Donnell Myers bends a steaming hot piece of rare white oak to fit the U-shaped keel of a boat for the USS Constellation Museum.
Myers, along with classmates Justin Chilcote, Taavon Mills and Marco Reagin, is learning time-honored boat building skills as part of the Living Classroom Foundation?s Fresh Start program.
“Fresh Start is a 40 week program that has five different modules and concentrates on students getting their GED,” Fresh Start?s Boat Building Instructor Seth Scott said.
“I didn’t believe you could bend wood before I did this.” Myers said. Another piece of moist wood curves under the pressure of Mills? foot as he moves it toward the bend. ” Pull back with your hands to relieve some pressure,” coaches senior shipwright Bruce Mackenzie.
The 26-foot-long quarter boat the students are building is a replica of a scout vessel used by the USS Constellation for anti-slavery patrols during the Civil War. When this boat is finished, construction on a second will start. When the pair is complete they will be on display as part of the USS Constellation display and used for educational programs, said Christopher Rowson, the museum’s executive director.
Both of the constructions will take place in Fells Point at the Fredrick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park Museum, which was the first African-American-owned shipyard in the country, according to the Living Classroom Foundation.
Completing the builds won’t happen overnight; it took the Fresh Start students and Bruce three weeks just to draft the layout, Maritime Park Museum activities coordinator Marc Pettingill said.
MacKenzie removes a 5-foot piece of oak from the 200 degree steam-box and Myers applies pressure. Snap: The wood splits in two. “One more,” MacKenzie said. Again Myers strains pressing his foot down, but this time with success. His classmate Chilcote secures clamps to keep the warm rib from warping or cracking again. “This job keeps you young,” Myers said, before sitting down for a break.
