SKIPJACK
BUILDING THE WILLIE L. BENNETT
The Skipjack, the last American Vessel to
dredge for oysters under sail.
A dying breed, and taking with them another part of the Chesapeake Bay that many will
undoubtedly miss.
They were used to make a living dredging
for oysters on the bay and in the lower areas of it's tributaries. They were only allowed to use their sails to pull
the dredges.
With no wind in their sails the waterman used a small boat to push the Skipjack along. They called it a push boat.
The push boat was
tied under the stern to push them to port or wherever they needed to go.
The Willie was a pleasure to build, she is built mostly of cedar and white oak.
After getting the deck on the real tedious work began, like making sails and rigging
her out. Anchor and all, the wooden blocks were also made in detail and do work. I wasn't quite able to make the bearings.
I didn't make the rope but did splice all the rigging where needed.
You can actually operate the anchor winch and pull up the anchor. The brass cleat you see on the bow was made from an old boat
shaft that my Uncle Del had laying around, made a lot of parts with that old shaft. I even made the one quarter inch screws
that hold it on.
As you look at the first picture with the two grandkids {Stephanie & Johnny} you get a little idea of
the Skipjacks size.
My neighbor Alex helped some on the steering wheel with his lathe at work. After that I purchased my
own lathe. Wheel is all machined and will unscrew and come apart all most like the original.
I tried to make everything to scale to look like the original {even the nails and screws} and to operate and perform like the
original
All turnbuckles were operative, also the cable clamps. The steel cable was made by
twisting several
strands of small wire together.
Where's Willie Now?
This was a great model to build.
It was three years in the making. Every
piece was made by hand, down
to the smallest details. The model Willie L. Bennett is sixty two inches long and over fifty inches tall and fifteen inches
wide
Now if I was only five or six inches tall I would get aboard and sail the Willie all over the bay.
And probably do a little oyster dredging too.
My youngest son now has the Willie in a glass case at his home at
Broomes Island Maryland, the little town I grew up in.
