In late May,  we posted about the publication of a beautiful new book by Alison Shaw and Tom Dunlop, Schooner – Building a Wooden Boat on Martha’s Vineyard.   We recently had the opportunity to read the book.  Our review:

Schooner – Building a Wooden Boat on Martha’s Vineyard details, in prose and photographs, the story of the design and construction of the schooner, Rebecca of Vineyard Haven, the largest wooden vessel to have been built on Martha’s Vineyard since the days of Abraham Lincoln.   

At first glance, it would be easy to consider Schooner to be a “coffee table book.” In one sense, it works very well as one.   The photography by Alison Shaw is stunning and the layout of the graphics and sidebar text is beautifully done. It is easy to pick up the book, flip through the pages and get lost in the vivid imagery and the succinct captions.

It would be a mistake if that is all you do, however. Tom Dunlop’s account of the birth of the shipyard, and the growth of Rebecca from an idea, to a sketch, to a design, and finally to a sailing schooner is fascinating.   At the heart of the tale are Nat Benjamin and Ross Gannon who began repairing wooden boats on the beach at Vineyard Haven and go on to found the Gannon and Benjamin Marine Railway, where the Rebecca will be designed and built.

Dunlop follows the construction of the schooner one step at a time in language that is clear enough for the layman but still engaging for those who have spent a bit of time in boatyards. We follow along  with the shaping of the angelique timbers, imported from the jungles of Suriname, for schooner’s keel; to the cutting of frames; the planking of the hull and the construction of the masts.  We encounter a major fire at the shipyard, which misses the Rebecca, and the bankruptcy of the original owner of the schooner.   Ultimately, the story told in  Schooner has as much to do with those who built this beautiful schooner as it does the construction itself.

My only quibble with the prose is a certain understandable enthusiasm that creeps in from time to time. For the sake of full disclosure I built fiberglass boats while in college and spent several decades working with steel ships, which perhaps informs or at least colors my skepticism when I read gushing passages about the superiority and longevity of  wooden boats.  Tom Dunlop writes: “Properly cared for, there is every reason to believe that this schooner, built a the turn of the twentieth century, will still be sailing strong at the turn of the twenty second.”  The statement is absolutely true.  Nevertheless, the average reader might not grasp what is entailed in the phrase “properly cared for” as applied to wooden boats of this size.   He also comments that “sailing a wooden boat feels more rewarding than fiberglass – an organic craft that seems to come to life as it moves through the water, rather than a  plastic thing that seems vaguely to confront it.” Having sailed on wooden, fiberglass and steel sailing boats and ships, the primary difference I’ve noted was the attention we paid to the bilge.  (The wooden sailing vessels usually required more pumping.)   These quibbles aside, Dunlops’ enthusiasm for his subject captures the very real sense of wonder and excitement as the schooner begins to take shape from its component parts.  He captures the magical sense of creation that has inspired boat builders and sailors for as long as boats have been built.

The book was released this year but describes a project which was completed almost ten years ago.  Since then the Rebecca of Vineyard Haven has been sailed extensively and is now for sale.   Click here to learn more:  Gannon and Benjamin Classic Wooden Schooner 2001