E-mail this page Reader Comments (below)

By DENNIS HOEY, Staff Writer Tuesday, December 12, 2006

BOOTHBAYHARBOR -- Hundreds of spectators lined the harbor on Monday afternoon to witness the successful launch of a sailing vessel that represents one of three ships that brought English colonists to America 400 years ago.

Cannons fired, a fife-and-drum corps played and a crowd of about 500 cheered after retired Navy Capt. Sally McElwreath cracked a bottle of champagne over the bow of the Discovery, a 50-foot re-creation of the vessel that carried settlers to the Jamestown Settlement in Virginia in 1607.

"I christen the Discovery, and Godspeed to all who will sail on her," McElwreath said after the bottle cracked on her second try.

It took about 20 minutes for the ship to make its way down submerged railways, but the Discovery wound up floating in the water off the Boothbay Harbor Shipyard, where it will be berthed until a crew can be selected.

The shipyard, which is off Commercial Street, signed a contract last December to build a replica of the ship for the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, a Virginia state agency that operates the Jamestown living history museum.

Monday's celebration was staged by the shipyard to mark completion of the $1.97 million project, and as a way to let the community get a peek at a ship that will leave Maine next month on a voyage down the eastern seaboard to Virginia.

The Discovery is destined to join two other replica ships next month at the Jamestown Settlement, a living history museum of 17th-century Virginia. The Discovery, the Susan Constant and the Godspeed will participate in next year's 400th anniversary celebration of the settlers' arrival in America.

The original Discovery was the smallest of the three vessels that landed in Virginia, where the Jamestown colony, America's first permanent English settlement, was founded.

"The Discovery represents the settlement of our country 400 years ago. All of us here at Boothbay Harbor Shipyard are proud to have had the opportunity to build this link to our nation's roots," said Robert Foster, a shipyard spokesman.

Eric Speth will be the ship's captain. He is the program manager for the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation.

Speth said he was impressed with how quickly the craftsmen at the Boothbay Harbor Shipyard were able to assemble the vessel.

Earlier this year, another Maine shipyard ­ Rockport Marine of Rockport ­ completed a replica of the Godspeed.

Speth said the state of Virginia elected to have two of the ships built in Maine because "the finest wooden ships in the world are built right here in Maine."

Andy Davis, a marine architect whose firm Tri-Coastal Marine is based in California, designed the Discovery replica.

Though historians may never know exactly what the original ship looked like, Davis said his firm did exhaustive research to create what it hopes is an accurate representation.

"This is one of the most authentic colonial vessels built to date," Davis said. "We did a lot of research." Boothbay Harbor Shipyard officials said 23,000 man-hours went into the making of the Discovery.

The two-masted vessel is square-rigged. The British national flag of 1607 will fly from the mainmast.

The Cross of St. George, a traditional English flag dating from the Middle Ages, will be fly on the mizzenmast.

The original Discovery, along with the Susan Constant and the Godspeed, set sail from London in December 1606. The ships carried 105 passsengers and 39 crew members on a voyage across the Atlantic that took four months.

The Jamestown colony was founded 13 years before the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts.

Among those who worked on the new ship was Pete Johnson of Waldoboro. He watched with pride as the ship slipped into the harbor.

"It means a lot to me. It just looks great," Johnson said. "I consider it to be one of my babies.

dhoey@pressherald.com