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After nine months of hard work, flying sawdust, hundreds of trunnels, gallons of paint and sealant, miles of cotton and hemp oakum – the new gundalow under construction at the Puddle Dock Shipyard on Strawbery Banke is ready to launch. “This will be the first wooden boat launched out of Portsmouth in nearly thirty years,” says executive director Molly Bolster. (Continued below)

“Over three hundred years of shipbuilding are part of our local history, and we are thrilled to continue that legacy,” Bolster adds. 

York, Maine resident and master shipwright Paul E. Rollins, Sr., has worked with a crew of boat builders and volunteers since April to build the 64’ long, 18’ wide traditional wooden sailing vessel. Additional work will be carried out on-shore and on the boat through the winter to be ready for public sails next spring.  The mast, when completed early next year, will stand at twenty feet tall, with a 65’ yard. Over 1,000 square feet of sail will power the new boat, and when needed, a 200hp diesel engine will help move it along the rivers. Licensed by the US Coast Guard for up to 49 passengers, the new gundalow will draw about 2-1/2 feet.

In early December, the shipyard cover will be dismantled to allow for the boat to be transferred from the shipyard by professional house movers to the launch site at Peirce Island. On Saturday December 10, the public is invited to witness history in the making as the gundalow built in Portsmouth is launched into the Piscataqua River off of Peirce Island, co-sponsored by Appledore Real Estate, Piscataqua Savings Bank, RBC Wealth Management, and the Portsmouth Recreation Department.

Ceremonies begin at 10:30am with official remarks, followed by the naming of the new boat and the launch at 11am. The new gundalow will then be towed by Steve Root, Portsmouth Harbor Towing to Prescott Park by Sheafe Warehouse and rafted next to the Gundalow Captain Edward H. Adams, launched twenty-nine years ago. Tours of both the new and vintage gundalow are available for Gundalow Company members only due to limited capacity. (To join call 603-433-9505 or enroll online at www.gundalow.org.) In-kind partners for the launching include CMA Engineers, Friends of South End, PPMTV, Portsmouth Harbor Towing, Prescott Park, and Strawbery Banke.

SIDEBAR: The temporary shipyard cover that protected the new gundalow during construction at Puddle Dock is available for purchase. The building will be partially dismantled and available for pick up by November 30. The conceptual design for the building was by the Portsmouth High School Architecture class. The professionally-constructed building is 35’ wide x 80’ long x 16’ featuring rough sawn pine posts and frames, plywood shear wall corners and pre-fabricated Boise Cascade trusses, all assembled with GRK screws. Further information and details are available. 

About the Gundalow Company: Since 2002, the non-profit Gundalow Company has used the Captain Edward H. Adams – a replica modeled after the last gundalow to carry cargo on the bay – to provide “dockside” programs to more than 100,000 visitors.  Recognizing the need to get students of all ages to genuinely connect with their rivers and bay, the Gundalow Company has built this new sailing gundalow that will begin tours for the public, school groups and private charters in late Spring 2012.  For centuries, gundalows connected up-river seacoast communities with Portsmouth, the region’s seaport and primary market town.  Harnessing the wind and riding the tide, gundalows moved bricks, hay, firewood, and goods crucial to the economy and everyday life. The Gundalow Company takes its inspiration from the vital role of those historic gundalows, vessels unique to the Piscataqua Maritime Region.  The educational purpose of this new gundalow is as important for the future as its predecessors were for the past. For more information, details of the launching, or to become a volunteer visit www.gundalow.org or call 603-433-9505.