Shipyard

Just a few years ago, the buyboat now known as Choptank was Crow Brothers II and seemingly nearing its end on a mud bank in Knapps Narrows next to Tilghman Island. That’s when the team of Joe Robillard, Mike Avery, and Wes Abell stepped in to help, with a vision for what the 1938 buyboat with a long commercial history could be again and a plan to make it happen. Rebuilt locally with painstaking care over a period of years, Choptank has retained its historic charm while gleaming with modern style. Late last year, the boat made its way to CBMM for the completion of its renovation. The Shipyard is overseeing the final fit out, which involves building out the interior with cabins and heads for expedition-style overnight trips, outfitting it with modern safety equipment, and fabricating and installing a new rig. Later this spring, CBMM will initiate the review for Coast Guard certification, with inspections and stability testing, to be able to carry passengers. The plan after that process is completed is for it to stay at CBMM to allow for increased on-the-water programming, including overnight excursions.

Back in August, a group piled onto Winnie Estelle to escort Maryland Dove on its initial departure out of St. Michaels Harbor toward its new home at Historic St. Mary’s City. While brief, that cruise was a chance for some volunteer crew and staff to say goodbye to Winnie as well as part of the final week of the venerable boat’s ninth season at CBMM and 102^nd year overall before a needed refit. Winnie was craned and drydocked last fall and will spend most of 2023 undergoing a significant refit. This spring, the CBMM Shipwrights have to lift the boat to pave the way for the removal, fabrication, and replacement of its structural timbers, including the keel, chines and many of the bottom boards. It’s not the first refit for Winnie Estelle. It had approximately 80% of its original wood replaced while being renovated by Roberto Smith in Belize in the mid-80s, but the keel is original. The new one will be made of white oak sourced from New York, and the CBMM team will try to re-use as much of the wood as possible while maintaining as much historical integrity as practically possible. This project is on the scale of previous refits performed on historic vessels Edna Lockwood and Rosie Parks.

Mr. Dickie, named after owner Grigg Mullen’s former neighbor growing up in Queen Anne’s County Dickie Whaley, was completed in Oct. 2023. The vessel is an homage to the 60-foot Mundy Point to bring the buyboat look to a scaled-down 36-foot design that features heart pine, white oak, Atlantic cedar and western red cedar. A retired engineering professor, Mullen started the process of building Mr. Dickie at his home in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, but when he decided he needed help, it was a natural fit to bring the project to CBMM. Mullen turned the build over to the CBMM team while continuing to source materials and pitch in whenever his time allowed. Mullen watched the buyboat progress toward his vision under the lead of Shipyard Foreman Jeff Reid, who enjoyed sharing the framing and lofting techniques that have been used for 100+ years with the latest generation of builders. For guests, it represented a rare look at the step-by-step process of a traditional Chesapeake build that encourages repeat visits to the Shipyard.

Mr. Dickie was launched into the Miles River in October 2023.

In 2018, it was announced that CBMM had been selected to build a brand-new Maryland Dove for Historic St. Mary’s City. A representation of the late-17^th-century trading ship that accompanied the first European settlers to what is now Maryland, the ship is owned by the state and is operated and maintained by the Historic St. Mary’s City Commission. An earlier version of the ship, built in the 1970s by Cambridge’s Jim Richardson, was nearing the end of its useful life. Decades of new research meant that a new, more historically accurate representation of the original Maryland Dove could be designed.

Following that announcement, construction of the iconic ship became the central focus of CBMM’s working Shipyard. The three-year historic build, all done in full public view, saw the new ship move from concept to reality, culminating with Maryland Dove sailing to its homeport in Historic St. Mary’s City in August 2022. There, it serves as the organization’s floating ambassador, its flagship exhibition, and a key tool in its educational programming.

Log canoes are among the oldest staples on the waters of the Chesapeake, with origins that can be traced back centuries to the region’s Indigenous peoples. No longer built or used as working boats, these vessels perform as racing craft in the summer months. This Tilghman Island-style five-log canoe was built as a private commission from excess loblolly pine logs used in the historic restoration of Edna E. Lockwood. At 32.5 feet in length, Caroline is the first log canoe of its size to be built in decades.

Following a historic two-year restoration project, 1889 bugeye Edna E. Lockwood was relaunched into the Miles River during CBMM’s annual OysterFest in October 2018. Edna, queen of CBMM’s floating fleet, spent several years having her nine-log hull completely replaced by CBMM shipwrights and apprentices. All work was done in full public view in CBMM’s working Shipyard and in adherence to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Vessel Preservation. Shipwright apprentices working on the project were generously supported by the Seip Family Foundation and the RPM Foundation.

Built in 1889 by John B. Harrison on Tilghman Island for Daniel W. Haddaway, Edna E. Lockwood dredged for oysters through winter and carried freight such as lumber, grain, and produce after the dredging season ended. Edna worked faithfully for many owners, mainly out of Cambridge, Md., until 1967. In 1973, Edna was donated to CBMM by John R. Kimberly. Recognized as the last working oyster boat of its kind, Edna E. Lockwood was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1994.

Adapting the lines from an 1893 Robert D. Lambdin canoe in CBMM’s collection, CBMM shipwrights, apprentices, and volunteers began crafting this new sailing log canoe in the fall of 2014. The hull was constructed from three 26-foot local loblolly pine logs, with the canoe and its spars constructed in full public view. Bufflehead was the first log canoe to be built at CBMM since 1979.

CBMM’s 1955 skipjack Rosie Parks underwent a three-year restoration at CBMM from 2011–2013. All work was performed in full public view and with the help of apprentices and volunteers. Built by legendary Dorchester County boatbuilder Bronza Parks for his brother, Captain Orville Parks, Rosie once plied the Chesapeake dredging for oysters. The historic skipjack can now be seen dockside at CBMM or racing in the annual skipjack races near Deal Island and Cambridge.