What a beautiful fall we are having. Unfortunately, I have failed to take advantage of the great weekends and the chance to get out on the boat for a few nights here and there. I said in the last issue that I missed a chance on Labor Day weekend and since then there have been a few more that I should have taken advantage of. On the last weekend in September, I delivered SARI ANN I to John’s Bay Boat Co. in South Bristol for just a little bit more work. They are going to replace the aft end of the worm shoe, enclose the head, and add a refrigerator and sink. She should be there about a month. The day I brought her down was one of those great days and I should have kept going on to Boothbay for the night. However, I kept thinking about everything that needed to be done on the home front, and we all know that the weather can turn sour at any time. There were a handful of boats out there on the water taking advantage of the fine weather, but I was surprised that there were not more cruisers out enjoying the weekend.
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I have been covering the coast for over forty years, and change is inevitable. After more than 100 years F. T. Browns, a hardware store in Northeast Harbor, has closed their doors. Over the last several years, they have tried to alter what the store carried trying to get more customers to patronize them. Finally, economics showed that things were not changing, and they were going backwards. With heavy hearts the owners decided to close down, feeling that they had done all they could to make it work. What was more interesting is that not one of the town’s fathers came in and asked why or even say they were sorry to see them go. This proved to the owners that they had made the right decision. Unfortunately, people just go online and order whatever they need instead of patronizing their local establishment. Now, when they need that something for a repair around the house or on the boat, they will not find it in Northeast Harbor.
Another well-known marine business, Commercial Fisheries News, has announced that they will cease publishing with their December issue. They have done an excellent job covering the commercial fishing industry of New England since the early 1890s. Brian Robbins has been the backbone of this publication for a number of years, covering the boatbuilders and fishermen of the commercial fishing industry. He compiled great editorial every issue and this earned him an incredible following, and it is unfortunate that they have called it quits.
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Every September I head for Rhode Island to the Newport International Boat Show. Most boat show exhibitors say they do not like doing boat shows, but I actually have a good time there. In many cases it is the only time I catch up with a number of people in the industry. I arrive the day before, set up and park the truck for the next five days. I am there representing Maine Built Boats, which is a marketing association that represents boatbuilders and repair yards. I field a lot of questions about new boat construction, some ask where they could get their boat repaired, but also, I get questions about Maine’s coast in general. This year felt different. In mid-winter it was announced that they were going to eliminate our usual tent and move us to another tent further south. I learned that there was a space in a main tent that had good traffic and move there, right next to Front Street Shipyard. The weather forecast for the weekend was great and the first day, which is on Thursday, is a lot more expensive as they try to get the more serious buyers there. It seemed good and I did have a couple of serious questions to answer. Friday was the same, but we all expected the weekend to be swamped. There were more people, but I would say it was not as busy as in past years. One could also see that Newport itself was not as busy. One of the most popular restaurants, which is very difficult to get into during the show, one could walk in on Friday night and get seated right away. One thought for the lower turnout was people not wanting to pay $500 to $1000 a night for a hotel room. I would not pay that either.
I walked to the show early in the mornings before it opened and out on the docks it was a sea of centre console boats. There were also plenty of sail and power boats and for booths there were a good variety of marine venders. One change was the brokerage boats being offered. In the past most, if not all, were at the Newport Shipyard, but this year they only had a few brokerage boats there and most of them were on Bowen’s Wharf at our show.
I thought that the show would have sent a press release on the awards they handed out. The only one I heard about was to Lyman Morse for I believe a 47-foot sailboat.
One always wonders about advertising and getting the word out on what they are trying to market. I thought if I finished off a Holland 32 as a dayboat I could easily sell them at the Newport show. Depending on the workload at the Shipyard this winter I might just put one together and be at the show with it next year.
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On the first weekend in October, the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport held Sardinefest, which was an incredible success! It was scheduled to run Saturday all day with the Museum opened to the public for free, with speakers, music, and vendors. I arrived mid-afternoon and saw cars lining Route 1 and everything was still going strong. The Museum thought if they got 250 people, they would be happy, but they had more than four times that. Since the sardine exhibit will be running another year, I asked if we could do two. Realistically, they would need more help to do that, but you can bet that they will be doing another one next year.
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I pick up old boating magazines when I get a chance, because you never know what you will find in them. Recently, I ordered a copy of “The Motorboat” from 10 April 1906. I thumbed through it quickly and found an article on the Hampton boats of Casco Bay and the lines for a torpedo-stern runabout. The company offering the lines was Pioneer Boat Pattern Co. of Bay City, MI. What was really interesting was that the design came from Thornycroft of Chiswick, England. We know that Maurice Dow of Rogues Bluff was building torpedo stern boats previous to this date, but it is unclear how much earlier. We also know that Will Frost would be building them just after that. Was Will building them in Digby before he came to Beals and when was his first one? The big question is where did the torpedo stern design originate? Some thought that it came from the drake tail of Chesapeake Bay, but with these lines could they have originated from across the Atlantic?
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Finally, I have finished entering the vessels listed in the “List of Merchant Vessels of the United States” for 1960. When finished there were 47,503 with 28,301 having already been uploaded to the on-line database. For the 19,202 that I just finished I am adding their previous names, which is a big help to researchers. Then I need to add the date ‘1960’ to the fields of owners and homeport. When that is completed, I can upload them to the main database. I am hoping for it completely done by Thanksgiving.
