by Dave Doner
When we think back to the boat shows we have attended or read about, we naturally recall the wonderful display of fine watercraft that devoted owners spent so much time and effort on. Well, I attended a boat show over the weekend of March 23-25 out in Chestertown, Maryland with a different flavor to it. Boat shows arent foreign to this part of the country as the popular St. Michaels show is but a few miles away. But what made this show unique in my book, was that fact that it had but one entry, yet thousands flocked to the site in order to live the experience first hand.
History and the provenance of our boats is important. Some boats may have been discovered in or behind the proverbial old barn whose doors hadnt been opened to the light of day for half a century; others found behind some long-abandoned gas station in the middle of nowhere. Each of our boats has a history and for some the dynamics of owning a Woodie (or a Glassie for others), include tracing the steps of ownership backwards as best we can. The history of the boat we are going to be reviewing here goes back to 1768. Thats 233 years ago! This is about the schooner Sultana.
Chestertown, Maryland is located on the upper eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, more or less across from Baltimore, and is located on the Chester River which flows into the Chesapeake. It is a few miles from Quaker Neck Landing, Goose Hill and Daves Hill Road, a geographic area rich in Civil War and Revolutionary War history. This area has direct connections in one way or another to these times and the direct connection the city of Chestertown has had with the past is the rest of the story.
In 1767 a boat named the Sultana was built in Boston as a cargo schooner. Her sharp, seaworthy lines and solid construction caught the eye of the British Admiralty and was purchased by the Royal Navy in 1768. During the summer of 1768, Sultana was refitted, armed, and provisioned in preparation for service to the British, initially intercepting smugglers along the North American coast. This lasted until the start of the American Revolution. Early Sultana crews were
comprised of mainly English and Irish sailors but these were transformed over time to British, European and American-born sailors, some of whom were freed slaves.
With an overall deck length of only 53 feet, the twin-masted Sultana was the smallest schooner to have ever served the Royal Navy. Technically a man-of-war, her small size and limited firepower meant the she encountered continual resistance when attempting to stop larger American ships. It was decided to reposition Sultana at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. From this location, Sultana searched ships from all over the world coming into the Bay as well as outgoing vessels from various ports along the Chesapeake, as well as the smaller ports of Marylands eastern shore.
Over the next several years the Sultana continued to serve the British in various functions and at various locations up and down the coasts. In May, 1772 Sultana had a huge fire fight with the men of the American brig Carolina after seizing smuggled goods found in her hold. With her limits as a warship being tested, Sultana was relieved of her station in August 1772. She sailed to England and was sold out of the Royal Navy. There is speculation as to what happened to her, but Sultanas true fate remains a mystery. We now jump ahead 225 years to continue this story.
A master boat builder from the east by the name of John Swain, along with several others with vision, and including the community of Chestertown, decided back in 1997 that it would be an important historical event to build a replica of the schooner Sultana. Swain was the one most responsible for getting the project off the ground but much of the success of the rebuilding effort also goes to a Drew McMullen who was a Coast Guard Captain and environmentalist and, like Swain, also a restorer of historical boats. The idea was to recreate Sultana as an educational vessel in the town whose shores she once patrolled in search of tax dodgers and others whom the British deemed scalawags.
What made the rebuilding of the Sultana ultimately possible was the fact that the original survey plans, ships logs, muster books and other kinds of information were made available to the builders by the British. They had been preserved over these many years in the public Records office in London. The lines of the reproduction are exactly the same as the original and the interior laid out according to the original draft.
Construction of the shipyard used to build Sultana began in 1998. The yard was located on a dirt parking lot in the middle of the downtown area. This served as a great vantage point for the locals as well as visitors who wanted to keep track of the shipbuilding project. The shipwrights assembled to work on the project first had the job of lofting Sultana — the process of precisely drawing out all the lines as well as the timbers that would comprise the boat. The 42 foot keel of the Sultana was crafted from a single 140 year old white oak tree whose trunk weighed nearly 8,000 pounds. Lead ballast attached to the bottom of the keel weighed 11,000 pounds. There is an additional 15,000 pounds of internal ballast. Each of the 39 frames were made from four-inch thick slabs of the very dense Osage Orange wood which is native to the area. Hull planks were of white oak and between two and three inches thick. They were steam bent onto the boat and fastened with thousands of trunnels (tree nails) made of Osage and Locust. Hull plank seams were caulked with cotton, oakum, and seam compound. There are over six miles of caulking on the hull alone. The transom was framed with Osage and covered inside and out with cedar planking. Deck beams were constructed of Osage and the knees of Larch. Deck planks are douglas fir from the West Coast. Many, many other details such as gun posts, the windlass, hatch combings and gratings, the bowsprit, masts, spars, unique and beautiful carvings required specialized woods and treatments. A beautiful ornamental figurehead, named Ilean, is mounted on the prow of Sultana and was carved by a local artisan.
With the schooner nearing completion, plans were made to move the 130,000 pound vessel from the boatyard to its launching site some five blocks away. My brother, Landis and his wife, Janet live near Philadelphia but maintain a second residence in Betterton, Maryland, along the shores of the Sassafras River and the Chesapeake Bay. They have kept a steady eye on the shipbuilding progress throughout and naturally wanted to observe and participate in the festivities planned for the launching. I was invited to join them for the weekend activities, which I gladly accepted.
Finally, after several years of painstaking construction, the schooner was completed and ready for her maiden voyage from the shipyard, through the streets of Chestertown, and down to the Chester River. It took a bit less than two hours on Friday, March 23rd, to position the trailer under Sultana and another two hours or so to make the five block journey to the river. On Saturday, the U.S. Army Corps of Army Engineers placed slings under Sultana and slowly lifted her into the water with the assistance of an enormous 200 foot long, 80 foot wide 400-ton floating crane/barge. Once the Sultana was in the water, the Corps assisted with the stepping of the ships masts an bowsprit With the bowsprit in place Sultana now had an overall length of 97 feet. The 130,000 pound Sultana is now undergoing the fitting of her nine sails as well as other details that will be required to make her ready for duty and in compliance with Coast Guard regulations. Her home port will be Chestertown where she will reside between tours with other historic sailing vessels and restored working boats.
The weekend festivities included thousands of observers who paraded along with Sultana as she
slowly moved through the streets of Chestertown. At the launching site we were met by the spirited Kent County Marching Band whose members performed a concert of tunes appropriate to the occasion as well as local and state officials who gave short talks regarding this momentous event. Comments by Shipbuilder Swain gave appropriate credit to all those who willing gave of their time and talent to see this project through. Four major television stations covered the event as did National Public Radio.
We were all very impressed by the activities of the weekend. This was an important historical event which likely will not soon be repeated. There was an impressive effort required to set the wheels in motion and to see the entire process through over a period of nearly four years. The people of this area were very gracious and have been keenly interested in the project since its inception. We were able to visit and learn from a number of individuals who were key players throughout the entire process, among them the woman who will serve as Sultanas first captain, Gioia Blitz. Others included Jim and Cooky McClung whom we got to know quite well over the
weekend. Cooky is a staff writer for the Kent County News and, as such, has written
numerous articles chronicling the construction progress of Sultana. We were especially delighted to be invited into their home and participate in a reception they hosted for visiting dignitaries. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and met some very interesting people associated with the rebirth of Sultana.
Before the building of the schooner Sultana started, it was apparent that this was going to be an area-wide undertaking. Many thousands of hours of the actual work was accomplished by many volunteers, young and old alike, who contributed 60% of the actual manpower and worked alongside the professional shipwrights. The project was undertaken by Chester River Craft and Art, a 501 (c) (3) organization at a cost of 1.3 million dollars.
The mission of Sultana is to provide educational programs and seminars that emphasize colonial history as well as cultural and environmental topics pertinent to the Chesapeake and Chester River Watersheds. The Sultana will serve as the principal classroom and will be available to children as well as adults. Sultana will be commissioned on July 4, 2001 and will then begin an inaugural tour of major cities throughout the Chesapeake bay area.
Yes, this was a boat show unlike any other that I will likely attend. Despite the fact there was but one entry, it was nonetheless an entry that has captured the imagination of an entire city and, for that matter, an entire state. The wheels are in motion to consider having Chestertown serve as a center for the restoration of additional historic ships which can be found throughout the region, thus saving them from an inglorious future and preserving them for generations to come. In the end, we all have the same end in mind, dont we?
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