Ships & Shipbuilding

Maine Ships and Shipbuilding—Resources

CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Adkins, Jan. Wooden Ship. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1978. Illustrated story of building a whaling ship.

Appelbaum, Diana Karter. Giants in the Land. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1993. Describes how huge white pines were cut down in New England to make masts for the British Navy.

Ansel, Willits Dyer. A Kid’s Book on Boatbuilding. Brooklin, ME: WoodenBoat, 2001. Cartoon-style illustrations, easy reading. Information on tools, vocabulary and process of building boats by a Maine author.

Davis, Kay and Wendy Oldfield. My Boat. Milwaukee: G. Stevens Publishers, 1994. Stability and displacement of a boat.

Frederick, Dawn. How it Happens at the Boat Factory. Minneapolis, MN: Clara House Books, 2002. Describes how aluminum boats are made.

Gibbons, Gail. Boat Book. New York: Holiday House, 1983. Picture book, ages 4-6.

Pallotta, Jerry. Boat Alphabet Book. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge Publishing, 2003. Facts about many different kinds of boats. Preschool-early elementary level.

Purcell, Cindy. From Glass to Boat. New York: Children’s Press, 1992. The process of making fiberglass boats. Good photographs. Ages 7-12.

Rockwell, Anne. Boats. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1982. Preschool level.

Thomas, David. How Ships are Made. New York: Facts on File Publications, 1989. Naval architecture for young readers.

Wurmfeld, Hope Herman. Boatbuilder. New York: Macmillan, 1988. Building a Friendship sloop in Ralph Stanley’s traditional boatyard in Maine. (see Craig Milner’s recent book about Ralph Stanley.) Good photographs. Ages 8 and up.

HIGH SCHOOL/ADULT BOOKS
Baker, William A. A Maritime History of Bath, Maine, and the Kennebec River Region. Bath, ME: Marine Research Society of Bath, 1973. The story of a major shipbuilding town in Maine.

Blackburn, Graham. The Overlook Illustrated Dictionary of Nautical Terms. Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, 1981.

Bowker, Francis E. Hull-Down. New Bedford: Reynolds Printing, 1963. Schooners of Maine.

Bradford, Gershom. The Mariner’s Dictionary. New York: Weathervane Books, 1972.

Chappelle, Howard I. The History of American Sailing Ships. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1935.

Duncan, Roger F. Coastal Maine: A Maritime History. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1992. A good overview of Maine maritime history, including its ships and shipbuilding.

Duncan, Roger F. The Dorothy Elizabeth. New York: W. W. Norton, 2000. Building a traditional wooden schooner.

Duncan, Roger F. Freindship Sloop. Camden, ME: International Marine Publishing Company, 1985. Detailed information on this traditional Maine working boat.

Forbes, Allan and Ralph M. Eastman. Yankee Ship Sailing Cards. (3 v.) Boston: State Street Trust Co., 1948-52. Reproductions of colorful and dramatic posters advertising clipper ships for the purpose of attracting cargoes.

Gardner, John. The Dory Book. Mystic, CT: Mystic Seaport Museum, 1987. Building wooden dories. Illustrations by Sam Manning.

Greenhill, Basil and Sam Manning. The Evolution of the Wooden Ship. New York: Facts on File, 1988. A history of wooden ships and shipbuilding, with excellent illustrations of the shipbuilding process.

Greenhill, Basil and Sam Manning. The Schooner Bertha L. Downs. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1995.

Kerchove, Rene de. International Maritime Dictionary, Second Edition. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1961.

Lowell, Royal. Boatbuilding Down East: How Lobster Boats are Built. Brooklin, ME: WoodenBoat Publications, 2002.

Lubbock, Basil. The Down Easters: American Deep-Water Sailing Ships 1869-1929. Glasgow: Brown, Son and Ferguson, Ltd., 1929.

Manning, Samuel F. New England Masts and the King’s Broad Arrow. Kennebunk, ME: Thomas Murphy, 1979. Well illustrated history of the Maine and New Hampshire mast trade.

McKay, Richard C. Some Famous Sailing Ships and their Builder, Donald McKay. New York, London: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1928. A famous Boston shipbuilder.

McKenna, Robert. The Dictionary of Nautical Literacy. Camden, ME: International Marine/McGraw-Hill, 2003.

Milner, Craig. Ralph Stanley: Tales of a Maine Boatbuilder. Camden, ME: Down East Books, 2004. Ralph Stanley of Southwest Harbor is one of the best-known designers and builders of traditional wooden boats. His boatbuilding shop is still in operation.

Morris, Paul C. American Sailing Coasters of the North Atlantic. Chardon, OH: Bloch & Osborn Publishing Co., 1973.

Parker, W. J. Lewis. The Great Coal Schooners of New England. Mystic, CT: Maritime Historical Association, 1948.

Rogers, John G. Origins of Sea Terms. Mystic, CT. Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc., 1985.

Rowe, William Hutchinson. The Maritime History of Maine. Freeport, ME: Bond Wheelwright Co., 1966. Another good introduction, though it doesn’t always cover the entire state.

Snow, Ralph Linwood. Bath Iron Works: The First Hundred Years. Bath, ME: Maine Maritime Museum, 1987. Good work on 20th century shipbuilding in Maine.

Snow, Ralph Linwood and Douglas K. Lee. A Shipyard in Maine: Percy & Small and the Great Schooners. Gardiner, Me: Tilbury House; Bath, ME: Maine Maritime Museum, 1999. Excellent illustrations.

Spectre, Peter. Wooden Ship: The Art, History, and Revival of Wooden Boatbuilding. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1991. Nicely illustrated with large, color pictures.

Stelmok, Jerry and Rollin Thurlow. The Wood & Canvas Canoe: A Complete Guide to its History, Construction, Restoration, and Maintenance. Gardiner, Maine: Tilbury House, 1987.

Stevens, James P. Reminiscences of a Boothbay Shipbuilder. Boothbay, ME: Boothbay Region Historical Society, 1993.

Story, Dana A. The Building of a Wooden Ship: “Sawn Frames and Trunnels Fastened.” Barre, MA: Barre Publishing Co., Inc., 1971.

Thorndike, Virginia L. Maine Lobsterboats: Builders and Lobstermen Speak of Their Craft. Camden, ME: Downeast Books, 1998.

Warren Historical Society. From Warren to the Sea, 1827-1852: Letters of the Counce and McCallum Families. Middletown, NY: Whitlock Press, 1970. Shipbuilding in Warren, Maine.

Wasson, George S. Sailing Days on the Penobscot: The Story of the River and the Bay in the Old Days. London: MacDonald and Jane’s, 1974. With introduction by Lincoln Colcord.

VIDEOS
Gus Skoog, Boatbuilder of Vinalhaven, Maine. The story of the building of a 34 foot wooden lobster boat in an island boat shop.

Bennett, Juliet, Peapods of the Maine Coast. Searsport, ME: Penobscot Marine Museum, 2005. An interactive DVD including interviews with builders and owners of peapods, traditional double-ended Maine boats used for lobstering, other fishing, and transportation. The DVD also includes construction, planking, framing, history, etc.

Tales of Wood and Water: The Craft and Beauty of Wooden Boats. Bethesda, MD: Discovery Channel, 1991. 60 min. Story of the revival of the wooden boatbuilding business in Maine.

Ames, Alfred. From Stump to Ship. Orono, ME: University of Maine at Orono, 1985. Excellent 1920s footage of the lumber industry, getting logs to the ship. Though not about shipbuilding specifically, it gives an idea of how lumber got to its markets and its use in shipbuilding.

WEB PAGES
Sailing card collection at http://www.mysticseaport.org/library/manuscripts/coll/coll112/coll112.cfm