Maritime Mastery

Photograph by Lisa Poole

Every Saturday, a small band of volunteers spends part of the day scrubbing, painting, and repairing the Adventure, a 1926 fishing schooner docked in Gloucester, Mass. The volunteers belong to the Gloucester Adventure, a nonprofit organization that is trying to raise $1.5-million to finish refurbishing the boat. They hope it will serve as a memorial to the thousands of people from the small fishing community who died at sea, and that the finished boat will allow the charity to expand the educational activities that can be conducted on board.

The Adventure, which will be restored to be as much like it was in 1926 as possible, is open for free tours on weekends. The group also schedules Saturday-night concerts on the ship featuring jigs and sea chanteys, and on Sundays volunteers serve breakfast.

In addition to raising money for maintenance costs, those activities introduce the public to the ship, its history, and the need to rebuild the vessel before it deteriorates further, says Martin Krugman, president of the Gloucester Adventure.

The charity has already started several education programs to connect younger Gloucester residents with the city’s past as a hub of the fishing industry. Recently, high-school students interviewed older Gloucester residents for an oral-history project, and fifth-grade students visited the boat to learn about fishermen’s lives at sea. The group also hopes to start a lecture series for adults, and an environmental-education course. Eventually, the charity wants the ship to sail again, to give visitors a chance to experience firsthand the Adventure at sea.

Here, a volunteer coats the ship’s wood mast with raw linseed oil to protect it from the weather.