The Sultana Project

The Sultana Project

The Sultana project is the recreation of the a two-masted schooner built in Boston in 1767. Built originally by Benjamin Hallowell's shipyard, the 50'6" small coastal cargo schooner was solid, well constructed and caught the eye of the British Admiralty. It was purchased by the Royal Navy in 1768. The ship carried a crew of 25 and was placed into service as a patrol ship in New England. In 1769 she was assigned the task of patrolling the Chesapeake Bay and visited George Washington at Mount Vernon. In 1770, she was reassigned to the New England waters, where she finished her service and was ordered back to England in 1772. There she was sold, returning to private service. The documentation by the Royal Navy of the Sultana was extensive and complete, and it caught the eye of some visionaries on the Eastern Shore over 200 years later, who decided to reconstruct her. The replica that is being built in Chestertown, by Chester River Craft and Art Assn., will be used as a building and sailing classroom, while creating tourism for the Chestertown area. The keel was laid in October, 1998. It consists of 11,000 lbs of lead obtained by melting down old bathtubs. The predominant wood used is osage, found on the Eastern Shore in hedgerows. Most of the labor is volunteer as are the gifts to fund the reconstruction. The shipyard is located on Chestertown Municipal maintenance property. It has been a community effort. The schooner Sultana was launched in March of 2001 and will commence its role as a classroom in July.

This study starts in January, 1999 and follows, via pictures, the construction of the Sultana, from the rib construction to framing, planking, and outfitting; picturing the activities of the boat yard, its volunteers and the management as the ship construction moves to completion on its supports. It is a fascinating look at old time construction techniques combined with modern technology to recreate a historical vessel, close-up. Lucian Niemeyer visited the shipyard on a regular basis to tell this story via his Leica. The orange quality of the Osage wood combined with the allowance by management to get close to the "action", offers the viewer a beautiful, interesting and poignant look at construction of a vessel in 2000 with a historical "past". The book was being published by Cornell Maritime Press in 2001. The text is by Drew McMullen, Director of the project and a forward by John Swain, Master shipwright and originator of the project.