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WORK IN PROGRESS |
The Beaver and the Eleanor
April 2006
 The
restoration of the Beaver and the conversion of the Vincie N to
the Eleanor have continued at a rapid pace over the cold winter.
The Eleanor (to the right under a February snow) has received
most of the attention this winter She has had nearly all of her
frames replaced, along with receiving a new stem at the bow of
the ship. Additionally, the bow has been entirely reshaped to
give her a wider front profile Once the bow framing was complete
Leon and his team moved to the other end of the ship to do a
complete redesign of the stern. |
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In the picture above left you can
see the original, very low stern of the Vincie N. The next picture
shows the entirely new stern of the Eleanor and the final
picture shows where we are heading. This picture shows the stern
of the ship Surprise and is what the Eleanor will look like when
completed. |
 The
image to the left shows more work that has been happening on
the Eleanor. The bottom of the ship was salvageable, and did
not need to be replaced. However, the old spikes, which hold
the planks to the frames, had to be removed by hand, and a
mixture of new metal spikes and wooden trunnels were driven
into the existing holes.
 On
the right is the Beaver in the water with her winter coat
on! Work has continued on the Beaver with the
installation of the final deck beams and covering boards.
The team has also been working on the deck, 75% of which
will be replaced.
Leon has done, and continues
to do, an amazing job. He is an artist, architect and master
woodworker all rolled up in one! His team always performs
above expectations, and I could not be happier about the
progress of work on our ships. |
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Debbie Swift, Project Manager
Boston Tea Party
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Eleanor
September 2005
The conversion of the Vincie N., to a replica of
the Tea Party ship Eleanor, is well under way. After
removing the wheel house and all of the mechanical
equipment, including the engine and the gas tanks,
Leon and his team began reshaping the Vincie N.
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As you can see in the above picture, framing from
approximately mid-ship to the stern has been the
primary focus. The deck is being raised significantly
from about mid-ship back to the stern, and a quarter
deck is being added to transform the Vincie N into a
historically correct 1770’s vessel. |
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The picture above shows the new framing work
from the inside of the Vincie N. |
The picture to the right shows the reshaping that is
necessary in the bow area. The thin wood on the left
of the picture depicts where the new deck line will
be, making the bow of the ship wider and more rounded.
The photo below shows the graceful curve that Leon and
his team are adding to the back of the ship. It also
shows how much higher the stern of the ship will be
when complete. The piece of wood across the back is
the deck line on the quarter deck and the highest
piece of wood on the sides depicts the new railing. |
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The
Vincie N. Joins the HTA Family
On May 25th, 2005
Historic Tours of America® and the
Boston Tea Party
Shipssm
& Museum
became the proud owner of another Tea Party ship. The
Vincie N, pictured right will be converted into a
replica of the Eleanor, one of the three ships that
took part in the Boston Tea Party on December 16th,
1773. The Eleanor will join the brig Beaver when the
Tea Party site reopens the summer of 2009.
 The
Vincie N. was build in 1936 and has been lovingly used
as a fishing vessel by the Novello family of
Gloucester, Mass for nearly 70 years. She is in an
advanced state of disrepair and will receive extensive
work in order to convert her to the Eleanor. The
effort will be lead by Leon Poindexter and the work
will be done at the Gloucester Maritime Heritage
Center. The entire process will take approximately 12
months and she will look like an entirely new boat
when complete.
Above Leon, Chris, myself and Harriet, the executive
Director of the Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center,
pose as we transfer the title of the Vincie N. from
the Heritage Center to the Boston Tea Party. And, as
you can see by the picture to the right, we could not
have picked a colder day in May. It was 35 degrees
with 30 mile per hour winds. You have to love Boston
weather! Matthew, myself, Chris and Shawn pose in
front of the Beaver, whose renovation is 90% complete.
The Beaver will go off the railway in a few weeks and
the conversion of the Vincie N. will begin in earnest.
 We
are thrilled to be doing this work at the Heritage
Center. They have been great partners and friends to
us thus far. We are also very happy to have Leon and
his team working on a second boat for the Tea Party.
Their work on the Beaver is truly an art, and I
personally look forward to seeing the transformation
of the Vincie N. into the great Eleanor.
Debbie Swift,
Project Manager, Boston Tea Party
The Brig
Beaver II Gets a New Lift
On Wednesday June 29th, Historic
Tours of America® moved the Boston Tea Party Ship, the Brig
Beaver II, 28 miles from Boston to the Gloucester Maritime
Heritage Center for an extensive restoration. The Brig Beaver
II, a replica of one of the original Boston Tea Party tea
ships, will receive approximately $300,000 worth of work in
order to get her back in tip top shape. She will spend 12 to 18
weeks on the rail (out of the water) and then will return to the
water for another 12 weeks of above water work. The work is
extensive and includes repairing or replacing approximately 60
planks on the hull, replacing more than 30 frames, and removing
and replacing the 1908 stem (the main piece at the front of the
hull). The move to Gloucester and the haul onto the rail were
completed without incident and work is now under way. The
Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center, at 23 Harbor loop,
Gloucester, encourages visitors and we hope that if you are in
the area you will stop by and see the work in progress. |
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The restoration of the Beaver
will be overseen and performed by Leon Poindexter and four other
shipwrights. Leon is a master shipwright (a ship’s carpenter)
and has over 25 years of experience working on traditional
wooden sailing vessels. He recently completed work on the movie
Master and Commander as a technical advisor to the director,
historical consultant to the set design department, master
shipwright to ship in the movie the HMS Rose/Surprise, and he
was even an extra in the movie! Leon has also worked on a number
of other ships including the HMS Bounty for the movie Mutiny on
the Bounty, the SV Mimi of the PBS television series Voyage of
the Mimi, and has done significant work on Boston’s own USS
Constitution.
The restoration of the Beaver
is just one piece of the Boston Tea Party rebuild.
Historic
Tours of America is looking to either purchase and refit, or
build from scratch, both the Dartmouth and the Eleanor. This
would allow the Boston Tea Party site to have all three ships
that were present at the famous Boston Tea Party on December
16th, 1773.
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We are hoping Epsilon and
Associates will be successful in obtaining the necessary permits
soon, so that construction can finally begin and the new Boston
Tea Party Ships & Museum will be open by summer of 2009.
The rebuild of the Boston Tea Party Shipssm
& Museum is a very exciting and important project for
Historic Tours of America. Every year we tell the story of the
Boston Tea Party to hundreds and thousands of visitors. We hope
that you are as excited as we are about the rebirth of the Boston Tea Party Shipssm
& Museum
and that you will join us on our journey to reopening.
Thank You
Debbie Swift
Project Manager
Boston Tea Party Shipssm
& Museum
Back to Overview
Boston Tea Party Shipssm
& Museum
Congress Street Bridge, Boston, Ma
02127
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Copyright ©2006 Historic Tours of America®,
Inc. All rights reserved.
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