So, the builders went the through the forest, axe in hand, searching for the finest timbers possible to build this amazing schooner. Only the best woods would do for the construction of this epic craft. Trekking in the shade under the canopy of ancient trees, mature timbers for excellent wooden shipbuilding is part of the magic and majesty of bringing a wooden ship to life. Teak forests of Thailand and Burma that made up the CUTTY SARK, old oak forests of England that gave the world the HMS VICTORY (and harboured Robin Hood), Danish plantings seeded in Napoleonic days to build ships in generations to come, and Home Depot (just in case) were scoured for the ideal pieces of wood to do the job. In the end, the perfect timbers were found close at hand right here in Nova Scotia. Imagine that? Chain saws began to buzz, axes flew through the air, tall oak trees fell, long lean pines were brought to earth. The earth shook. Leaves of the forest floor sailed up in the air. Rabbits and chipmunks scattered. Wolverines ducked and hid from shattering branches. Nobody much else cared.

But we will skip all that.

On to construction. A schooner needs building.

Soon, at Mader’s Cove, in the southwestern shore of the fair province of Nova Scotia, once the greatest ship building region in the entire British Empire, chips started to fly. Sawdust everywhere. The smell of pine becomes a fragrance, a perfume of the olde tyme shipyard. There was once a day when the coast hereabouts was redolent with this shipwrights’ aphrodisiac. Wish that we could visit that time again.

Onward. Lay the keel, set up the stem, hang the transom in mid-air, then its FRAME UP! And frame up again and again. Dub the frames. Drift the keelson. Hang the knees. Clean out the limbers. Make the doughnuts…

Then we gotta caulk she, paint she and launch she… soon to come…

Then the planking gang shows up and strake after strake seem to fly up and make the frames, up to now looking like ribs, to make this pile of timber look like a ship.