Kennebunk River Schooner Heritage Survives

Most of the vessels built in the early days of the District of Kennebunk were ships, barques, and brigs, carrying square sails across their width. That rigging was appropriate for deep-sea trading voyages. As larger ships were required, shipbuilders at Kennebunk Landing struggled to get their huge vessels down our circuitous little river.

The Lock was built on the Kennebunk River in 1848-49 to mitigate the problem but it was not as helpful as they had hoped. It leaked and often flooded Goffs Brook tannery. Kennebunk diarist Andrew Walker reported that the only people making money in shipbuilding in 1856 were lawyers whose job it was to inventory the belongings of failed business owners and negotiate the $.15 on the dollar their creditors felt lucky to get. The lock was only in use for 19 years. It raised the water level for 29 vessels in all.

Shipbuilding in Kennebunkport and Kennebunk Lower Village became more profitable than at the Landing when they began specializing in building coasting schooners, which carried fore and aft sails making them appropriate for delivering cargo from city to city along the Atlantic coast. Schooners saved the financial fate of more than just the Kennebunk District shipbuilders. All the ancillary tradesmen in the Kennebunks were kept in business, too, at the only industry in town.

Last week, Captain Richard Woodman’s schooner Eleanor was rammed by a commercial fishing vessel and was taking on water a mile out. According to the Kennebunk Fire Chief, a lesser boat would have been split in two from such an impact. The “robust Schooner Eleanor”, well built by Captain Woodman in 1999, made it back into the Kennebunk River for repair. Two people were injured in the incident. Thankfully, the people and the vessel are on the mend.

The Schooner Eleanor isn’t just another party boat. To me, she and her captain, Richard Woodman, grandson of Bernie Warner, one of the last large shipbuilders on the Kennebunk River, who launched from the same wharf the Eleanor sails from, represent the maritime history of Kennebunkport.

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