January 2018 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 19.
R S D H B S F Continued from Page 5.
Lamb’s. I went down to Sutton’s Island and pick them up and they decided they would like to go out the Eastern Way and come in the Western Way. I said sure so we got the sails up and got going and we rounded Baker’s Island and we were off Cranberry Island and heading for the Western Way and it got all black. They wondered if we should take the sails down. I said no, let’s keep them up and if it gets too bad I will just start the engine and luff her up and we will ride it out. Coming into the Western Way the wind struck and I had the sheets started and that was her best point of sail with the center- board up. We were racing along and the sea was coming up level with the stern deck. I don’t think she ever sailed any faster. Then it started pouring and the rain came down off that mainsail in a sheet right down into the cockpit. Those ladies were looking out through the companionway tickled to death they were having the time of their life. They really enjoyed that. By the time that I got into Sutton’s Island the wind had stopped it was all calm and the sun came out. Mrs. Montgomery couldn’t go that day because she had some people to a tea party over to Jordan Pond. They had the card tables set up outside and the napkins and cups and everything and that wind struck all of a sudden and the napkins were fl ying and the tables upset and then it started pouring. Mrs. Montgomery said, ‘Oh goodness, Ralph’s out there with those old ladies what is he going to do?’
The famed boatbuilder Raymond Bun-
ker is a relative of Ralphs. A story Ralph told was about Raymond going to work for
Chester Clement at Sou’west Boat. He said, “Raymond started to go to high school in Patten, Maine where his sister lived. He got through one term and decided it was too far away from salt water. So we came home and his uncle Carl Spurling had a double ender with a 10 hp Knox engine. He carried the workman back and forth from Cranberry Island to Sou’west Boat. Chester Clement paid him $2 a day to clean the shop. After he had been there a week Chester said, “Get some tools and go to work.” Another interesting character and an
accomplished boatbuilder is Steve Spurling, also a relative to Ralph. Ralph added, “Steve was drafted in the Army the fi rst of World War II. He saw a lot of the fi ghting. He went through the North African campaign, the invasion of Sicily and up through Italy and by the time the war ended he was up in Germany, but he walked all the way. He took over sailing for the Milliken’s when I got sick and he stayed with them until he retired. He also worked at Sou’west Boat. They were building the sightseeing boat for Bar Harbor, the FRENCHMAN’S BAY. Archie McCracken was putting in a frame for the forward cockpit and they had these 2 x 4s across her and they were nailing these with huge nails. Steve says, ‘Don’t you think these are pretty long nails?’ “Oh no they’re all right,’ Archie says. Steve went out and looked and they were coming right out through the plank. They splintered the plank so they had to put a new plank in.” “Wendell Gilley everybody knows
about his bird carvings, but they don’t know his early life,” said Ralph. “His father died when I think he was 17 years old. He was going to the University of Maine and he
Boat & Shipyard News Continued from Page 18.
ster boat for a fi sherman from Mount Desert Island and is approximately 66 percent complete. She will be launched this winter. Then they have a Calvin 44 which will be stretched to a 50. Delivered this fall was the New Jersey
Marine patrol boat, INTEGRITY, which was a Calvin 36. Stuart Workman delivered the boat in typical fall weather, which created quite a sea trial. Most of the way between Somes Sound to Gloucester was met with 48 foot seas on the nose. They spent the night in Gloucester and then beat their way to the Cape Cod Canal. Once in the canal it was a nice ride until they got to Buzzards Bay. They battled, and it wasn’t pleasant, all the way to Montauk, New York and spent the night there. They then waited for a weather window to take her the rest of the way to New Jersey. The boat had no problem with a heavy seas and there were no issues, which is a testament to the builder. INTEGRITY is powered with a 500-hp
Cummins, with a 2.53:1 Twin Disc gear, and a four blade 28 x 36 inch propeller.
Light’s Fiberglass in Steuben has three boats in his three bay shop. In the fi rst bay, is a Calvin 44 which
is being fi nished out as a lobster boat for a fi sherman from Cutler. She will be powered with a 730 hp MAN with a simple interior and just a winter back. They are moving her windshield forward 20 inches in order to give her more working deck space. In the next bay, a 46 Wayne Beal hull
is being fi nished out as a lobster boat for a fi sherman from Friendship. For power, she has a 1400 hp MAN. Down below she will have three bunks, a cabinet over the bumps, a galley with an oven/stove, microwave, sink
YORK'S MARINE 11 Gordon Drive Rockland, Maine 04841 (207) 596-7400
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and refrigerator, head, hydraulic room and up in the shelter there is a dinette which can be made into a berth and a mud room for the crew. She also sports a Sat-TV. In the last bay is a number Calvin 44
being fi nished out as a lobster boat for a fi sherman from Jonesport. She is powered with a 750 hp John Deere. Out in the yard is a 46 foot Mussel Ridge
which will be fi nished off as a lobster boat for a fi sherman from Massachusetts; and a 48 foot Mussel Ridge, which is being fi nished out as a lobster boat for a fi sherman from Corea. There are about 11 boats on order and Mike Light says that when these are completed and out the door, he is done.
In the background is the Claremont Inn at the end of Clark Point. The boat in the fore- ground is the 38-footer built by Richard Stanley, Ralph's son, and launched in August.
had to drop out and run the plumbing busi- ness. His father ran the windmill on top of Freeman Hill for the water company. He got caught in the gears and it tore his clothes off and beat him all up. He was a mess when he got downtown where he collapsed. He never really recovered and the next winter he got pneumonia and died. Wendell ran the plumbing business and was installing a furnace in the new high school in 1938. One evening, he had to do something to the fur- nace and in order to get at what he wanted to he had to get in the furnace. While he was in there he got scared and when you get scared your muscles swell up and he couldn’t get out. He tore his clothes off and he fi nally squeezed out but he said he would never get in a furnace again.”
“Oh I write about Burt Spurling,” con-
tinued Ralph. “Burt Spurling had a fi shing schooner built in Essex, Massachusetts, the ELVA L. SPURLING. When that schooner was new Burt was hunting for a crew to man the dories and he was one man short and he went down to Baker’s Island to get Skipper Gilley. Skipper was in his 50s and he said ‘Oh I don’t want to do that,’ but Burt kept after him and fi nally he said, ‘Oh all right I will go on a trip.’ They spent the night in Baker’s Island cove and struck out the next morning and set the dories right down Frenchman’s Bay. Burt was sailing the schooner from dory to dory to see how they were doing when he come to Skipper Gilley. He hailed him and said ‘How are you doing?’ and Skipper Gilley held up an old chamber pot and said, ‘Pretty good if my luck keeps up I will soon have a whole chamber set.’ They had set the trawls where Bar Harbor dumped their garbage.” Ralph continued, “Artemus Richard-
son’s father-in-law was Howard Mayo and Howard Mayo was lost on the schooner MANNIE SAUNDERS. She was loaded with stone and he anchored for the night in thick fog off Cape Cod. He spoke to John Laddie just before he anchored and John Laddie said, ‘I don’t like Cape Cod for a lee shore.’ But Captain Mayo decided to anchor and in the night a steamer came along and struck her and she sank immediately. All were lost except the Negro cook.” “Another time, Howard Mayo was
down in New Orleans waiting for a carg, said Ralph. “Every day these Negro men and women would come down and get in these big barrels and others would come and dump stuff in the barrels and they would mix it up with their feet. Molasses and leaves, all kinds of stuff and they would put in. They never get out of the barrel all day long as they were singing and chanting and stirring the stuff up with their feet. Well, Artemus got curious and asked what in the world those people were doing? ‘Well, they are making chewing tobacco,’ and Artemus said, ‘I never chewed chewing tobacco again in my life.’
Ralph has had a great time putting this
book together and it is a very impressive piece of work. Anyone that knows what it takes to put a book like this together will quickly realize just how much time it has taken to amass the information this book contains. Even if you are not related to anyone in the book, you will fi nd this a very enjoyable book to read. For those interested this is the link to the e-book by Ralph Stanley and his family: http://swh
plibrary.net/digi- talarchive/fi les/web/The%20Stanleys%20 of%20Cranberry%20Isles.pdf
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