After bidding farewell to the fine folks and selkie of Gloucester, Bowsprite and Tugster left the site of the famed Sean Dive and headed around the corner to Essex to visit the historic Burnham yard, place of a recently started blog Boatbuilding with Burnham and
birthplace of 4000 schooners, including the current resident of the sixth boro known as Lettie G. Howard .
Our mission was to investigate the prolific sawdust output in Essex, daunting research requiring breaks between work.
After seeking high and
and low, we found it. I felt silly not knowing how a riverbank winding through the Essex marsh can produce thousands of finely-crafted wooden ships without generating heaps of sawdust! After all, long ago I’d read and reread Gordon Thomas’ Fast and Able.
With this task completed, another identical twin of Bowsprite appeared, astride the tiller and protected by the pinked stern, offering to whisk us away to the next aspect of our mission.
Many thanks to the Burnham family. Bowsprite’ and Tugster’s saga continues; after all, some things Tugster can just NOT find by or for himself, ya know.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp.
Unrelated: something’s in the “whaata” (as Bowsprite’s identical twin would say) here and here.
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November 18, 2009 at 6:40 pm
capeannpainter
Lobstermen were reporting the siting of a Mermaid swimming in the inner Harbor Monday. Reported the Gloucester Daily Times Tuesday. Experts associated with a local Marine Biological Laboratory Dismissed these reports as “just Over worked Fishermen mistaking a shapely Harbor Seal”.
“Happens all the time”. Video at……………………………………………….
http://goodmorninggloucester.wordpress.com/2009/11/16/bowsprites-november-gloucester-harbor-swim-111609/
November 18, 2009 at 6:57 pm
tugster
just goes to prove . .. the experts sometimes don’t get it right. i know: i saw that mermaid. she is truly a mermaid, one with a healthy appetite for seafood.
November 18, 2009 at 8:21 pm
bowsprite
no, no! that was not swimming. Swimming is:
Julie Sheldon, who, a few weeks ago swam 17.5 M in 6hours 14 minutes, in 55° water through the major shipping channel, from Battery to Breezy Point: rough waters. Or:
Rachel Golub and Cristian Vergara, spending almost 2 hours in the 40° waters of the Strait of Magellan!
That was just floating a bit, buoyed & insulated by a ring of beer flab.
November 19, 2009 at 3:33 pm
tugster
bowsprite– your modesty is one of your endearing traits, but who else jumped in for a november float? who finds herself in a small group of extraordinary enjoyers of the sixth-boro water all year round? who smiles in a medium that would make me and other gasp and grimace? my beer flab must be deficient. the swimmers you mention though are amazing! thanks.
November 19, 2009 at 6:54 pm
capeannpainter
It was great meeting you threeSaturday. I did’nt know you were headed this way until Joey told me that morning. I could’ve planned the tour better
Also, I hope I did’nt bore you with the visit to Stage Fort Park. 🙂
WHO KNEW PEOPLE FROM NYC COULD BE SO NICE!
November 19, 2009 at 7:09 pm
tugster
paul- stage fort park . . . and horseshoe beach??–was cool! certainly coming back for a picnic on the rock in the park!! and cape ann hospitality as well as scenery are first rate. your tour . . . excellent.
November 20, 2009 at 7:48 am
soundbounder
CapeAnnPainter,
Be careful, don’t let them fool you.
November 30, 2009 at 9:53 pm
bowsprite
bwaahahahahaha!!!
December 4, 2009 at 8:00 am
Laurie Fullerton
Hi Folks,
Thank you so much for posting a story on Burnham Boatbuilding. As the author of the new blog Boatbuilding with Burnham I certainly appreciate your encouragement and support. Feel free to come by again anytime!
Best,
Laurie Fullerton
Harold Burnham