I can’t say that I’ve ever hugged a book before, but when Schooner arrived on my doorstep, I unwrapped it, took a long look, and…well, it happened.
Writer Tom Dunlop and photographer Alison Shaw, both Martha’s Vineyard residents, take on the unique project of following the building of a wooden boat from design to launch at Gannon and Benjamin Marine Railway.
Little did they know that the 60-foot schooner Rebecca would take five and a half years to slide into the water in Vineyard Haven-on her way to her new home port on Scotland’s Isle of Wight-and another nine years for their book to launch.
The building of Rebecca is chronicled in log-style narrative (Day 1 to 1220) with eye-popping color photos that creatively capture the minute (a wad of cotton deck caulking ready for the mallet or a “gerbil-nest pile” of shavings) and the grand (the long, sweeping lines of a gleaming hull filling the Mugwump shed to capacity).
The authors frame the book well. Starting with Rebecca‘s first voyage in 2001, Schooner telescopes backward to when Ross Gannon and Nat Benjamin, carpenters and boat repairers, began a small operation on Vineyard Haven Harbor in 1980.
In the afterword, Nat Benjamin describes the 1970s atmosphere of Vineyard Haven Harbor’s boat trade that was their springboard: “A handful of knowledgeable watermen and local citizens had serendipitously organized a seaport that encouraged a traditional working waterfront while the rest of America’s coastwise trades were being systematically dissolved and replaced with oversized, opulent developments pandering exclusively to corporate America at leisure.”
For three decades, Gannon and Benjamin has been known for its traditional plank-on-frame construction of wooden boats ranging from eight to 65 feet, meticulous craftsmanship and elegant design. Rebecca is the biggest boat to be launched from the Vineyard since the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860.
The schooner project goes on hold for nearly two years, mid-construction, when Rebecca‘s original owner declares bankruptcy, giving all involved “an unwelcome respite.” Dunlop writes, “Ross puts his faith in Rebecca herself. ‘From my point of view, the boat’s got its own life….It won’t sit without an owner very long.” New owners appear and fall in love with the boat and things get underway again.
Older photos, with their grainy softness, add texture to the many high-quality, bold, newer photos. And the book’s design steals the show-while full-page spreads of a caramel-colored emerging vessel or illuminated sheds at twilight satiate the reader, there are small sidebars with nuggets of neat facts and history. Sections on casting bronze fittings, a history/inventory of boats built at the yard, bios of Gannon and Benjamin themselves, and a well-done glossary add to this book’s ability to awe.
Schooner is a book for any layperson, not just for sailors or boatbuilders-writer Dunlop explains all terms without fuss, and makes the art of building a wooden boat come alive. You feel as though you are there when oak frames are steam-bent, or when the lofting is done (design transferred from drawing table to shed floor) or masts 58- and 70-feet tall are sawn and assembled. None of the writing is too technical-for the reader it’s like playing with adult Legos.
While Rebecca‘s size is impressive, Nat Benjamin’s afterword puts their boatbuilding into perspective: “The level of fulfillment is not a condition of the magnitude of the project but rather the nurturing of the soul.” Schooner, an exquisite, well-crafted book, also does just that-nurtures the soul.