July 2017 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 15. Mystic Seaport Shipyard
A view of MAYFLOWER's stern.
MYSTIC, CT – One of the most interesting places to stop, and I try to make it there every year in the spring, is Mystic Seaport Muse- um at Mystic, CT, but more importantly to their shipyard. Last year they were working on the steamer SABINO, but knew that she would not be completed as she needed a new boiler and that MAYFLOWER would be back for a major 30-month restoration, mostly below the waterline. Fortunately I caught up Quentin Sne-
diker, who heads the shipyard. He said, “The big focus is MAYFLOWER. She has been here since November and what I told the crew this morning is that they have 24 months from today and we expect her to be headed down river. We have got a lot of work ahead of us, but I can’t see that that the obligation is not going to be met. We have got a good gang here now and quite a few more joining next month. I would say that we have 80 percent of the materials that we need for the project on hand and the rest is either contracted for or being negotiated for. Now it is just a matter of putting it all together. “It is kind of a general rebuild,” said
Quentin “starting with the fl oor timbers, frames, a lot of planking, the planking that was good had to be removed to access the framing. She will also get a couple of new sticks.” MAYFLOWER is 60 years having been designed by William Avery Baker and
A view of MAYFLOWER's bow.
built at the Upham Shipyard in Brixham, England in 1955-56. On 20 April 1957 she set sail from Plymouth, England under the command of Alan Villiers and arrived in the East River, New York on 1 July. Quentin added, “She is 60 years old this year, great pedigree, great history. We looked at her as a historic ship in her own right even though she is a re-creation. She has received reason- able maintenance and care through those 60 years, but there comes a time where a general restoration is demanded by a large wooden structure.” “We are in the fi nal weeks of SABINO
restoration,” said Quentin. “This was also about a 2½ year project, which included not only major structural work, but also replac- ing her boiler. The boiler was a little bit of a surprise to us in that we thought we could repair the old boiler, but by the time we had both regulatory, insuring and others look at it it was decided that the best thing to do was to replace it wholesale. The challenge was fi nding a company that was willing to take on the challenge of designing and building something very close to the boiler which she had, which is an Almy boiler built in Providence around the late 30s or early 40s. The tubes were all threaded and today’s code demands it all to be welded; her safety valves didn’t quite meet the modern code and the
Continued on Page 24. Boatyard Or Backyard
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