From the Deck: Some launching!

On a foggy September 27, Hodgdon Yachts of East Boothbay launched the 154-foot ketch SCHEHERAZADE for Bill and Barbara Stewart of New York and Mt. Desert. She is the largest sailing yacht in New England, indeed on the east coast and some say in the western hemisphere. She has been four years a-building and she is a work of art. I visited her several times during that four years, most interestingly before she was decked. In the shed, I could not get far enough away from her to see her, but from the lines and model, she was obviously a product of the science and art of yacht design. Thorough and precise engineering brought the design into reality, much of which does not show in the finished yacht. How does a man – or a hundred men – transport a lead keel weighing a hundred tons with various bolts projecting upwards from it? How does one turn over a fragile hull weighing tons in the restricted height and width of the building shed and set it down on the lead keel so precisely that the bolts on the keel slide into the holes bored for them in the hull – on the first try?

The accommodations were planned with equal care to suit the owner’s convenience and taste and still provide for an efficient engine room and for fuel and water tankage, storage, kitchen space and comfortable crew quarters. The plans were carried out by carpenters working to cabinetmakers’ standards and by wood carvers doing museum quality work. The adage “good enough for government work” was not heard in Tim Hodgon’s shop.

With the deck on, there was further evidence of wise and thorough attention. The steering station for proceeding under power is about amidships and high enough so the helmsman can see over the bow as much as such a long foredeck will permit. There are thrusters for close-in maneuvering and instrumentation to cover almost any contingency. I am told that under sail the skipper at the wheel can see the luff of the mainsail without getting a crick in his neck. Sails roll up inside the spars or are on roller stays. Sheets are trimmed by hydraulic winches. Ground tackle, too, is mechanically handled. Under the afterdeck is a small launch that can be lifted out and set afloat with a gangway by which to board it, all by machinery. Should SCHEHERAZADE be lying alongside a wharf, the gangway can serve as a gangplank.

The 185-foot mainmast and its supporting rigging are as carefully engineered as the rest of the vessel. Every shackle and swivel has been carefully considered and inspected. I am told that when the enormous sails flap and slat, they can generate enough static electricity to knock a man down. Sails are all carefully grounded.

Such work on such a scale is, of course, very expensive. How does one justify spending tens of millions on what appears to be the biggest toy afloat when so many of our brethren are in distress? For one thing, SCHEHERAZADE has provided skilled employment for over one hundred men and women for four years, not only architects, engineers and artists but joiners, metal workers, electricians, plumbers, accountants, clean-up people and many others. These are mostly local men and women and they have sharpened their skills by working to very high standards. Their wages and salaries have been spent largely in local communities and have contributed to our local economy. Money spent on tools and materials has been spread more widely, but it all helps.

There are also less tangible benefits of even greater value. Working with a team on the creation of a beautiful and complex vessel carries a pride immeasurable even if unexpressed. Even a bystander, even any resident of East Boothbay, can take pride in what has been created in his town by his neighbors.

Tim Hodgdon in particular deserves our admiration for his leadership in expanding the yard from his father’s, for assembling a talented crew, for attending to the almost infinite details of such an intricate project and for maintaining a neighborly outlook in spite of frustrations. He and his crew are extending a long tradition of excellent shipbuilding in East Boothbay and in the Hodgdon family.

As SCHEHERAZADE slid slowly down the ways into the Damariscotta River, a bystander was heard to say in a hushed and breathless voice, “She’s beautiful.” What is beauty good for? It isn’t good for anything. It is good in itself. For that reason, beauty is worth creating in any size, any medium.