“The “Yarmouth,” said to be the finest and fastest sea-going steamer owned in the Dominion of Canada, is 1,432 tons gross; was built at the Clyde by A. MacMillan & Son, in the early part of 1887, for £24,000 sterling; is of 2,200 horse-power, lighted by electricity, steered by steam-power; has the other modern improvements, and berths for 350 passengers. Already a favorite with the traveling public, this steamer makes semi-weekly trips between Yarmouth and Boston,: can make the passage, 240 miles, in 15 hours, but ordinarily occupies 16 to 17 hours. The “Yarmouth” is in charge of Capt. Harvey Doane, whose twenty years’ experience in steamers running to Yarmouth entitles him to the utmost confidence; and he is ably seconded by Capt. Samuel F. Stanwood, now acting pilot.” – “Yarmouth, Nova Scotia: A Sequel to Campbell’s History” by George S. Brown, Rand Avery Company, Printers, Boston, p. 505 – 1888. Photographer Henry L. Rand traveled from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia to Boston, Massachusetts on the “Yarmouth” arriving on July 26, 1894.
Description: “The “Yarmouth,” said to be the finest and fastest sea-going steamer owned in the Dominion of Canada, is 1,432 tons gross; was built at the Clyde by A. MacMillan & Son, in the early part of 1887, for £24,000 sterling; is of 2,200 horse-power, lighted by electricity, steered by steam-power; has the other modern improvements, and berths for 350 passengers. Already a favorite with the traveling public, this steamer makes semi-weekly trips between Yarmouth and Boston,: can make the passage, 240 miles, in 15 hours, but ordinarily occupies 16 to 17 hours. The “Yarmouth” is in charge of Capt. Harvey Doane, whose twenty years’ experience in steamers running to Yarmouth entitles him to the utmost confidence; and he is ably seconded by Capt. Samuel F. Stanwood, now acting pilot.” – “Yarmouth, Nova Scotia: A Sequel to Campbell’s History” by George S. Brown, Rand Avery Company, Printers, Boston, p. 505 – 1888. Photographer Henry L. Rand traveled from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia to Boston, Massachusetts on the “Yarmouth” arriving on July 26, 1894. [show more]
Ralph built this 34' lobster boat, “Wolfhound”, later renamed “Gramps”, for Wendell Sherbon Seavey in his first boat shop at his father's house on Main Street.
Description: Ralph built this 34' lobster boat, “Wolfhound”, later renamed “Gramps”, for Wendell Sherbon Seavey in his first boat shop at his father's house on Main Street.
“Woiee” ran for Machiasport Canning Company – “built in 1918 in Eastport, Maine. She had a registered length of 54 feet, was 15 feet wide and carried 49 hogsheads.” - “Masts and Masters: A Brief History of Sardine Carriers and Boatmen” by John D. Gilman, published by John D. Gilman, 1993, p. 179. 1 hogshead = 17½ bushels. “Sardine carrier “Woiee” was rerigged as a live aboard motor sailer with a fiberglassed hull. She is homeported at Vero Beach in Florida.” - “Sardine Carriers and Seiners of the Maine Coast” compiled and written by Paul E. Bennett, The St. Pierre Doriman, p. Ja, 1992.
Description: “Woiee” ran for Machiasport Canning Company – “built in 1918 in Eastport, Maine. She had a registered length of 54 feet, was 15 feet wide and carried 49 hogsheads.” - “Masts and Masters: A Brief History of Sardine Carriers and Boatmen” by John D. Gilman, published by John D. Gilman, 1993, p. 179. 1 hogshead = 17½ bushels. “Sardine carrier “Woiee” was rerigged as a live aboard motor sailer with a fiberglassed hull. She is homeported at Vero Beach in Florida.” - “Sardine Carriers and Seiners of the Maine Coast” compiled and written by Paul E. Bennett, The St. Pierre Doriman, p. Ja, 1992. [show more]
Built in Thomaston in 1967 by Roger Morse to a 1905 half-model made by Roger's grandfather Charles Morse. Ralph Stanley at helm. On board: owners Rodney Flora and Jill Schoof, Marion Stanley
Description: Built in Thomaston in 1967 by Roger Morse to a 1905 half-model made by Roger's grandfather Charles Morse. Ralph Stanley at helm. On board: owners Rodney Flora and Jill Schoof, Marion Stanley
"White Winger" 22-24' was built by Ronald Dean Rich c. 1952 for his own use at the Ronald Rich Boatshop, 50 Clark Point Road, Southwest Harbor, Maine. The vessel was named for the White-Winged Scoter, also known as a White-Winged Coot. On summer Sundays Ronald, his wife and three daughters would take "White Winger" out for picnics in Blue Hill Bay, sometimes to Placentia Island, but mostly to Sand Beach on the north end of Pond Island where Ronald enjoyed picking cranberries and digging clams while his daughters swam, rowed and water skied. Sometime in the nineteen sixties, when the girls were teenagers and no longer interested in family picnics, the boat was sold to a Sutton Island resident and then sold to someone in Seal Harbor.
Description: "White Winger" 22-24' was built by Ronald Dean Rich c. 1952 for his own use at the Ronald Rich Boatshop, 50 Clark Point Road, Southwest Harbor, Maine. The vessel was named for the White-Winged Scoter, also known as a White-Winged Coot. On summer Sundays Ronald, his wife and three daughters would take "White Winger" out for picnics in Blue Hill Bay, sometimes to Placentia Island, but mostly to Sand Beach on the north end of Pond Island where Ronald enjoyed picking cranberries and digging clams while his daughters swam, rowed and water skied. Sometime in the nineteen sixties, when the girls were teenagers and no longer interested in family picnics, the boat was sold to a Sutton Island resident and then sold to someone in Seal Harbor. [show more]
“Called “Great Northern’s Navy,” the Great Northern Paper Company owned a fleet of steamers used in its logging operations on several waters in the neighborhood of Chesuncook Lake, the largest… Replacing the “A.B. Smith” [side-wheel steamer built in 1902] was the “West Branch No. 2,” built May 1926 at Chesuncook Dam, now replaced by Ripogenus Dam…” - “Maine’s Steamboating Past” by Donald A. Wilson, published by Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, SC, p. 117, c. 2007 Vessel Name – West Branch No.2 Class – logging vessel Hull - wood Designed by – O.A. Harkness (Orrin Albert Harkness) (1870-) Build date – 1926 Launched – May 5, 1927 Built by – Great Northern Paper Co. Built at – on the shore at Chesuncook Dam, ME Built for – Great Northern Paper Co. Named for – West Branch of the Penobscot River in Maine. Power - 30 ton diesel Gross tons - Net tons – Capacity - Length – 91’ Beam – 21’ Draught – 8’ Crew – Designer O.A. Harkness was a mechanical genius who developed an inland fleet of lumbering vessels for Great Northern and was known as the “Admiral.” West Branch No. 2 operated between the head of Chesuncook Lake and Ripogenus Dam – 24 miles, towing pulpwood in booms, sometimes as much as 5000 cords at a time. By 1933 she had towed more than half a million cords of wood. – The Lewiston Daily Sun, November 20, 1933.
Description: “Called “Great Northern’s Navy,” the Great Northern Paper Company owned a fleet of steamers used in its logging operations on several waters in the neighborhood of Chesuncook Lake, the largest… Replacing the “A.B. Smith” [side-wheel steamer built in 1902] was the “West Branch No. 2,” built May 1926 at Chesuncook Dam, now replaced by Ripogenus Dam…” - “Maine’s Steamboating Past” by Donald A. Wilson, published by Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, SC, p. 117, c. 2007 Vessel Name – West Branch No.2 Class – logging vessel Hull - wood Designed by – O.A. Harkness (Orrin Albert Harkness) (1870-) Build date – 1926 Launched – May 5, 1927 Built by – Great Northern Paper Co. Built at – on the shore at Chesuncook Dam, ME Built for – Great Northern Paper Co. Named for – West Branch of the Penobscot River in Maine. Power - 30 ton diesel Gross tons - Net tons – Capacity - Length – 91’ Beam – 21’ Draught – 8’ Crew – Designer O.A. Harkness was a mechanical genius who developed an inland fleet of lumbering vessels for Great Northern and was known as the “Admiral.” West Branch No. 2 operated between the head of Chesuncook Lake and Ripogenus Dam – 24 miles, towing pulpwood in booms, sometimes as much as 5000 cords at a time. By 1933 she had towed more than half a million cords of wood. – The Lewiston Daily Sun, November 20, 1933. [show more]
Built by Ralph Stanley Inc. for Shirley Moore Phippen. There is a photograph of "Wandabob" on the cover of “Maine Lobsterboats: Builders and Lobstermen Speak of Their Craft” by Virginia L. Thorndike, published by Down East Books, Camden, Maine, 1998, “Ralph Stanley: Continuing a Southwest Harbor Tradition,” p. 37-40.
Description: Built by Ralph Stanley Inc. for Shirley Moore Phippen. There is a photograph of "Wandabob" on the cover of “Maine Lobsterboats: Builders and Lobstermen Speak of Their Craft” by Virginia L. Thorndike, published by Down East Books, Camden, Maine, 1998, “Ralph Stanley: Continuing a Southwest Harbor Tradition,” p. 37-40.
For over a year [after the start of WWII] the Penobscot Bay islands had no regular ferry service. Local fishermen and boat owners filled in as best they could. Then, at a special town meeting in August 1942, Vinalhaven voted to raise $55,000 to build a powerboat. The result was a sixty-five-foot, diesel-powered “motorship” named “Vinalhaven II,” built in Southwest Harbor, Maine. The boat went into service in July 1943, and Charles Philbrook was her captain…” – “Stories from the Maine Coast: Skppers, Ships and Storms” by Harry Gratwick, The History Press, 2012, p. 54-55. "The “Vinalhaven II”, 57 gross tons owned by the Vinalhaven Port District, Inc. of Rockland was built [by Southwest Boat Corporation] in 1943 to serve the island of Vinalhaven with passenger and freight service to Rockland." - "Boatbuilding During World War II: MDI, Ellsworth, Stonington and Bluehill" by Ralph W. Stanley, p. 10 - 1997. “Vinalhaven II” was designed by Cyrus “Cy” Hamlin. “Clarence” Bennett, a fisherman, was one of the group that raised the money to build “Vinalhaven II.” – Ralph W. Stanley 2011.
Description: For over a year [after the start of WWII] the Penobscot Bay islands had no regular ferry service. Local fishermen and boat owners filled in as best they could. Then, at a special town meeting in August 1942, Vinalhaven voted to raise $55,000 to build a powerboat. The result was a sixty-five-foot, diesel-powered “motorship” named “Vinalhaven II,” built in Southwest Harbor, Maine. The boat went into service in July 1943, and Charles Philbrook was her captain…” – “Stories from the Maine Coast: Skppers, Ships and Storms” by Harry Gratwick, The History Press, 2012, p. 54-55. "The “Vinalhaven II”, 57 gross tons owned by the Vinalhaven Port District, Inc. of Rockland was built [by Southwest Boat Corporation] in 1943 to serve the island of Vinalhaven with passenger and freight service to Rockland." - "Boatbuilding During World War II: MDI, Ellsworth, Stonington and Bluehill" by Ralph W. Stanley, p. 10 - 1997. “Vinalhaven II” was designed by Cyrus “Cy” Hamlin. “Clarence” Bennett, a fisherman, was one of the group that raised the money to build “Vinalhaven II.” – Ralph W. Stanley 2011. [show more]