relate to the site,” says Steven Theodore. “With the Blacksmith Shop we attempted to use the building’s transparen- cy to frame views from the structure to its surroundings - offering new ways to see the museum’s buildings and grounds.”


U. S. NAVY N E W S Continued from Page 8.


60-member Navy task force that delivered a plan for formal review to integrate enlisted women into the submarine force by 2016. “Ken was the consummate naval offi -


cer, full of adventure, full of laughter, full of love and full of service,” Richardson said. Perry closed his fi nal remarks by thank- ing the Navy for “a great adventure.”


DoD Registers Concern to China for Dangerous Intercept


By Amaani Lyle, DoD News


WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The Defense Department has expressed its concern to Chinese diplomatic offi cials about an Aug. 19 incident in which an armed Chinese fi ghter jet conducted a dangerous intercept of a U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon patrol aircraft, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby told reporters Aug. 22. The aircraft was on a routine mission when the intercept took place over the Pa- cifi c Ocean about 135 miles east of Hainan Island in international airspace, Kirby said. “We have registered our strong con- cerns to the Chinese about the unsafe and unprofessional intercept, which posed a risk to the safety and the well-being of the air- crew, and was inconsistent with customary international law,” he said.


Kirby also noted that DoD offi cials believe the Chinese jet made several passes and crossed under the aircraft with one pass having only 50-100 feet of separation. “The Chinese jet ... passed the nose of the P-8 at 90 degrees with its belly toward the P-8 Poseidon, we believe to make a point of showing its weapons load out,” Kirby said. “They fl ew directly under and alongside the P-8, bringing their wingtips ... to within 20 feet and then conducted a roll over the P-8, passing within 45 feet.”


The admiral asserted that the incident


undermines efforts to continue developing military-to-military relations with the Chi-


nese military.


“This kind of behavior, not only is un- professional, it’s unsafe,” Kirby said, “and it is certainly not keeping with the kind of military-to-military ... relations that we’d like to have with China.” On April 1, 2001, a Chinese fi ghter jet collided with a U.S. Navy EP-3 surveillance aircraft -- the P-8 Poseidon’s predecessor aircraft -- that was fl ying a routine mission in international airspace over the South China Sea. Wang Wei, the Chinese pilot whose fi ghter jet collided with the EP-3, was killed. The damaged EP-3 made an emergency landing on China’s Hainan Island, where its crew was held by Chinese authorities and eventually released.


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While the open design permits expan- sive views of the P&S shipyard and the Ken- nebec River, an innovative combination of corrugated weathering steel (which oxidizes to a rust-colored fi nish) and rough-cut wood framing was selected to reference shipbuild- ing materials. Because of building’s open design, extensive engineering was required. Zachau Construction of Freeport was the builder, Albert Putnam was the structural engineer, Crooker & Sons performed the excavation and paving, Rockport Steel pro- vided and erected the structural framing, and Hahnel Bros. provided and installed the steel siding.


The structure houses exhibits related to the blacksmith activities that took place there while also providing a gathering place


for functions and visitors. On occasion, blacksmithing demonstrations will be con- ducted in the building. A special public celebration of the ex- hibit opening was held August 16. Demon- strations of various types of blacksmithing was conducted from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. along with other shipbuilding demonstrations. Replacing the blacksmith ship was a vision of former MMM Trustee Kenneth D. Kramer, who passed away in 2009 leaving a generous bequest that included funds to construct a Blacksmith Shop building. Thanks entirely to Ken the complete shipbuilding story of the great schooners can now be told, and so the new exhibit building bears his name.


Whaleship CHARLES W. MORGAN Back at Mystic


MYSTIC, CT — The whale ship CHARLES W. MORGAN returned to Mystic Seaport on August 6. The ship was towed from New London to the Museum, where it tied up at its traditional berth at Chubb’s Wharf. This was the conclusion of the vessel’s historic 38th Voyage.


The ship was scheduled to depart City Pier in New London at 2 p.m. and arrive at Mystic Seaport at 5:30 p.m. A homecoming ceremony was held im- mediately upon the ship’s arrival. The public was invited to gather at Chubb’s Wharf to welcome the ship back to the Museum. Elements and activities from the dockside exhibit that accompanied the ship were set up on the wharf, including Spouter, a life- size, infl atable sperm whale model. MORGAN was reopened to visitors on


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