1970 To
1999
1970
“Population of Gloucester was 27,690.” (18)
Smith Cove from the air in the early 1970’s. East Main Street. is running along the bottom of the photograph with Rocky Neck running out on the left. The smoke stack at the railways can be seen at the end.
Looking down on East Gloucester. Smith Cove, Rocky Neck, Inner harbor with the City beyond.
Pulling back from the previous photograph, you can now see the outer harbor to the left. East Main Street is still running along the bottom, but now you can see the State Fish Pier running out into the inner harbor on the right.
Finnerty’s on Smith Cove at it’s hight.
My resurrected Boston White Hall
Canvas #41 Larry D. off of the “ChickenCoop”,
Rocky Neck, East Gloucester
My 17′ “Whitehall” … a beautiful rowing boat…
“Joseph Garland found Howard Blackburn’s sloop GREAT REPUBLIC on Long Island and brought her home to Gloucester.”
“Fitz Hugh Lane House included in National Register of Historic Places.” (18)
Cape Ann Fisheries fire
Destino’s teardown
Bickford’s Landing
Hydaway on Duncan St.
“Gloucester Pier”
by Gershon-Benjamin
1971
Gloucester starts Urban Renewal II
Howard Blacburn at the helm of Great Republic. He single handed her to Portugal in 1901, and followed that feat by sailing her across the United States.
Canvas #15 Capt. Howard Blackburn at the wheel of “Cruising Club”
with the “Great Republic” over his shoulder.
“About 100 draggers operated” (18)
Taken from “Substance to the Legend, Mystery to the Man” by Joseph Garland (1982?)
….”Great Republic”, thank the fickle gods of the deep, survives. Her 17th owner, Pete Hulsart, wanted to sell her to me 20-odd years ago, but I was otherwise boated, worse luck. After he did sell her in ’68 she never tasted salt again. When I caught up with her once more in 1970 in Lindenhurst, rain, snow, and molding leaves had done their work on keel, floors, and the lower deadwood and stem. Some of us in Gloucester bought her and gave her to the Gloucester Historical Commission, her 20th owner. Funds were raised, including the first grants for boat restoration ever awarded by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Larry Dahlmer brought her back as close as we could figure from contemporary descriptions and photographs, hanging on to most of the planking, frames, and above all, shape.”
1972
I graduated from Norheastern University with a B.S.C.E.
During 1972, as part of my Work/Study program at N.U. I helped finish off a 42’ cement boat for Gloucester Ferro Craft by the time I graduated the company had signed a contract for a 50’ Fishing “Party Boat” leading to my working to fulfill Coast Guard requirements .
“Gloucester led East Coast fishing ports with landings of 113 million lbs. ”
” Federal Clean Water Act prohibited dumping gurry and fish plant wastewater into Harbor.”
Orinance about pumping engine rooms, bilges, etc. in Harbor.” (18)
Rocky Neck’s 1972 Beaux Arts Ball
1972 St. Peter’s Fiesta Greacy pole
Self-Portrait-Gershon-Benjamin
Summer Interior By Gloucester Harbor II by Nell Blaine
1973
“Sixty eastern-rig side trawlers composed the fishing fleet along with a few small gill-netters and long liners.”
“350th Anniverary celebration”
“350th Anniversary Time Capsule to be opened 2073 buried in City Hall lawn on left side of Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) monument.”
“Smitty’s Wharf demolished during Urban Renewal”
“City Hall and Hammond Castle included in National Register of Historical Places.”
1973 Brown’s Department Store closed, sold, and renovated. (18)
Just out of college, and no longer building “cement” boats, this was my first wooden boat that I had built from “scratch”. Phil Bolger, a Gloucester boat designer had drawn up the plans for me.
Officer Keith Trefry with Mary Tysver, assistant harbor master
St. Peter’s Fiesta…”Greasy Pole”…going for the flag.
1974
Back in 1957 the boat above had belonged
to my cousins, Billy and Jay Hubbard,
my father had borrowed it for an afternoon andtook me for my first sail in Gloucester harbor. They later sold the boat to Joe Garland, who had it rebuilt (see picture below, left) and then sailed it for a number of years before selling it to Capt. Tom Morse. It changed hands between the two of them until it finally got sold to someone from the Great Lakes, until it sank and Tom Morse got it back for “free”. Of course, in towing it with a bull dowser ahore they had split the stem down the middle and ripped off the foredeck. Joe had seen the boat I had finished the previous year and so recommended to Tom that I would be just the person to put her back together. Tom owned the building that had once been part of the Wonson wharves (lower right), and after I had finished the boat there it would remain my shop for the next twenty plus years.
The boat being rebuilt at Mortillaro shop
down the Fort.
An old photograph showing the building that would house my shop, 235 East Main St.
Some of my builds/rebuilds
My first design, 18′ hard chine built for fishing.
one of my early pen and inks.
“Gloucester 2” by Keith McDaniel
1975
Standing in the entrance to my shop, talking to Capt. Tom Morse, before the Great Republic was brought in by Jimmy Thompson and crew.
Great Republic trucked to my shop from Motgomery’s boatyard by Wheeler’s Point Boatyard, run by Jimmy and Nancy (Tiger Lady) Thompson.
Top Left: Joe Garland, Duke Ryan, and Ken Avery. Top Left:Rudder Port
Bottom left: what’s left of the stern, planking and deadwood
Right side: After a bit of work
Great Republic in my old shop at 235 E.Main St., East Gloucester. Shoreside of where many of the gill netters berthed.
Canvas #46 Floyd and the Man
One of the local “characters” when I was growing up; walking down Western Ave., and passing Gloucester’s “Man at the Wheel” Memorial
Visiting with Capt. Bill Sibley aboard the “Peggybell”.
(with Bill doing his Blackburn impression)
Canvas # 45
The Sibley cottage at 17 Rocky Neck Ave.
Rented out as a gallery/studio in the summer,
the cottage turned into Capt. Bill’s workshop for various winter projects.
Canvas #72
The Sibley cottage at 17 Rocky Neck Ave.
“Rocky Neck Garden” by Joan Kerry
(her studio/gallery for many years .. Sibley cottage beyond)
my pen and ink of Joshua Slocum.
1976
My complete rebuild with an original 17′ Boston Whitehall.

Leo Hart was my shop neighbor at 235 East Main St. for many years.
He made the “Gloucester Rocker” his specialty. RIP Leo….
Babson School Fire

“Gloucester Evening”
by Stow-Wengenroth
“Gloucester” by Aristodimos Kaldis

1977
Another major restoration. The boat had sunk and frozen in Smith Cove
the previous winter. The Stem was split and the foredeck dislocated
“The Old Timer” by Emile Gruppe
1978
Close to 40 years old in the picture above, a Chamberlain skiff I built when younger in ’78.
Blizzard of 1978
Walker Hancock working in his Lanesville studio
1979
from Pavillion Mercato LLC – Birdseye – Gloucester
As Peter Anastas said in a 1979 editorial marking Urban Renewal’s wake, and the old buildings, culture and memories it had destroyed, “Urban Renewal took that away from me – from all of us – and for that reason I can never quite forgive it or totally rationalize its value.”
21′ Lee-board sharpie yawl designed by P. Bolger,
constucted from marine plywood.
Capt. Tom Morse had Phillip Bolger, a Gloucester naval architect, design his next gill netter and again he would have her built in Deltaville, Virginia. He visited while she was being framed up, and they were supposed to call him when they started planking but when he went down they were finished planking…when they left for lunch he took his tape and measured her beam …a foot wider than the plans showed, they had promised to build his design…time to sue?….but in true “yankee” fashion he took her as built …but then named her “Surprise”!!!

Trinity Church Fire
The original “Bluejacket” on the ways. This photograph, out of the book “Best Boats”, was the inspiration for building my reproduction of it.
Nagual all planked up in my old shop at Tom Morse’s – tight fit.
NAGUAL on Tom Morse’s Railway behind my shop at 135 East Main St, Ready to Launch.
Launch Day at Beacon Marine
Nagual, in the inner harbor heading towards East Gloucester, with the City Hall in the background
above: tacking into Gloucester’s
Inner harbor, late 1800’s.
Painting done from a glass plate negative.
below:
A friend took this pick long before I painted the canvas…quite a coincidence.
1980
Captain Bill Sibley on the WINCH
NAGUAL tide-hauled at the dock. “Cruising Club”, Howard Blackburn’s last boat, then owned by author Joe Garland sits on Sibley’s railways in the background.
21′ Cutter, my design, simplified version of “Blue Jacket”
My two cutters in Smith Cove
Photo by Louise Welch
Oct 26, 1980 Cruising Club on the rocks
Matter of hours later…picking up the pieces.
Salvi Benson going for the Flag
“Rubrum Lily” by Nell Blaine
1981
My reproduction of an old design, the “Kingston Lobster Boat”.
21′ of beautiful graceful lines.
“Rocks and Outer Harbor”
by Nell-Blaine
1982
1982 Gloucester Post Office
My design of a vintage “Laker” (1920’s) built for P. Anderson. Cedar planking on oak frames, long and lean.
My reproduction of a 16′ Gar Wood Speedster from the 1930’s. A six cylinder inboard engine and a scary ride….tears in your eyes.
“Hot Dawn” by Bernard Chaet
1983
27′ Skipjack
Skipjack sailing out of Gloucester’s inner harbor.
Skipjack still going strong and looking good off Beacon Marine in 2014.
Looking up Hancock St. at City Hall
1980’s Fiesta Parade
Bertolino’s Bakery
St. Peter’s Fiesta…finish of the “seine boat” race on Pavillion Beach from the roof of the Birdseye building.
1984
12′ inboard fantail launch, my design.
Fantail tied to the float in back of my shop.
Fantail hanging from the davits on the “Coastal Queen”.
The summer of ’84 found thousands of copies of the Guide to Cape Ann
carrying my image as a “native fisherman” confronting a “typical” Gloucester
tourist…
The beginnings of “Old Pung”
“Pung” in her early days
Stan DeCoste and Dave Schaffer help me haul out the engine and I start removing the cockpit sole, putting in new floor timbers and refastening some of the butt blocks before Pung can be put overboard.
Pung in Smith Cove : windshield, wheelhouse and aft roof completed.
Siren Song
Framing up the “gig” for the women’s rowing team.
Photo by Louise Welch
14′ Thompson rebuilt for John Nesta

1986
1986 Fiesta
Hauling Pung out on the railways in back of my shop at 235 East Main St.
“Old Pung” and the Whitehall
(forward skylight added)
“Home Port, Gloucester
by Paul-Strisik
1987
Mid 1960’s Chris Craft Utility
After customizing: adding four feet to length, new deck and interior.
Rebuild for Fred from Manchester.
Caulking Jabberwock for Tom Halsted after he had aquired it from Joe Garland.
1988
Capt. Jim Sharp bringing “Adventure” back to her home port of Gloucester.
Old Pung’s trip to Menemsha Pond, Marthas Vinyard
Pung (yellow canvas) from the stern. In Barnstable Harbor on her first extended cruise to Cape Cod and as far down as Menemsha Pond, Matha’s Vineyard.
John Nesta’s newly customized Chris Craft and Old Pung in Gloucester Harbor.
the end of the North Shore Theater
St. Peter’s Fiesta…Salvi Benson, “champion” of the greasy pole walkers, going for the flag.
Building at the end of Wonson’s old wharf comes down.
1989
“Poor Baby” a 23′ Fantail Launch I built for D. Browne from a design done by P.Bolger of Gloucester.
Mighty Mac had begun at the turn of the century, but closed down manufacturing in Gloucester and eventually sold the brand name to a Japanese company.
“Ten Pound Island Day”
by Robert “Bob” Stephenson
1991
Pung tied to Sibley’s dock, still with her original stern.
1991 perfect storm
Ken Avery in the “no-name” storm
with “Old Pung” riding it out tied to the wharf
Lobster boat with new deck framing and then a new cabin.
Gloucester Daily Times November 11, 1991
The Andrea Gail and it’s six-man crew are presumed lost at sea following a seven day Coast Guard search for the missing Gloucester fishing vessel. The Coast Guard called off it’s search Friday night, 11 days after the crew of the Andrea Gail reported encountering thirty foot seas and 50-60 knot winds off Sable Island. Those lost aboard Andrea Gail were:
Captain Frank W. “Billy” Tyne Jr.
Robert Shatford
David Sullivan
Dale Murphy
Michael Moran
Alfred Pierre
The Halloween 1991 “Perfect Storm”strengthened into a hurricane on Nov.1, 1991, off the East Coast.
Pung’s topside sanded down, getting ready for a layer of Dynel and “West” epoxy.
Steel angle iron delivered to be Pung’s new keel shoe.
spring of ’91
Pung now has her topsides glassed
1992
At long last Great Republic finds a permanent home, the Cape Ann Historical Museum, second floor had to take down a brick wall.
“Gloucester Harbor, from
Ten Pound Island” by Paul Strisik
1993
August…Pung in Gloucester Harbor, but starting in early spring …. a new stern first.
Mark Sheldon on the winch.
Juniata, a
a 31′ New York Consolidated in Portland, Me., before the rebuild
Old Pung, Elida, and Dolphin in Bucksport, Maine
December 18, 1993.. time to haul Pung out for the winter.
left to right…John Steiger, Mark Sheldon, Larry D., Tom Morse.
February, with help from Mark Sheldon, Great Republic set up with a slight heel.
“Fiesta Scene” by Sven Ohrvel Carlson “Fiesta Scene” by Sven Ohrvel Carlson
1994
Canvas #36 Huck Wonson and Ken McCurtey on the Sibly wharf.
Time to bring her home.
The “Eunice W” was Huck Wonson’s boat, pictured on the railways, before lunching, and being condemned, an old strip planked hull that would no longer function. For a week he would come and bail her out, but she wouldn’t swell and tighten up. George offered to get a dumpster and a crew to dismantle her, but Huck said, in true “yankee” spirit, no dumpster – if she’s to come apart she’ll go in my stove. Huck was in his 80’s, but the pictures above show him rowing the submerged boat Home. Over the course of a week, with the help of the of the wind and fair tides, he made it down Smith Cove, across the harbor, through the Blynman Bridge and up the Annisquam River to his former marina, where Route 128 comes onto the island. That winter the Eunice W. helped keep the heating bill down.
Halt and the rebuild begins.
“Juniata” hauled on the railways at 17 Rocky Neck, restoration undweway…
1995
Canvas # 37 Looking across Rocky Neck Ave.
at the former “Bickford’s Marina” and Smith Cove.
Old Pung in Gloucester Harbor
off Niles Beach.
The “Coronet” built in 1893
“The Kingdom, a religious organization founded by Frank Sandford, purchased the ship in 1905 for $10,000 and took it around the world on prayer missions, including to Palestine. Coronet took a poorly planned missionary voyage to Africa in 1911 which resulted in six persons on board dying of scurvy. After the voyage, The Kingdom kept the yacht moored at Portland,Maine as well as Gloucester, Massachusetts owned her until 1995. Coronet was the first registered yacht to cross Cape Horn from East to West”
Wikipedia
Canvas #57 Coronet drying her sails at Beacon Marine Basin.
“The International Yacht Restoration School, in Newport, Rhode Island acquired the boat in the 1995 and began restoring of the vessel. IYRS added Coronet to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. In December 2006, IYRS conveyed title of the boat to the Coronet Restoration Partners in San Francisco to complete the restoration on IYRS’s campus in Rhode Island, where restoration works started in 2010.” Wikipedia
1996
John Nesta and his customized Chris Craft, 9 years after rebuild.
Old Pung in Provincetown Harbor
On the way home from a trip to Cape Cod…. an unexpected stop at Pymouth, Ma.
Let’s just say it was a hard night….
Pung back in Gloucester.
1927 New York Consolidated rebuild
New York Consolidated finished and launched
“Gloucester Reveries” by Don Gorvett
“The Artist, Long Beach Gloucester”
by Michael Stoffa
1997
Canvas #35 showing the West Wharf summer apartment building,
just weeks before it’s fall.
Gloucester Urban Legend
Back in the day, it was common for many property owners to do their own repairs. If you look closely at the painting you can see the pilings that hold up the structure at varying angles, pilings were hard to replace yourself. One day the owner decided to replace a section of the gas main. Shutting off the gas flow, he measured and cut out the piece to be replaced and ran across town to buy it. Returning back to the project he found that it was too short, but he had’nt measured wrong….the gas pipe had acted as a “deadman”, anchoring the building to the shore…with a loud crash the building fell over into the harbor….luckily nobody was hurt.
Old Pung on the way to Maine,
and at Green’s Island off Vinalhaven.
Old Pung aground at the dock on Green’s Island at M.Sheldon’s
Pung out for the US Constitution turnaround off Boston.
a quick steam by Joe Garland’s birthday charter
1998
“Old Pung” in Rockland, Maine, on her annual trip.
The 33′ Laker
Photographs of the second “Laker” I did for Pete A., 33 feet long and 6.5 feet wide. Long and lean, this is how they got speed before they developed the “planing” hull.
PORT LEG FAILS …. OLD PUNG GOES OVER AT 3 am!
2019 Destino’s…Still Going Strong…
Southerly in Glades Boat Yard, Moorhaven, Florida
Southerly in the Calossahatchee River, just off of Glades Boat Yard.
2019 Destino’s…Still Going Strong…
Southerly in Glades Boat Yard, Moorhaven, Florida
Southerly in the Calossahatchee River, just off of Glades Boat Yard.
2018
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
2021
2022
LaBelle, Fla. Cabbage Festival
2023
Article on Mighty Joe Orange, protector of Dogtown
2024
Smith Cove has been my “Walden’s Pond” ….
with an exit, for the last 50 years …
Oct. 2024 … just recieved this after writing a comment on FaceBook.
The “Itchen Ferry Cutter” I had built back in the 1980’s
2026
……. Donald Trump went to the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania …. he is demented … He is spouting off mathematical impossibilities by definition, and there is no one around to tell him that he is wrong. Rpubs, take care of our problem that you created. ……. Elect a clown, expect a clown show. …..
Rrant on windmills etc.
Pretty sick. ……. “It is not a crime to party with Epstein. “
1970 to
Today
1970
“Population of Gloucester was 27,690.” (18)
Smith Cove from the air in the early 1970’s. Rocky Neck Ave. and Wonson St. is running along the bottom of the photograph.
Looking down on East Gloucester. Smith Cove, Rocky Neck, Inner harbor with the City beyond.
Finnerty’s on Smith Cove at it’s hight.
My resurrected Boston White Hall
Canvas #41 Larry D. off of the “ChickenCoop”,
Rocky Neck, East Gloucester
My 17′ “Whitehall” … a beautiful rowing boat…
“Joseph Garland found Howard Blackburn’s sloop GREAT REPUBLIC on Long Island and brought her home to Gloucester.”
“Fitz Hugh Lane House included in National Register of Historic Places.” (18)
Cape Ann Fisheries fire
Destino’s teardown
Bickford’s Landing
Hydaway on Duncan St.
“Gloucester Pier”
by Gershon-Benjamin
1971
Gloucester starts Urban Renewal II
Howard Blacburn at the helm of Great Republic. He single handed her to Portugal in 1901, and followed that feat by sailing her across the United States.
Canvas #15 Capt. Howard Blackburn at the wheel of “Cruising Club”
with the “Great Republic” over his shoulder.
“About 100 draggers operated” (18)
Taken from “Substance to the Legend, Mystery to the Man” by Joseph Garland (1982?)
….”Great Republic”, thank the fickle gods of the deep, survives. Her 17th owner, Pete Hulsart, wanted to sell her to me 20-odd years ago, but I was otherwise boated, worse luck. After he did sell her in ’68 she never tasted salt again. When I caught up with her once more in 1970 in Lindenhurst, rain, snow, and molding leaves had done their work on keel, floors, and the lower deadwood and stem. Some of us in Gloucester bought her and gave her to the Gloucester Historical Commission, her 20th owner. Funds were raised, including the first grants for boat restoration ever awarded by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Larry Dahlmer brought her back as close as we could figure from contemporary descriptions and photographs, hanging on to most of the planking, frames, and above all, shape.”
1972
I graduated from Norheastern University with a B.S.C.E.
During 1972, as part of my Work/Study program at N.U. I helped finish off a 42’ cement boat for Gloucester Ferro Craft by the time I graduated the company had signed a contract for a 50’ Fishing “Party Boat” leading to my working to fulfill Coast Guard requirements .
“Gloucester led East Coast fishing ports with landings of 113 million lbs. ”
” Federal Clean Water Act prohibited dumping gurry and fish plant wastewater into Harbor.”
Orinance about pumping engine rooms, bilges, etc. in Harbor.” (18)
Rocky Neck’s 1972 Beaux Arts Ball
1972 St. Peter’s Fiesta Greacy pole
Self-Portrait-Gershon-Benjamin
Summer Interior By Gloucester Harbor II by Nell Blaine
1973
“Sixty eastern-rig side trawlers composed the fishing fleet along with a few small gill-netters and long liners.”
“350th Anniverary celebration”
“350th Anniversary Time Capsule to be opened 2073 buried in City Hall lawn on left side of Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) monument.”
“Smitty’s Wharf demolished during Urban Renewal”
“City Hall and Hammond Castle included in National Register of Historical Places.”
1973 Brown’s Department Store closed, sold, and renovated. (18)
Just out of college, and no longer building “cement” boats, this was my first wooden boat that I had built from “scratch”. Phil Bolger, a Gloucester boat designer had drawn up the plans for me.
Officer Keith Trefry with Mary Tysver, assistant harbor master
St. Peter’s Fiesta…”Greasy Pole”…going for the flag.
1974
Back in 1957 the boat above had belonged
to my cousins, Billy and Jay Hubbard,
my father had borrowed it for an afternoon andtook me for my first sail in Gloucester harbor. They later sold the boat to Joe Garland, who had it rebuilt (see picture below, left) and then sailed it for a number of years before selling it to Capt. Tom Morse. It changed hands between the two of them until it finally got sold to someone from the Great Lakes, until it sank and Tom Morse got it back for “free”. Of course, in towing it with a bull dowser ahore they had split the stem down the middle and ripped off the foredeck. Joe had seen the boat I had finished the previous year and so recommended to Tom that I would be just the person to put her back together. Tom owned the building that had once been part of the Wonson wharves (lower right), and after I had finished the boat there it would remain my shop for the next twenty plus years.
The boat being rebuilt at Mortillaro shop
down the Fort.
An old photograph showing the building that would house my shop, 235 East Main St.
Some of my builds/rebuilds
My first design, 18′ hard chine built for fishing.
one of my early pen and inks.
“Gloucester 2” by Keith McDaniel
1975
Standing in the entrance to my shop, talking to Capt. Tom Morse, before the Great Republic was brought in by Jimmy Thompson and crew.
Great Republic trucked to my shop from Motgomery’s boatyard by Wheeler’s Point Boatyard, run by Jimmy and Nancy (Tiger Lady) Thompson.
Top Left: Joe Garland, Duke Ryan, and Ken Avery. Top Left:Rudder Port
Bottom left: what’s left of the stern, planking and deadwood
Right side: After a bit of work
Great Republic in my old shop at 235 E.Main St., East Gloucester. Shoreside of where many of the gill netters berthed.
Canvas #46 Floyd and the Man
One of the local “characters” when I was growing up; walking down Western Ave., and passing Gloucester’s “Man at the Wheel” Memorial
Visiting with Capt. Bill Sibley aboard the “Peggybell”.
(with Bill doing his Blackburn impression)
Canvas # 45
The Sibley cottage at 17 Rocky Neck Ave.
Rented out as a gallery/studio in the summer,
the cottage turned into Capt. Bill’s workshop for various winter projects.
Canvas #72
The Sibley cottage at 17 Rocky Neck Ave.
“Rocky Neck Garden” by Joan Kerry
(her studio/gallery for many years .. Sibley cottage beyond)
my pen and ink of Joshua Slocum.
1976
My complete rebuild with an original 17′ Boston Whitehall.

Leo Hart was my shop neighbor at 235 East Main St. for many years.
He made the “Gloucester Rocker” his specialty. RIP Leo….
Babson School Fire

“Gloucester Evening”
by Stow-Wengenroth
“Gloucester” by Aristodimos Kaldis

1977
Another major restoration. The boat had sunk and frozen in Smith Cove
the previous winter. The Stem was split and the foredeck dislocated
“The Old Timer” by Emile Gruppe
1978
Close to 40 years old in the picture above, a Chamberlain skiff I built when younger in ’78.
Blizzard of 1978
Walker Hancock working in his Lanesville studio
1979
from Pavillion Mercato LLC – Birdseye – Gloucester
As Peter Anastas said in a 1979 editorial marking Urban Renewal’s wake, and the old buildings, culture and memories it had destroyed, “Urban Renewal took that away from me – from all of us – and for that reason I can never quite forgive it or totally rationalize its value.”
21′ Lee-board sharpie yawl designed by P. Bolger,
constucted from marine plywood.
Capt. Tom Morse had Phillip Bolger, a Gloucester naval architect, design his next gill netter and again he would have her built in Deltaville, Virginia. He visited while she was being framed up, and they were supposed to call him when they started planking but when he went down they were finished planking…when they left for lunch he took his tape and measured her beam …a foot wider than the plans showed, they had promised to build his design…time to sue?….but in true “yankee” fashion he took her as built …but then named her “Surprise”!!!

Trinity Church Fire
The original “Bluejacket” on the ways. This photograph, out of the book “Best Boats”, was the inspiration for building my reproduction of it.
Nagual all planked up in my old shop at Tom Morse’s – tight fit.
NAGUAL on Tom Morse’s Railway behind my shop at 135 East Main St, Ready to Launch.
Launch Day at Beacon Marine
Nagual, in the inner harbor heading towards East Gloucester, with the City Hall in the background
above: tacking into Gloucester’s
Inner harbor, late 1800’s.
Painting done from a glass plate negative.
below:
A friend took this pick long before I painted the canvas…quite a coincidence.
1980
Captain Bill Sibley on the WINCH
NAGUAL tide-hauled at the dock. “Cruising Club”, Howard Blackburn’s last boat, then owned by author Joe Garland sits on Sibley’s railways in the background.
21′ Cutter, my design, simplified version of “Blue Jacket”
My two cutters in Smith Cove
Photo by Louise Welch
Oct 26, 1980 Cruising Club on the rocks
Matter of hours later…picking up the pieces.
Salvi Benson going for the Flag
“Rubrum Lily” by Nell Blaine
1981
My reproduction of an old design, the “Kingston Lobster Boat”.
21′ of beautiful graceful lines.
“Rocks and Outer Harbor”
by Nell-Blaine
1982
1982 Gloucester Post Office
My design of a vintage “Laker” (1920’s) built for P. Anderson. Cedar planking on oak frames, long and lean.
My reproduction of a 16′ Gar Wood Speedster from the 1930’s. A six cylinder inboard engine and a scary ride….tears in your eyes.
“Hot Dawn” by Bernard Chaet
1983
27′ Skipjack
Skipjack sailing out of Gloucester’s inner harbor.
Skipjack still going strong and looking good off Beacon Marine in 2014.
Looking up Hancock St. at City Hall
1980’s Fiesta Parade
Bertolino’s Bakery
St. Peter’s Fiesta…finish of the “seine boat” race on Pavillion Beach from the roof of the Birdseye building.
1984
12′ inboard fantail launch, my design.
Fantail tied to the float in back of my shop.
Fantail hanging from the davits on the “Coastal Queen”.
The summer of ’84 found thousands of copies of the Guide to Cape Ann
carrying my image as a “native fisherman” confronting a “typical” Gloucester
tourist…
The beginnings of “Old Pung”
“Pung” in her early days
Stan DeCoste and Dave Schaffer help me haul out the engine and I start removing the cockpit sole, putting in new floor timbers and refastening some of the butt blocks before Pung can be put overboard.
Pung in Smith Cove : windshield, wheelhouse and aft roof completed.
Siren Song
Framing up the “gig” for the women’s rowing team.
Photo by Louise Welch
14′ Thompson rebuilt for John Nesta

1986
1986 Fiesta
Hauling Pung out on the railways in back of my shop at 235 East Main St.
“Old Pung” and the Whitehall
(forward skylight added)
“Home Port, Gloucester
by Paul-Strisik
1987
Mid 1960’s Chris Craft Utility
After customizing: adding four feet to length, new deck and interior.
Rebuild for Fred from Manchester.
Caulking Jabberwock for Tom Halsted after he had aquired it from Joe Garland.
1988
Capt. Jim Sharp bringing “Adventure” back to her home port of Gloucester.
Old Pung’s trip to Menemsha Pond, Marthas Vinyard
Pung (yellow canvas) from the stern. In Barnstable Harbor on her first extended cruise to Cape Cod and as far down as Menemsha Pond, Matha’s Vineyard.
John Nesta’s newly customized Chris Craft and Old Pung in Gloucester Harbor.
the end of the North Shore Theater
St. Peter’s Fiesta…Salvi Benson, “champion” of the greasy pole walkers, going for the flag.
Building at the end of Wonson’s old wharf comes down.
1989
“Poor Baby” a 23′ Fantail Launch I built for D. Browne from a design done by P.Bolger of Gloucester.
Mighty Mac had begun at the turn of the century, but closed down manufacturing in Gloucester and eventually sold the brand name to a Japanese company.
“Ten Pound Island Day”
by Robert “Bob” Stephenson
1991
Pung tied to Sibley’s dock, still with her original stern.
1991 perfect storm
Ken Avery in the “no-name” storm
with “Old Pung” riding it out tied to the wharf
Lobster boat with new deck framing and then a new cabin.
Gloucester Daily Times November 11, 1991
The Andrea Gail and it’s six-man crew are presumed lost at sea following a seven day Coast Guard search for the missing Gloucester fishing vessel. The Coast Guard called off it’s search Friday night, 11 days after the crew of the Andrea Gail reported encountering thirty foot seas and 50-60 knot winds off Sable Island. Those lost aboard Andrea Gail were:
Captain Frank W. “Billy” Tyne Jr.
Robert Shatford
David Sullivan
Dale Murphy
Michael Moran
Alfred Pierre
The Halloween 1991 “Perfect Storm”strengthened into a hurricane on Nov.1, 1991, off the East Coast.
Pung’s topside sanded down, getting ready for a layer of Dynel and “West” epoxy.
Steel angle iron delivered to be Pung’s new keel shoe.
spring of ’91
Pung now has her topsides glassed
1992
At long last Great Republic finds a permanent home, the Cape Ann Historical Museum, second floor had to take down a brick wall.
“Gloucester Harbor, from
Ten Pound Island” by Paul Strisik
1993
August…Pung in Gloucester Harbor, but starting in early spring …. a new stern first.
Mark Sheldon on the winch.
Juniata, a
a 31′ New York Consolidated in Portland, Me., before the rebuild
Old Pung, Elida, and Dolphin in Bucksport, Maine
December 18, 1993.. time to haul Pung out for the winter.
left to right…John Steiger, Mark Sheldon, Larry D., Tom Morse.
February, with help from Mark Sheldon, Great Republic set up with a slight heel.
“Fiesta Scene” by Sven Ohrvel Carlson “Fiesta Scene” by Sven Ohrvel Carlson
1994
Canvas #36 Huck Wonson and Ken McCurtey on the Sibly wharf.
Time to bring her home.
The “Eunice W” was Huck Wonson’s boat, pictured on the railways, before lunching, and being condemned, an old strip planked hull that would no longer function. For a week he would come and bail her out, but she wouldn’t swell and tighten up. George offered to get a dumpster and a crew to dismantle her, but Huck said, in true “yankee” spirit, no dumpster – if she’s to come apart she’ll go in my stove. Huck was in his 80’s, but the pictures above show him rowing the submerged boat Home. Over the course of a week, with the help of the of the wind and fair tides, he made it down Smith Cove, across the harbor, through the Blynman Bridge and up the Annisquam River to his former marina, where Route 128 comes onto the island. That winter the Eunice W. helped keep the heating bill down.
Halt and the rebuild begins.
“Juniata” hauled on the railways at 17 Rocky Neck, restoration undweway…
1995
Canvas # 37 Looking across Rocky Neck Ave.
at the former “Bickford’s Marina” and Smith Cove.
Old Pung in Gloucester Harbor
off Niles Beach.
The “Coronet” built in 1893
“The Kingdom, a religious organization founded by Frank Sandford, purchased the ship in 1905 for $10,000 and took it around the world on prayer missions, including to Palestine. Coronet took a poorly planned missionary voyage to Africa in 1911 which resulted in six persons on board dying of scurvy. After the voyage, The Kingdom kept the yacht moored at Portland,Maine as well as Gloucester, Massachusetts owned her until 1995. Coronet was the first registered yacht to cross Cape Horn from East to West”
Wikipedia
Canvas #57 Coronet drying her sails at Beacon Marine Basin.
“The International Yacht Restoration School, in Newport, Rhode Island acquired the boat in the 1995 and began restoring of the vessel. IYRS added Coronet to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. In December 2006, IYRS conveyed title of the boat to the Coronet Restoration Partners in San Francisco to complete the restoration on IYRS’s campus in Rhode Island, where restoration works started in 2010.” Wikipedia
1996
John Nesta and his customized Chris Craft, 9 years after rebuild.
Old Pung in Provincetown Harbor
On the way home from a trip to Cape Cod…. an unexpected stop at Pymouth, Ma.
Let’s just say it was a hard night….
Pung back in Gloucester.
1927 New York Consolidated rebuild
New York Consolidated finished and launched
“Gloucester Reveries” by Don Gorvett
“The Artist, Long Beach Gloucester”
by Michael Stoffa
1997
Canvas #35 showing the West Wharf summer apartment building,
just weeks before it’s fall.
Gloucester Urban Legend
Back in the day, it was common for many property owners to do their own repairs. If you look closely at the painting you can see the pilings that hold up the structure at varying angles, pilings were hard to replace yourself. One day the owner decided to replace a section of the gas main. Shutting off the gas flow, he measured and cut out the piece to be replaced and ran across town to buy it. Returning back to the project he found that it was too short, but he had’nt measured wrong….the gas pipe had acted as a “deadman”, anchoring the building to the shore…with a loud crash the building fell over into the harbor….luckily nobody was hurt.
Old Pung on the way to Maine,
and at Green’s Island off Vinalhaven.
Old Pung aground at the dock on Green’s Island at M.Sheldon’s
Pung out for the US Constitution turnaround off Boston.
a quick steam by Joe Garland’s birthday charter
1998
“Old Pung” in Rockland, Maine, on her annual trip.
The 33′ Laker
Photographs of the second “Laker” I did for Pete A., 33 feet long and 6.5 feet wide. Long and lean, this is how they got speed before they developed the “planing” hull.
1999
PORT LEG FAILS …. OLD PUNG GOES OVER AT 3 am!
2019 Destino’s…Still Going Strong…
Southerly in Glades Boat Yard, Moorhaven, Florida
Southerly in the Calossahatchee River, just off of Glades Boat Yard.