Inaugaral Old City Seaport Festival at Independence Seaport Museum

There was a distinctly 19th C. feel to the Seaport as I entered and saw a forest of masts.

Inside the museum, the Sea Dogs were performing period music in period costume, very 18th C.

The Kalmar Nyckel distinctly brought home the 17th C. So here we have about 400 years of nautical history in front of us.

The Kalmar Nyckel brought the first Swedish settlers to the New World in 1638.

The replica, Delaware's tall ship, is as bright and ornate as the original would have been.

The folks aboard established the first permanent settlement in the Delaware Valley, the Colony of New Sweden, at what is today Wilmington, DE.

The Pride of Baltimore II

I'd never been aboard her. She is aptly named.

She is the second ship bearing that name, the first was tragically lost in a white squall off Puerto Rico in 1986.

Both ships were built as replicas of the Baltimore Clippers, which type helped win the war of 1812.

The Gazela Primiero, commonly called the Gazela, is Philadelphia's tall ship. Built in 1901 in Setubal,  Portugal for the Grand Banks fishery. Not a replica, she is the original article.

I have no information about this charming little runabout, not even sure she was part of the festival, but she had a beguiling 1950's look about her.

Tugboat Jupiter also in the care of the Philadelphia Ship Preservation Guild (as is Gazela). Built in 1902 as a steam powered vessel, later converted to deisel, she worked in NY for Standard Oil. She came to Philly in 1999.

AJ Meerwald is New Jersey's tall ship.

Built in 1928, she's a Delaware Bay Oyster Schooner. She worked into the late 1970's and after a brief retirement was given over to her current protectors, The Bayshore Discovery Project.

Gotta love it.

This sleek beast is the Summerwind.

She is now a training vessel for the Merchant Marine Academy. Built in 1929 in Thomaston ME for a wealthy industrialist who lost her due to the crash, she's had an interesting history. She serverd as an anti-submarine patrol off Montauk during WWII. Just look at that elegant boom.

She's immaculately maintained, this service being provided, in large part I was assured, by the first year gentlemen.

It wasn't all tall ships! Here's a glorious 'little' Herreshoff Meadowlark, replete with leeboards.

Quite a lineup, there's Summerwind, with Gazela just visible behind her, the Meadowlark, AJ Meerwald and the Kalmar and Pride. Wow.

The festival was capped off with a (mock) pirate battle late Sunday afternoon. Here we see the Kalmar, Pride and Meerwald, with the Pride of Baltimore evidently taking a shot at the Seaport!

 

the above photo courtesy ISM, credit Darrah Foster.

 

All other photos copyright Thomas Armstrong 

Indepedence Seaport Museum did something new this year. They rolled three different events from the past into one very rich weekend. The Philadelphia Wooden Boat Festival, the Pirate Battle and the Tall Ships weekend were all combined to produce the Old City Seaport Festival. I was unable to attend on Saturday, the nicer of the two days, weather wise, due to being out of town, but made it down on Sunday. The forecast was for rain, and as a result, some of the small boats that had been there Saturday didn't return. The rain held off, and though overcast and threatening, it was a very good day. Lots to see and do. The presence of so many tall ships was nearly overwhelming and represented a sizable chunk of American nautical history, spanning centuries. There was live period music and many craft vendors inside the museum.

 

This is now a paid event, and I initially felt the price was a bit high until I realized that it included entrance to the museum's collection, things for children, but most of all a chance for a tall ship sail! I'm sure this event will grow both in popularity and recognition, as it has so much to offer. Well done. My only regret is that, through my own ignorance, I missed the second floor balcony beer garden.

Originally posted by Thomas Armstrong on 70.8%

21st WoodenBoat Show @ Mystic Seaport_1: Planking the CW Morgan

 A plank exits the steam box after about 3 hrs, cook time.

Picked up by the fork lift, the planks limberness is evident.

It's brought into the shed to be fitted.

 The new plank is lifted into place by many crew members. The popularity of this demo is apparent here, I could barely squeeze in enough to get a photo.

 These are all new planks save the very first visible

.

Drilling for the silicon bronze spikes...

and hammering it home.

The new plank in place.

The crew.

Leviathan

View of the large shed where much preliminary work is done.

Same again, you can see this is where the spars are being worked on or fabricated.

all the photos above copyright Thomas Armstrong

Morgan launch. A friend sent me a link to a page of early photos of the Morgan.

View aboard.

The two photos above courtesy PTLDME via John Brinton, thanks John.

This years WoodenBoat Show at Mystic Seaport was, as always, a great experience. One of the features of the show I enjoy most are the demonstrations, and this year they hit a home run. On both Friday and Saturday the CW Morgan crew demonstrated steam bending and planking for the big whaleship's restoration. A wow. The Morgan is being planked in a mix of white oak and longleaf yellow pine. These planks are 36' long, 14" wide and 3" thick and weigh in at an average of 500lbs. though there must be a bit of difference in the two species. I was unable to determine which I was photographing, but my money is on the pine. The plank is steamed for about 3 hrs. to make it pliable enough to conform to the shape of the hull.

The old adage is 'many hands make light work'. In the case of planking the Morgan, I would suggest that though there were indeed many hands involved, this is still not 'light' work. Once the new plank is in places it is clamped and wedged to allow the crew, a mix of volunteers and staff, to secure the plank with wooden trunnels and 7"silicon bronze spikes, robustly hammered into place as seen above.

This demonstration was highly instructive, revealing the immense effort being poured into the restoration of this massive icon. It was also wildly popular with the show attendees, as you can see in my photo taken from the stairway which goes up to her deck. I had to push in just to get a narrow shot of the plank going into place. Once things calmed a bit I was given a hardhat and allowed to get a little closer to the action. This work is ongoing, with the hull being re-planked from the garboard planks up. The lower, garboard planks are deemed worthy to stay in place but will receive copper plating. The projected relaunch date is about a year from now, with a voyage to New Bedford planned for 2014. 

Thanks to Mystic Seaport and WoodenBoat Magazine for continuing excellence, and a special thanks to John Brinton for his link.

Originally posted by Thomas Armstrong on 70.8%

 

Philadelphia Wooden Boat Festival

My rather clumsy composite of the basin at ISM

coming around the corner, first view

This Chesapeake Light Craft Skerry was built by the kids in the Urban Boat Works project in Camden, NJ, just across the river. the project is run by and energetic and savvy young guy named Jesus Castro. Sorry, no website.

Had to run into the museum for a moment and could not resist this sandbagger model.

The original Silent Maid being stabilized for exhibition in the Workshop on the Water, the museums boatshop.

the Maids portentous bow

The fact that she is deemed beyond a full restoration occasioned the building of the new replica, also Silent Maid, which has just spent the summer cruising and racing all over the Northeast Seabord under the guidance of head boatbuilder John Brady, they had a great summer, read about it on the blog of the Catboat Silent Maid

Sparkling waters gave the day a certain incandescence

Lined up like sentinels were some of the museums living watercraft collection.

One of the cast is the recently refurbished sharpie Fish Stix, her upgrade completed this summer

The sailor on the left is Pete Peters in his Delaware ducker, Thomas Eakins, with Mike Wick in Pepita on the right. The Olympia is the backdrop.

Here's another of the boats refurbished at the workshop this summer, Top Priority

Built by John Brady about 20 years ago, she just needed a facelift

and obviously got that

nice band provided entertainment, appropriately named Cabin Dog

Roger Pritchard sailing Wen Byars Urchin

Philadelphia's tall ship Gazela, as close as she could get

Standard, cliched photo, but nice nonetheless

visitors swarm the Gazela

Here's Gazela seen from the bow of Gwilin, Roger Pritchards H 28

Gwillan is immaculatley kept, a credit to Roger

Two nice rear ends (Gwillan, left and Little Key, right)

Little Key is the ships boat off the Kalmar Nyckel, these are all members of the Nyckel volunteer group,

Flying the Swedish colors. Kalmar Nyckel brought the first Swedish settlers to America, who established New Sweden, today Wilmington, DE

Old Town Canoe

Beautifully kept or restored or both,

See, it really is an Old Town. No idea who is owned by this canoe, but it sure is sweet.

Wen Byar and John Schwarzenbach....hangin'

John's Comet, in need of a bit of tlc,

which she's scheduled to receive by way of the youth program at the Workshop

The Philadelphia Ship Model Society is one of the oldest continuously active ship model clubs in the country. They have recently partnered with the ISM and showed up with a tour de force of both static and rc models.

Roger Pritchard in Wen Byars Urchin and Mike Wick in Pepita

Here's Mike coming up to the dock

Obviously, he's had a good sail

Bolger light schooner, newly minted, but with a long gestation period. This boat caught everyone's eye.

Artists Proof is 30' LOA and 25 LWL, though she doesn't look it. Only 4.5 ft beam waterline. These little beauties are reputed to be very fast

Owner/builder Pete Hoeltje allows this schooner was ten years in the making. Started when Pete was living in Florida, the boat just splashed about a month ago. "Life got in the way" was Pete's explanation. Designed by the legendary iconclast Phil Bolger, she looks to be an exquisite little craft. I am looking forward to a sail. Pete is the owner/operator of Big Pond Boatworks in Mahahawkin NJ. This week Pete is participating in the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race. Normally the province of much larger boats, apparently this year there are several entries in the smallest category, which Artist's Proof falls into.



all photos Thomas Armstrong

This year's was the fourth Philadelphia Wooden Boat Show, hosted by the Independence Seaport Museum. The show is building a following and seeing more traffic every year. While it's a little hampered by space for larger boats, the basin has plenty of room for small boats, and the location, with its proximity to center city Philadelphia on one side and the Delaware River on the other is urban spectacular. In sharp contrast to last years event which was overcast and drizzly, this years Fest was a dazzling clear fall day. This year also saw exhibits from the Philadelphia Ship Model Society and the Tuckerton Seaport. Philadelphia's Tall Ship, Gazela was also present, tied up to the quay on the outside of the basin. Good winds on the Delaware made for some great sails I'm told, though I didn't get out myself. No matter, it was a banner day and thoroughly enjoyable, a treat. Bring your boat next year and join us.