Pirates v/s the Customs Agent and construction updates

Walt Disney is releasing Pirates of the Caribbean 4 this Friday. The Colonial Seaport Foundation, along with Blackbeard's Crew and Hysterically Correct Productions has been asked to participate at the Premier opening at the Virginia Air and Space Center. To help turn the lobby of the Air and Space center into the appropriate background, we have moved His Majesties Custom House, Lower James River District, to Hampton. We are also bringing the Custom Agent Richard Fitz-Williams to ensure the Crown Receives its fair course. This is just one of the many historical educational platforms we create at the Foundation to create a real life history lesson on early colonial history and economics. The Customs Office will remain at the Air and Space Center until the Hampton Blackbeard Festival, June 3-5 where it will be moved to the waterfront for living history presentations.

The construction crew after a mornings work.
The look of surprise on visitors faces as a building formed out of a pile  of lumber is great!

His Majesty's Custom Collector Richard Fitz-Williams and the pirate Garret Gibbons discuss  taxes.

AND NOW FOR LUNA UPDATES

Sunday brought us back to Luna. In the diagram below, the areas marked in red are our construction areas of the day. We worked on bulkheads and the bow, or front of the boat.

Before and Now

Jeff has been hard at work pulling the bow of Luna apart. There is just a little bit more to remove. What can't be seen is the number of nails, screws, and bolts holding the various layers of wood together. There is also a huge amount of chemical filler holding it all together and making it watertight.

Taking this part of Luna apart has been a lesson in patience and persistence.

Back in the cargo hold, Christopher and Jana work on the frames surfaces getting ready for the next section of bulkhead to be fitted.

Looking forward through the cargo hold, the two halves of the forward bulkhead are fitted. A third piece will go between these and then made watertight. We will leave this area open as long as possible to allow passage during construction.  At the bottom of this area is our next work project. We must build the area up with fresh lumber to support the mast. And whats going to go there????????????

These are the templates for the keelson, or the front section of the boat where the mast is going to sit. combined these two piecesare about eighty inches long. the curve of the front of Luna is to the right. the Pieces will be about eight inches wide, six thick and 40 inches long each. This is done in two pieces due to its size and weight. What are we making these next pieces out of?????

Well there ya have it. This week has been busy and well be back at it next weekend. Please visit again to see how our projects are coming along. If you are interested in volunteering or becoming a member, please drop us a note. If you have any questions or thoughts about anything that you see in the Blog, please leave us a comment.

Of field trips and education

While we have not had post up recently, we have been hard at work on our Bermuda sloop Luna and working on our education programs.

Most recently, Colonial Seaport Foundation members joined our sister organization, Blackbeard's Crew and headed to the Museum of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City, NC. to present a program to 168 students and staff from Hawfields Middle School. Our topics of the evening were trade and commerce, engineering, social life, music and of course maritime weapons and tactics.

Stan discussing the arts of trade and commerce
at the tip of a cutlass.

Tornado recovery

Dear friends and family of the Colonial Seaport Foundation,
    
Our little town of Deltaville Virginia, where Luna is being worked on, was recently hit by a tornado. We were not effected directly, but the center of town was hit and many friends lost everything. Miraculously there were no fatalities and only minor injuries in our community. Please keep our town in your thoughts and prayers. We will be back with Foundation news once town is back together.

John Collamore
President, Colonial Seaport Foundation

A look at the hull cross section and work on the deck!

Members of the Colonial Seaport Foundation have been hard at work over the past few weeks. Our shipwright had a conference with the Coast Guard describing the construction techniques and special considerations of Luna's hull design. We were fortunate to have him bring his hull mock up in to a meeting so all could see. The hull goes from bare wood, to epoxied boards, to layers of fiberglass, fairing the hull and finally her finished coat. This display also presented a view of her thickness. Quite impressive!

Colonial Seaport Foundation shipwright, Chip, points out the various layers of  Luna's fiberglass construction. From left to right, we start with bare wood, epoxy treated wood, multiple layers of fiberglass, fairing compound, and final coat.

WE"RE MOVING!!!

AHOY FOLLOWERS! We are moving our blog to a new site. Please follow our progress there and let us know what you think of the site and how we can make it better!



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2/13/ updates

The last couple of weeks have been spent working on the deck beams that will cover the aft, or back cabin, making bulk head templates to seal off the engine compartment and replacing a couple more frames forward, or at the front of the boat. The construction areas are in red.

January 22 & 23

Saturday was a two front day

Our computer Guru, Pern, arranged a computer use class for some of our administrative folks. Now you won’t notice things right away or at all in some cases, but this was done to help streamline several areas of our operations that had gotten a bit big for its britches. Imagine that! CSF has gotten so large that we had to upgrade our data systems! Our updated website should be coming on line shortly. Thank you to Pern for arranging the class and our volunteers for giving their time to learn how to work the new systems.

Sunday

and now a report from our Coast Guard volunteers who joined us for a second work day!

The four of us arrived at 0900 like last weekend and we were eager to get started on the projects from the weekend before. Rob P. began work on installing a new temporary deck aft with marine grade plywood, 3 sheets, after he properly set three deck beams the week before.