Silent Maid: SPLASH!...the launching of an historic replica @ the Independence Seaport Museum

Catboat,Silent Maid

LOA: 33'

Beam: 12'6"

Draft: 2' 6" Board up

Sail area: 960 sq. ft.

Commenced: November 18, 2004

Silent Maid was designed by Francis Sweisguth and built by Morton Johnson of Bay Head, NJ in 1924. Intended primarily as a cruising boat, she was capable of some speed and was the B class catboat champion on the Barnegat Bay in 1925. We are building a copy of Silent Maid to sail on the Barnegat Bay and the original boat will become a museum piece. In this way the original is preserved with all of her history intact yet the experience of sailing an early 20th century catboat is still available.

Courtesy Independence Seaport Museum

My first view of her.

Stern view

Bow

Volunteers rigging the forestay

John Brady, the Workshop on the Water's manager, head builder and guiding light, overseeing the preparations.

Fitting the cockpit benches.

The indispensable Newt Kirkland making final cuts to the benchtops in the workshop.

Russ and Julia Mannheimer came up from Barnegat Bay for the festivities.

They own Sjogin, (see a previous post).

That's longtime volunteer Wendy Byar rigging the mooring lines. Wendy has built some 50 odd boats and blogs about it here.

Up the mast in the bosun's chair, making some last minute preparations.

...like removing this piece of carpet.

Karl Schoettle, grandson of Edwin J. Schoettle, was one of many relatives of the builder and owner of the original Silent Maid present.

Edwin built her in 1924 and owned her until 1948.

She's up...

And in!

John tosses the mooring line.

Setting the fenders.

John Brady with a look of satisfaction (I think). He should take satisfaction in a job well done. With her bright hull and meticulous workmanship throughout, Silent Maid is worthy of pride.

Down below she is spacious with lots of headroom, lots of lockers, clean and neat.

And gorgeous.

That's my brother John (red shirt) who's been volunteering at the museum library and invited me to the event. We had a great day, thanks John.

Lori Rech is the museum's President.

The party moves onboard as John and I depart.

Time for one last shot.

All in all it was a wonderful afternoon. John and I, not realizing the scope of this launching, were expecting a small informal gathering. Imagine our surprise and delight to find a huge crowd, live band and a catered affair, not to mention an open bar! We felt a little underdressed, but I suppose it's not the first time. John had done some work last year surveying a part of the Museums collection and liked the place so much he's gone back to volunteer in the library. It's a very impressive museum, especially with the active boatshop producing such excellent work. A recent exhibit, Skin and Bones, Tattoo's in the Life of the American Sailor has been receiving high praise, including this double thumbs up review in the New York Times. Next weekend, the Traditional Small Craft Association is holding it's Annual Meeting to coincide with the Seaports' Wooden Boat Festival, this Saturday, June 20, 1-4 pm. See you there.

And a big thanks to the owners of this boat, Peter and Cynthia Kellogg and Jane and Shepard Ellenberg, for making all of this possible.

postscript: Gavin Atkin of intheboatshed today (6/19) posted this piece on Edwin Shoettle's classic book from 1928, Sailing Craft, and has included some of his own musings on the catboat. There are picture's and plans of the original Silent Maid along with other catboats of the day. Don't miss this.

Phoenix Rising: Silent Maid Sendoff

Silent Maid, a 33’ sleek gaff-rigged catboat, hand-crafted by Workshop on the Water at Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia, PA, will be touring boat shows, regattas, and yacht clubs from New York to Maine. This lovely vessel is a recreation of the original Silent Maid, designed in 1924 by Francis Sweisguth for Edwin Schoettle of Island Heights, NJ,and built by Morton Johnson of Bay Head, NJ. Intended primarily as a cruising boat, the original Silent Maid was the B class catboat champion on the Barnegat Bay in 1925. The original boat will become a display piece at Independence Seaport Museum, preserved with all her history intact.

courtesy ISM

John Brady offering thanks to the volunteers who have helped make Silent Maid a reality.
Joan Bernstein, in the green 'lascivious biddies' T, organized the event, with the help of Wendy Byar and Gina Pickton.

Carolyn Hesse varnishing the mainmast

Gina Pickton working on...?

Maid's stern counter littered with tools, the previous Sunday as last minute preparation is underway

Here my brother John seems to be contemplating Torch, in for maintenance. Torch is one of the fleet of the much ballyhooed A Cat Barnegat Bay racing revival. This is a local to NJ racing class which evolved from the classic working catboats of Barnegat Bay and dates back to the 1920's. It is an all out pure racing group, constantly evolving, grounded in tradition, and a viable though expensive alternative to today's hyperventilated carbon fiber delicacies. John Brady and David Beaton and Son's Boatyard have been the main producers of the contemporary boats, each with about five builds. There is a valuable book on the boats, their origins and contemporary exploits here.
John and I were hanging out hoping to sight
Niña and Pinta, replicas commissioned and sailed by the Columbus Foundation, due into the ISM basin for a weeks stay, but they had not arrived late in the day and we decided to go.


all photo's Thomas Armstrong

The Independence Seaport Museum is a Phoenix rising. Despite the not so distant trauma inflicted by a negligent and criminal director, the museum is healing and emerging as a vibrant and vital presence. The recent Tattoo exhibition mounted by curator Craig Bruns was a flash of brilliance, and the museum's core collection, library and archive is a deep and valuable cultural and educational resource. But the heartbeat of the museum is the Workshop on the Water, the museum's boatworks, where invaluable pieces of the past are renovated and maintained and where newly minted traditionally built instant classics are the norm. John Brady, lead builder at the workshop is recognized as one in the highest echelon of contemporary boatbuilders using traditional build techniques and is a very fair hand at designing boats with traditional roots. He is supported by a(very) small number of paid employees and a large group of volunteers, who range from quite skilled and experienced to completely green (not for long) folks wanting to get a taste of boatbuilding. If you stop by with a little time on your hands, you will be put to work. It offers a learning experience as deep as you'd like to take it.
John Brady is not only a gifted boatbuilder, he's also a very experienced sailor, and this summer he will be visiting ports from NY to Maine, campaigning the Maid in both races, appearances at boat festivals and assorted soirees. If you'd like to volunteer as crew, there may be some openings on some legs of the journey...contact John Brady at215.413.8638 or jbrady@phillyseaport.org

Here's the schedule:

May 25 Silent Maid departs Philadelphia for Bay Head, NJ
May 30 Bow Tie Party at Bay Head Yacht Club
June 11-13 New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta, Newport, RI
June 25-27 Wooden Boat Show, Mystic, CT
July 10-11 Catboat Association, Wickford Rendezvous, Wickford, RI
July 17-18 New York Yacht Club Raceweek, Newport, RI
July 24-25 Woods Hole Historical Museum, Woods Hole, MA
July 30-Aug. 1 Padanaram Cat Rendezvous, race Kathleen, Padanaram, MA
Aug. 5 Castine, ME, race to Camden, ME
Aug. 6 Camden, ME, race to Brooklin, ME
Aug. 7-8 Eggomogin Reach Regatta, Brooklin, ME
Aug. 8-14 New York Yacht Club Cruise, stops in NE/SW Harbor, Swans Island,
Mercent, Gilkey Harbor, Camden, ME
Aug 18-22 Arey’s Pond Regatta, Arey’s Pond, MA
Aug 27-29 Herreshoff Regatta, Bristol, RI
Sept. 4-6 International Yacht Restoration School/
Museum of Yachting Regatta, Newport, RI
Sept. 11-12 Race Rock Regatta , Stonington, CT
Sept. 18-19 Greenport Classic Regatta, Greenport, NY
Sept. 25-26 Governor’s Cup, Essex, CT
Oct. 2 NY Classic, Manhattan, NY
Oct. 8—13 New York Yacht Club Cruise on the Hudson

For the inside view of whats going on at the Workshop, check John's website, and Wendy Byar's
blog Green Boats for frequent updates on the activities at WoW. Wendy is the dilithium fuel cell for the boatworks, a volunteer who radiates the energy for projects getting done and an invaluable member of the team.

I'd like to also mention that this incredible replica was generously commissioned by Peter Kellogg, with help from some friends, and he's put the boat into safekeeping with John and the ISM.

Correction:
This communication was sent to me by Charles Bernstein to correct my erroneous assumption that the TSCA had organized the event:

"The sendoff was organized by Joan Bernstein (a WOW volunteer who is handling publicity and advance work for the Maid's summer tour at John's request,) with much assistance from Gina and Wendy as well as, of course, John Brady. "

Several members of the Delaware River branch of the Traditional Small Craft Association attended. What fun we had.

John Brady, Boatbuilder

John recently sent a photo of his first boat. This is what he had to say:

"Here is a picture of me sailing the "Rocket" Joint Venture on
the Toms River with a brother and sister. I was 12 or 13 and my Dad took the
picture fromthe dingy."

John's first boat was an A R True Rocket which his dad bought when John was 12. The carvel hull had been sheathed in glass and father and son saw to the maintenance of the boat.
the example pictured is for sale here.

As advertised

photos and drawings courtesy The Gingrich Group

The drawings

photo courtesy Barry Long, see more

John's most recent creation, Silent Maid, motoring into the dock for the Mid Atlantic Small Craft Festival,
basking in the late afternoon glow.

At home at the Independence Seaport Museum on the Delaware River in Philadelphia

It's not all sailing and wielding a hand plane.

Workshop on the Water at the ISM is volunteer driven but must make it's way as a viable commercial concern.

photo courtesy Wendy Byar, see more

John at the helm during some exciting sailing on the way to St. Michaels

Wendy Byar took this shot of a happy crew from the beautiful interior of Maid

Barnegat A Cats racing

courtesy John Brady


Torch under construction at the WOW

courtesy John Brady


Spyder flipped

courtesy John Brady


And fitting out

courtesy John Brady


Philadelphia high school volunteers reveling in their work, specifically this newly painted Sneakbox

A traditional Delaware River Shad boat, synthesized from drawings and photos of older examples by John and built by the workshop. The original gillnet fishing boats would have likely had a sprit rig.

There is another version of this hull type exhibited at the Independence seaport Museum as a please touch display which details the building process.

Though not traditional to this boat type, the gaff rig looks great and performs well.

all photos of the shad boat courtesy John Brady


Interesting contrast.

all photos © Thomas Armstrong unless otherwise noted

John Brady is a consummate boatbuilder. Largely self taught, he served 'apprenticeships' at the South Street Seaport in NY and at the Workshop on the Water in Philadelphia, back when it was still really on the water, a barge/workshop on the Delaware River. Preceding these experiences he was building boats ' out of the back of a pickup' during his formative years. His greatest influence at this time was the "Mariner's Catalog" (along with help from 'great people') and it was a read it try it kind of education. Today he is the head boatbuilder for the Independence Seaport Museum, directing, managing, teaching and building boats at the workshop. John's romance with wooden boats began at age twelve when his father purchased a used A R True Rocket, a 23' carvel planked cruising sailboat whose hull had been sheathed in glass. This craft offered John his first experiences of maintaining a boat and of sailing as he and his father worked and played together.
John has built 25 to 30 boats plus some reconstructions, and has designed maybe 1o. He is committed to traditional construction and design archetypes, but not in a hidebound way, for instance, witness the Delaware River shad boat above. The original fishing boats would have had sprit rigs, but John chose to rig this example gaff. The boat was built during a period which John feels was his greatest learning experience. For seven years, the workshop on the water really was on the water, housed on a barge in the Delaware. Roger Allen was the museum director and John the lead builder. Their practice was to research, build, sail and exhibit an example of a different local boat type each year.
John also seems to have a passion for catboats, particularly the racing catboats of Barnegat Bay. His latest creation, seen above and featured elsewhere in this blog, the exquisite replica Silent Maid, he has built five of the Barnegat A cats racing today. They are Tamwock, SpyII, Spyder, Vapor and Torch. These A cats date from the same era as Silent Maid, are slightly smaller than the B cats Maid represents, very fast and very expensive to build and maintain, yet there is a spirited group of sailors enthusiastically campaigning these boats today. They are the subject of a beautiful book written and illustrated by Gary Jobson and Roy Wilkins.
I asked John what his favorite project had been and his reply was telling, ' the one in process!'. There are also frustrations, the biggest being that building in this day and age seems to pit business against craftsmanship, though John admitted this has probably been true for most wooden boat builders in any era. He feels it's nearly impossible to manage a viable business today building truly small craft, and he should know, as the WOW, though a part of the ISM, must make it's way as an viable business and relies largely on commissions and it's mostly volunteer staff, with an occasional grant. John also feels frustrated by the lack of openness on the part of most contemporary sailors to traditional ways, meaning techniques, hardware, hull and rigs, and will be campaigning the Maid in classic boat regattas, promoting the world of traditional boats and championing openness to ideas, both traditional and contemporary. I have noticed that the Maid does have some modern hardware.

When he gets around to it, John would like to build himself a 26' centerboard sloop.

Near the end of our talk I admitted to John that I was rather keen on his shad boat design and wondered if another could be built, as a youth program involving youngsters in the building and sailing as an educational program. He said he'd been mulling over the same idea for years. Now, if we could just find a sponsor...

all material © E. Thomas Armstrong