Getting Through a "Boring" Job

Photo by Dan Tobyne. Harold boring holes for the bronze rods

Harold and Zach had a time of it boring holes into thick piles of oak. Photo by Dan Tobyne



Zach, 15, - future master shipwright?  photo by Dan Tobyne




Wedges. Photo by Dan Tobyne



Great fall colors. Photo by Dan Tobyne

Harold and the gang have been making good progress over the past week - and the beautiful fall weather has been cooperating, too. Harold has been calling the work "boring" because he and Zach have been boring holes through thick oak and fastening huge bronze rods to the stem and stern posts. Bernie Power provided some excellent staging for the stem but a lot of it involves a balancing act and Chuck has been doing a great job making moulds. Steve has been here and is always a great help. Today, Harold is getting ready to get the next bulkhead frame out the door. Bernie has done a fantastic job building the bulkhead - milled, beaded and sanded all the boards, putting tounges and grooves on it. He is a great asset and we will be writing more on him soon.

Reflections on a Marine Venus...no, on a Essex Marsh

Relfections of the Pinky Maine along the Essex marsh

While there are so many great days on the Essex river in the fall, we could not resist one more autumn sail aboard the great Pinky Maine. Harold, Laurie, Michael March and Chuck Redman dropped what we were doing on a weekday afternoon and sailed down to Farnhams for fried clams. We had some young charges hold onto the bow line while Harold skirted along the bowsprit, jumped ashore and ran in to order clams. As he came out, he decided a cold beer would go well with the clams so he asked a lady for a ride to the package store and came back just in time to grab the hot, fried clams and jump back on board.  The four of us sailed away, eating clams, yet we did not realize what a lovely spectacle the Maine was showing us until Michael snapped this picture. Thank you Michael and Pinky Maine for such a graceful sail down the creek.  One fun fact to note is that the original Maine (this is a replica built in the 1980s) was actually built right here along Farnhams' creek so this boat just seems to fit right here for all time.

Work Is Progressing on the Ardelle

Bow is coming together



Putting the pieces together



Harold, Jeff and Zach working on frame number six.

This frame is nearly ready to go

Photographer Dan Tobyne has been continuing with his excellent work while things come together on the stem and with the next plank. Besides Dan's great photographs, we also have on our website's front page the ability to update photos of the progress of the Ardelle. Steve Hastings, Harold's cousin, and Sue Hastings have been working hard on perfecting three cameras around the yard that take photographs every 15 minutes or so. Anytime you log on to Burnham Boatbuilding you can catch the latest shot.

Log Splitting for the Stem

Harold is about to crack open the soon to be stem for the Ardelle

Crack!

Harold and Chuck made light work of this piece of oak

Beautifully cut...the oak did crackle once it was split

As Harold was leaning over the oak, the log was crackling back...the "tension in the wood" was letting go as it goes on to its next incarnation as the stem of the new schooner.

 Harold now has the stem for the Ardelle cut and work will begin to cut into shape. This was the second piece Harold cut as the first one he cut on the mill ended up having a defect. So, we had to find another one and this one looks good. The stem - like the stern post - is half submersed where the top is exposed to the air and sun and the bottom is in the water. For that reason, he tries to put the aboslute best wood he can find into these two pieces. A log this size is just too big for the mill and has to be split with a chainsaw and wedges and a sledgehammer. Our friends at Maynard Brothers in Michigan told us once when they get a log that is too big for the mill they use "black powder" where they drill a hole in the center of the log with a chainsaw curf on each end and a long fuse. This idea has greatly intrigued us especially halfway through the log...but we never dared try it for fear we would damage the wood or more likely ourselves in the process.

... A Boatbuilder is ...

Cutting the molds





The loft floor is always interesting!

A model of the Ardelle

Dan Tobyne has been photographing the yard and the interior of the barn and the loft floor. There is always something to shoot and here are some of his recent pictures.

Tracing the curves of the frame from mold to four inch oak

Stern Post is Nearly Complete

Chuck Redman cut out the stern post here. Harold is pitctured below finishing it up. The propellor apperture is cut, the rabbit line is scored on the side and he cut a tenon on the bottom of it which will fit into a mortice on the keel.

Harold is pictured here boring some holes into the top of the stern post which will sit level when its erected The holes are going to be filled with linseed oil and turpentine which will be re-filled regularly and will soak down through the post...preserving it for many years we hope!

The stern post is nearly complete and the hood ends of all the planks will attach there. According to our friend the late Dana Story in his book the Building of a Wooden Ship "the skeleton of a ship is composed of many parts. While some of the gang are assembling frames, others are getting out the timbers which form the end of the vessel.." In our case, the gang is made of volunteers and an apprentice and they are doing everything at once, including milling the timber.

Pinky Maine at Rockport's Motif No. 1

Our friends Ned and Suzanne sent this photo today of the Pinky Maine during last fall's sail "around the world" Cape Ann is our world and hitching a line to Motif No. 1 is one of Harold's favorite spots p to tie up in Rockport, MA.

The Chebacco Redemption

This article about Harold was written in 2000 and published in Yankee Magazine. The author and photographer are credited in the story which can be read here  It is a good read!!

From Yankee Magazine 2000

A Good Time of Year to Sail on the Pinky Maine

Perry Burnham took this picture from the Pinky Maine on Tuesday as the sun went down on one of the hottest days of the year. This is a great time of year to charter as friends start visiting from out of town. Check out Burnham Boatbuilding to get summer visitors out on the Maine. It's the coolest  place on Cape Ann!

Gloucester Times Writes about Harold's American Schooner Association Award

The Gloucester Times was kind enough to mention Harold on Saturday and his award from the American Schooner Association which was presented to him at the annual ASA meeting in Mystic, CT where he was also the featured speaker. It was a great event and well worth driving down to Mystic, CT.  Prior to the event, touring Mystic Seaport in the off-season, at dusk, in February was unique. It was a Friday afternoon and the place was about to close but we were able to have a quick walk around.  

Looking around at the schooners covered at the dock, shrouded by the dim street lights and the grey water it made that feeling of winter hibernation complete. But, the return of the sailing season is not as far off as it seems!

When the ASA gathered to meet on Saturday, we also got the treat of being around good people and hot coffee - always a great combination. To read the Gloucester Times article, click here.

- Laurie Fullerton

No Man's Land boat gets a new set of sails

Geoff Gordon was here this a.m. putting the masts away on his No Man's Land boat. This boat was finished by Dave Brown and volunteers at the Essex Shipbuilding Museum (http://www.essexshipbuildingmuseum.org/) in 2004 and Geoff and his wife, Therese Sellers won it in a raffle  The two have been sailing around Cape Ann ever since.  They brought their boat here for a new, larger, set of sails. We built the first set in 2004. We are having a good time working with them planning their new rig.

November morning at Burnham Boatbuilding

November morning at Burnham Boatbuilding (above) and Daisy the dog trying to keep up with Harold

The weather couldn't be better for a boatbuilder - especially as Harold is caulking the yawl "Sawdust" inside the barn..but the barn door is open and it is still warm enough to keep it that way. The sound of a caulking mallet in an Essex shipyard is probably a familiar one to generations before us but less so now. It is one that a trained ear can distinguish very clearly from the sound of hammers and nails. It is a sound all of its own.

Getting out on the road

Harold and the gang from Boothbay Harbor Shipyard visit Direcktor Shipyard

Harold has been keeping busy this week and last with trips to New Bedford, Mattapoisett, Bridgeport, CT, Boothbay Harbor, Maine and around this area.
Harold most recently went with the men from Boothbay Harbor shipyard on a day long excursion to Direcktor Shipyard - one of the region's largest shipyards - to look at a large Turkish-built vessel.  Harold has a great rapport with all of these guys who have a great deal of expertise among them.

While cutting the wood for the new schooner, a lot more people have been coming by the yard. The other day we had a lot of the smaller boats coming out of the river and our neighbor Simon Koch was hauling his boat. Simon is now en route to Bermuda on the schooner Roseway and while putting the boat away for the winter before his trip, he had some friends helping him haul the boat. One of his friends used to work for Gammon and Benjamin on Vineyard Haven a few years ago and another one worked around boats as well. They said it felt like being back at the Vineyard boatyard and the atmosphere here was great. On a fall day with the boats coming out of the water and the Pinky Maine coming up river for its last sail - it was a great day. The last sail of the season was a charter and the family on board were also Burnhams' - but grew up in the midwest. It was fun to show them around and they had a great sail up the Essex River from Gloucester along the Annisquam River as well - with peak foliage all the way.

Schooner Ernestina - what a ship!

It's hard to believe how much time has gone by since early May when the summer was ahead of us instead of behind us. But, May was a big month for Harold and the schooner Ernestina which was brought from Boothbay Harbor Maine to New Bedford after nearly a year long restoration of the front end of the schooner. The delivery from Maine to Massachusetts was made by employees of the Boothbay Harbor shipyard and Harold Burnham, who had been hired under contract by the State of Massachusetts to oversee the restoration of the schooner and had spent nearly one year on the project living part of the week in Boothbay Harbor. Paul Brawley of the Department of Conservation and Recreation was Harold's boss and Harold served as the owner's representative overseeing the restoration of the bow end of Ernestina. Harold based himself in Boothbay for one year, coming home for part of the week but spending most of it sleeping right aboard the Ernestina in the captain's quarters as the work went on. It was an amazing year for Harold and for all involved in the project. The restoration work on the first part of the boat was absolutely first rate. Harold was part of something really, really fantastic and he has said it more than once "it was the best job I have ever had" in part because he could be on site during an historic restoration, all his skills were called upon and he became an essential part of the success of the restoration.

Harold behind the 6 string guitar

For those of you who have met Harold, well this photo just sums up his spirit!