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Workers at Boothbay Harbor Shipyard spend more than a year repairing the historic tall ship from the waterline up.

By DENNIS HOEY, Staff Writer June 10, 2007

BOOTHBAY HARBOR — The HMS Bounty, the same ship that was featured in the 1962 Hollywood film "Mutiny on the Bounty," is nearly ready to take to the high seas again. But this time the three-masted sailing vessel will set forth with a new crew, updated look and a course setting that will eventually take the ship to the South Pacific.

Shipwrights from the Boothbay Harbor Shipyard were feverishly working on last-minute touches to the 412-ton vessel this week, in anticipation of launching the Bounty Saturday night.

Since it arrived in Maine last April, the Bounty has been completely overhauled from the waterline up. About the only fixtures that were left untouched were the ship's masts.

"When the owner first approached us to have the ship's bottom redone, it was like swiss cheese," said Robert C. Foster III, a spokesman for the shipyard. "It came up here with a big rubber diaper on her to keep her afloat."

Since owner Robert Hanson of Long Island, N.Y., acquired the ship in 2001 from the Fall River, Mass., Chamber of Commerce, the Boothbay Harbor Shipyard has undertaken three separate overhauls of the vessel, with the most recent effort expected to be the last needed for a few years.

Margaret Ramsey, spokeswoman for Hanson's HMS Bounty Organization LLC in Smithtown, N.Y., said most people don't realize the cost involved with maintaining a tall ship.

"It easily costs us between $750,000 and $1 million a year just to maintain the ship," Ramsey said. "It is not an easy feat."

Ramsey said the ship's most recent overhaul, though it took a little longer than expected, should be well worth the $2 million investment. In total, the three overhauls cost $5 million.

But as Ramsey points out, "The ship is beautiful. It truly tugs at your heart."

Shipyard workers Will West and Skip Collins would agree.

West, a carpenter from Whitefield, and Collins, a heavy equipment operator from Woolwich, say they enjoy working on the vessel, whose 115-foot masts tower over the Commercial Street boatyard and adjacent neighborhood.

They were among more than 40 shipyard workers who have worked 10-hour days -- an estimated 35,000 man-hours -- on making sure the Bounty is prepared to return to sea.

"We pretty much replaced everything but the keel and hull," said Collins.

The overhaul included replacing stern and bow sections, installing a new top deck, recasting the ship's ballast, installing new bulwarks or deck rails, attaching chain plates to the hull, which are used to hold rigging in place, building a new skylight and galley windows and installing new deck hatches.

In addition, Bounty crew members are in the process of installing new guest cabins on the "tween" deck -- the living area between the top deck and the bottom deck where crew members live.

"We have been working on this ship for over a year. It will be really nice to see it finally set sail and head out over the horizon," West said.

The first step toward its ocean voyage took place Saturday evening, when the vessel slid down the ways into the harbor. Ramsey said the Bounty will now spend several days in the harbor -- its wood needs to adapt to saltwater conditions -- before it sets sail on July 2 for Nova Scotia and England.

Portsmouth, England, will be the ship's last port of call before the Bounty begins a historic trip around the world. The ship will leave England in late September or early October.

It is tentatively scheduled to sail to Brazil before sailing across the south Atlantic to South Africa. It will then proceed on to Australia, New Zealand and Tahiti.

Hanson and the ship's captain, Robin Walbridge, have recruited a crew of 11 men and seven women that will take the Bounty on...