Maintenance and Operations Committee
Purpose: To provide recommendations and technical guidance related to short and long term planning for the operation, maintenance, and preservation of the historic schooner Ernestina.
July at the Shipyard
The ship is starting to look like herself again. It’s like watching a house frame going up. It seems like you will be able to move in in a month, and then all the rest of the building begins. It … Continue reading
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June at the Shipyard
Work is progressing on the Ernestina-Morrissey. Here’s what the ship looked like at the end of June. And now to the new stern framing. In June the crew was finishing up the cant frames, working forward to the frames that … Continue reading
Posted in Maintenance and Operations Committee, News |
New Stern Structure Coming Together
Ernestina-Morrissey‘s stern is getting all new framing as you know from previous posts . The work is coming together beautifully as you can see. To give you a sense of scale of the project, the photo below is the cant … Continue reading
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Shipwrights at Work
The work on Ernestina-Morrissey‘s rehabilitation is just amazing and beautiful. Much of the credit goes to the shipwrights who have the very best materials to work with. The frames of Ernestina-Morrissey are double-sawn (two separate pieces of wood fastened together). They … Continue reading
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Amazing Oak!
Materials procurement has been one important facet of this first year’s work by Boothbay Harbor Shipyard and with the help of Harold Burnham, DCR’s owner’s representative on the project, they have stockpiled some amazing wood including Danish oak and Georgian … Continue reading
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A Busy April in the Shipyard
The previous posts have described the process of cutting the futtocks. Here you see the futtocks fastened together to form a frame. The curves in the frames cannot be cut from a single piece of lumber so futtocks are sawn and … Continue reading
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Cutting Futtocks from Live Oak
Ross Branch, one of the shipwrights working on the Ernestina-Morrissey project at Boothbay Harbor Shipyard has developed an ingenious way (Patent Pending) to use a special chain saw to cut the live oak futtocks for the ship. Notice the guide … Continue reading
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Futtocks and Frames Beginning to Take Shape
The framing of a ship the size of Ernestina-Morrissey cannot be cut from a single piece of wood so futtocks are cut and paired to form the frames as shown in this schematic. Care is taken to make sure that … Continue reading
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Lining Up the Keel
The pieces of keel have been rolled into place and the top is being fit into place. The four 15,000 pound lead pieces will be jacked up to be joined with the wood along with the scarfed wood keel end … Continue reading
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Stern Structure Taking Shape
Ernestina-Morrissey‘s stern needed to be entirely rebuilt, as you could tell from the photos posted previously. While the new keel is being moved into place the shipwrights are working on the timbers that will provide the frame for the stern. … Continue reading
Posted in Maintenance and Operations Committee, News |






