Printer-friendly version

Contributed by Roy P. Fairfield 2007-08-09

Biddeford — Our classmates in Thornton ’36 called him “boats” because he wanted to talk about little else! Before entering the Army Air Corps at the outset of World War II, he resided at Curtis Cove in Biddeford and lived off the ocean, lobstering, clamming and doing other sea-related tasks; also, he raised white mice for laboratory purposes. Upon returning from England where he was a prop repair specialist, he resumed his lobstering activities until he assumed managing boat-building activities at Marblehead Boatyard, just off the Pool Road. In a ten-year period with Marblehead he supervised the building of nearly 800 Marblehead cruisers, 23 to 42 feet long and used for both lobstering and recreational purposes; he kept up with evolving technology via attendance at Boston, New York and Miami boat shows as well as guidance from Walter McInnis, a well-known Boston naval architect. As I can attest from many visits to the boatyard on family business, Earle did the initial lofting of every model, then developed a production line with specialists at each stage of laying the keels, bending the oak frames, planking the ribs, doing the wiring, setting the engines, and so on. Then, when time came for testing, Earle supervised the trials and continuous testing on the Saco River and in the Gulf of Maine around the Biddeford Pool area. Sometimes he would deliver the Marbleheads to Boston, Southern New England and New York areas. Despite the requirement for close fits with low tolerances of individual pieces, by almost any standard, the production flowed fairly smoothly. In many ways, too, both at Marblehead and a bit later in his career upon establishing Rumery Boat Yard on Cleaves Street, Biddeford, it was a family affair. His wife, Peggy, assisted with the planning; his brother, Reed, served as yard foreman; his older son, Steve, managed the complexities of contemporary electronics and wiring requirements as well as the mechanical department; his younger son, Turner, assisted with painting after school; his daughter, Susan, mastered the complexities of running an office while his younger daughter, Martha, did odd jobs. My dad, Wilbur Fairfield, specialized in making wire harnesses, installing engines and doing other mechanical tasks. Once Earle founded his own company, he worked the proverbial 25-hour day. Continuing to use the skills and visions of Mr. McInnis, he built 26 to 42-foot Arundels, also a cabin cruiser but used more for recreational purposes such as fishing, picnicking, etc. Two boat-building projects which I recall vividly: outfitting two cement-hulled sail boats (imagine a concrete boat floating!) and fitting out a dozen unfinished hulls that arrived in Biddeford from Japan in rough form. Not only did they include mahogany decks and cabins as well as teak decks, they also came with very low-posted cabins (because Japanese folk tend to be short in stature!). Also, at the Biddeford wharves Earle and his employees repaired masts, fixed motors and other boat parts as a regular piece of their everyday activity. He and his crew also modernized the old brick Central Maine Power building for ease of production, constructed a well where boats could be launched or hoisted for repairs or storing. He and his crew also built huge storage facilities, added floats for ease of access since the tidal ups and downs ranged from a few feet to eight or ten feet. In short, Earle lived his dream of building and sailing boats. Upon retirement in the late Seventies, he, Peggy and sometimes members of his family spent winters in the Florida Keys or at the wharves in the beautiful Caribbean islands, especially Man o’ War Cuy. And they spent those years in one of the twin fifty-two - foot off-shore trollers, that were in a sense the culmination of his life’s work. Both he and Peggy spent many of their waking hours caring for that beautiful ship as they might groom a pet. It was hard work for both of them, but it probably contributed to their longevity. Two years before Earle died, in 2005, he was elected to the Maine Boat-Builders Hall of Fame. Roy P. Fairfield 11 Bayberry Road East Biddeford, Maine April 30, 2007