Maryland Dove launched into the Miles River

 (ST MICHAELS, MD – Thursday, March 31, 2022) 

Nearly three years after beginning the largest construction project they had ever taken on, shipwrights at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum have their eyes set on the finish line, with the construction of Maryland Dove scheduled to finish this spring.  

“I am incredibly proud of my team and what they’ve accomplished,” said CBMM’s lead shipwright, Joe Connor, who has served as the construction manager on the project since its inception. “We have assembled some of the most talented shipwrights I’ve ever worked with, and we’re all looking forward to seeing the ship sail away.”

A major milestone in the project happened in CBMM’s working Shipyard on March 28, 2022, when the roughly 94,000-pound ship was hoisted by crane and placed in the Miles River—touching water for the first time in its new life. It was the largest vessel launched in St. Michaels since 1904, and a spectacle to behold.

In 2018, it was announced that CBMM had been selected to build a brand-new Maryland Dove for Historic St. Mary’s City. The ship, a representation of the late 17th-century trading ship that accompanied the first European settlers to what is now Maryland, is owned by the state of Maryland, and operated and maintained by the Historic St. Mary’s City Commission. An earlier version of the ship, built in the 1970s by Cambridge’s Jim Richardson, was nearing the end of its useful life and decades of new research meant that a new ship could be designed to be a more historically accurate representation of the original Maryland Dove.

PHOTO BY GEORGE SASS

Since that first announcement, construction of the iconic state ship has been the central focus of CBMM’s working Shipyard. After tapping naval architect Iver Franzen to design the new ship, the lofting process began, with shipwrights turning the Boatshop floor into a lofting board on which full-size patterns and lines were drawn. Those patterns then came to life as they were shaped in a variety of woods—Live and White Oak, Osage Orange, Ash, and Cortez, just to name a few—and fixed to a lead backbone to give Maryland Dove its shape. Work over the past few years, all done in public view, has seen the new ship move from concept to reality, and Maryland Dove will now remain dockside for the final steps in its construction, which include finish work and the installation of masts, rigging, and sails.

“It has been absolutely amazing to watch Maryland Dove come together, piece by piece, over the past few years,” said CBMM President & CEO Kristen Greenaway. “We are very grateful for everyone who has followed along with the ship’s progress, and we invite you to stay tuned as it nears completion.”

Details for a celebration of the completion of Maryland Dove will be announced later via CBMM’s social media channels and at marylanddove.org.