The Launching of the Nimrod

Hundreds of spectators came to see the launching of the three masted schooner Nimrod from the Christenson Shipyard in Kennebunk Lower Village on August 22, 1891. The Nimrod was the last vessel Norwegian shipbuilder George Christenson framed out. He did not get to see her off the ways at what would later become Herbie Baum’s Boatyard.

George died of heart failure on March 3, 1891, at the age of 64. Andrew Walker recorded the loss in his diary. “Last Monday night George Christenson, a shipbuilder at the Port, arose about midnight, partly dressed himself and laid down on a sofa. At 3 o’clock his wife spoke to him. Receiving no reply, she went to him and found he was dead”.

Experienced Lower Village shipwright Benjamin Jackson was engaged to finish construction of the Nimrod. She was rigged on the stocks and had a donkey engine installed. Intended for southern trade, she was 290 tons register, 135 ft long, 30 ft beam, 9 1/2 ft depth of hold.

David Clark’s shipyard can be seen across the river in Kennebunkport.

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