The Maine Maritime Museum

Thursday June 27 – Day 9

We retraced some of our steps this morning to return to Bath, ME.  Bath is and has been a major shipbuilding port since the 1600’s. Currently under construction at the Bath Iron Works (BIW) is the new Zumwalt class of US Navy destroyer (DDG1000).  (Follow  the link to see the video amazing!) The destroyer is in a dry dock which can be seen from the Kennebec River cruise.  However, the whole super-structure has been covered to prevent photography.  All river traffic must stay outside of the 400’ exclusion area…there is an armed military zodiac to prevent anyone from getting too near.  The tour guide said that the hull is a unique design that reduces the ships radar footprint and the weaponry that it is currently equipped with will be obsolete in six months. It takes about 3 years to complete a ship from the time the keel is laid until it is delivered, fully outfitted to the navy.

The Kennebec River cruise is an add-on to the admission price for the Maine Maritime Museum. The museum is set on the former property of the Percy and Small Shipbuilding company and retains many of the buildings used by the company in the building of wooden schooners and sailing vessels. Shipbuilding in the early days required carpenters and woodworkers – a large wooden ship such as the Wyoming would require between 26,000 and 34,000 treenails or “trunnels” , basically wooden pegs that would be driven into the timbers like nails.  The Wyoming was a six masted coastal schooner that could carry approx. 6,000 long tons of coal.  It was 426’ long with a deck height of 50’ – it was the largest wooden vessel ever built in the US.  There is a life size sculpture sitting in the same slip it occupied when it was built in 1909. 

There was also an area set aside for the history of lobstering in Maine.  The lobster trap is a fairly straight forward device, whether it is made from wood or steel mesh. The traditional wooden trap has a hinged door at the top which is opened to bait the trap and remove any trapped lobsters. The lobster enters the trap and goes through the circular hole in the netting to get the bait.  As it searches for a way out it cannot get back out the opening.  And Voila – dinner!