Shiver Me Timbers – Boatbuilding in Maine
Being on the water has always been a magical experience for me. As a member of the crew team in college, getting down to the boathouse before sunrise was never enjoyable, but once the boat is in the water and you’re all rowing in sync as the sun is rising, it’s an exhilarating feeling. I felt similarly kayaking down the Damariscotta River in Maine last year as I studied oyster farming and the impact on the water quality. Building on last year’s research, I wanted to explore more about the roots of Maine’s fishing industry and how that fostered the growth of boatbuilding in Midcoast Maine.
Boatbuilding in Maine as we have come to know it today traces its origins to the early 1600s, when European settlers first set foot on Maine’s shores. The Ice Age was not kind to the Downeast coast, with enormous glaciers scraping away the topsoil and dumping boulders. Settlers quickly realized the land east of the Kennebec River was not suitable for farming and the growing seasons were far too short to provide enough food for a full year. The local tribes of the Wabanaki who were native to this region learned long ago to survive by hunting, gathering and last but not least, fishing. The Gulf of Maine, the sea along Maine’s jagged southern coastline, stretches from Cape Cod to Nova Scotia. Its deep bays and estuaries would be 7500 miles if formed into a straight line and the vast amount of rocky seafloor somewhat close to the surface provided enough light for microscopic plants to thrive, providing food for many tuna, salmon, cod, herring, mussels, oysters, and lobsters.
European settlers first adopted the Wabanaki craft of boatbuilding. They used dugout and birch bark canoes for fishing and for local travel along the coast. The resources needed for birch bark canoes, including the bark, cedar, and spruce roots, are all native to the region.
Although these vessels were incredibly resilient and suitable for local travel and fishing, the Europeans also needed larger vessels for longer ocean voyages, so in 1607 they constructed the Virginia just outside the Popham Colony at the mouth of the Kennebec River. It was a pinnace, a versatile ship that could be rigged in a number of configurations. This type of ship was designed for coastal work to aid the colonists in trading, fishing, and exploration. A reconstruction which serves as an educational tool was built by volunteers and was launched in June 2022. In speaking with some of the volunteers at the boat house, it became clear that they intended to build the ship as closely as possible to the original, using whatever tools and fastenings the early settlers might have used or had on hand. White oak was used for the hull of the ship, which was built in sections, and utilized primarily peg joinery with the exception of some brass fasteners that today’s Coast Guard required. White pine was used for the mast and deck, largely because it is more pliable and lighter than white oak. Eventually the Virginia sailed across the Atlantic Ocean back to England after the Popham colony dissolved in 1608 and it became the first ocean-going vessel built in North America to cross the Atlantic.
It was the abundance of dense, straight-grained timber, particularly white pine and oak used for the Virginia, which facilitated the growth of shipbuilding along Maine’s rugged coastline. By the 18th century, towns like Bath and Kennebunkport had emerged as major shipbuilding centers, producing sturdy schooners and brigs that sailed the Atlantic. Documentation exists that describes over 2,700 vessels that were built in what is considered Maine today from 1607 to 1819.
Eventually, the resources closest to the shores and boatbuilding yards were depleted and builders needed to source lumber from further inland using rivers to float the logs down toward the shores. This gave way to sawmills and the milling industry along the rivers and estuaries of Maine’s coastline.
The architectural influence of boatbuilding in Maine is evident in the transition from simple fishing boats to more complex vessels like the clipper ships of the 19th century. Shipbuilders applied their expertise in crafting sleek hulls and graceful lines to coastal architecture, leading to the development of the distinctive shingle-style homes that became synonymous with Maine’s seaside communities. These homes often featured expansive verandas, pitched roofs, and shingled exteriors reminiscent of ship hulls, blending seamlessly with the coastal landscape.
In 1902, the Cora F. Cressey was built at the Percy and Small Shipyard, which is now the home of the Maine Maritime Museum. A five-masted 273 feet long wooden-hulled freight schooner, the Cora F. Cressey acted as a trading ship along the east coast of the United States until 1928, and shortly thereafter it became a floating nightclub and ultimately acted as a breakwater for a local lobster pound. It is one of the largest surviving wooden hulls in the United States and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
The decline of wooden shipbuilding in the 20th century posed challenges, but Maine’s boatbuilding heritage persevered. Today, skilled artisans continue to build and restore wooden boats using traditional methods, alongside cutting edge technologies at Bath Iron Works, a private yard that employs over 7,000 people who work in shifts literally around the clock to build vessels for the US Navy.
Today, Maine remains a hub for traditional boatbuilding, integrating modern techniques while preserving its rich maritime heritage, an integral part of the state’s architectural and cultural identity.
Sources
Two Centuries of Maine Shipbuilding by Nathan R. Lipfert
The Lobster Coast: Rebels, Rusticators and the Struggle for a Forgotten Frontier by Colin Woodard
Ships, Swindlers and Scalded Hogs: the Rise and Fall of the Crooker Shipyard in Bath, Maine