JAMESTOWN — Eric Speth arrived at Jamestown Settlement in 1988 when plans were being made to construct the current iteration of the Susan Constant.
The aging recreated ship had been built for the 350th anniversary celebration of the founding of Jamestown in 1957. Speth, director of maritime operations for the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, has now been captain of two versions of the reconstructed 17th-century ship for 36 years.
Thirty-six years of faithful service on the quarterdeck.
“I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work for Jamestown Settlement and the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation for all these years,” said Speth, 65. “It started with the construction of the Susan Constant here at Jamestown Festival Park (now Jamestown Settlement). We built a shipyard right here on the waterfront and a railway that we used to build the ship on and launch it into our basin on the James River.”
Since its commissioning on April 25, 1991, the Susan Constant has been open to the public as one of Jamestown Settlement’s most important — and appealing — interpretive exhibits. Along with the other recreated ships — Godspeed and Discovery — the Susan Constant has offered the public the unique opportunity to explore 17th-century ships and learn about the voyage to Virginia in 1607.
Jamestown Settlement has three paid staff members, including Speth, who are responsible for the maintenance and operation of the three vessels. When the ships cruise on the James River or to other ports of call in Virginia, they set sail with a crew of highly dedicated volunteers.
“We can’t do what we do to maintain the ships or sail the ships without our volunteer crew. They are so important to our operation,” Speth said. “They collectively donate between (8,000) and 10,000 hours per year. That’s the equivalent of four or five full-time staff.”
Volunteers are taught the basics of how to sail ships such as the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery. They work hand-in-hand with the staff performing all types of maintenance work from sanding and scraping to more high-tech work such as servicing marine electronics and maintaining and repairing engines.
All three recreated ships have engines and can be safely navigated in and out of the basin and through the narrow channel to the river. If the wind is blowing in the wrong direction or not blowing at all, the marine engines help to keep them on schedule.
As a child, Speth was very interested in history, especially in maritime history and sailing ships of the period. He started sailing on historic replica ships and historic ships from the 19th century, and over the years has worked his way back in time through the centuries. He now specializes in 16th- and 17th-century ships.
“I started sailing when I was a child,” Speth said. “I started by sailing modern vessels. My interest in sailing grew such that I wanted to learn to sail ships from the age of sail.”
When the Susan Constant — after 33 years of service at Jamestown Settlement — leaves Virginia in a few weeks and motors to Mystic Seaport Museum shipyard in Connecticut for a restoration overhaul, Speth will be on the quarterdeck.
“I love what I do, and I feel so fortunate to be able to work with the people I work with — the volunteers and the staff here at Jamestown Settlement,” he said.
Historical interpreter Jared Sapp is among the crew members selected by Speth for the voyage to Mystic. “It makes me glad that he trusts me and other crew members to let us go on that voyage, especially when we’ll be off the coast for five days,” Sapp said. “It’s something we don’t do all the time. I’m very excited about that.”
The scheduled restoration overhaul of the Susan Constant at Mystic Seaport has been estimated to take about two years at a cost of $4.7 million. Mystic’s Henry B. du Pont Preservation Shipyard is one of the preeminent wooden boat repair facilities along the Eastern Seaboard. Speth will be the project manager and the project inspector while the ship is there, spending time at the Mystic shipyard and also back at Jamestown.
Homer Lanier, director of visitor experience at Jamestown Settlement, has been sailing with Speth for close to 40 years. First underway together aboard the Susan Constant in 1987-88, they’ve been sailing together for 33 years on the ship’s current version. Lanier serves as helmsman aboard the Susan Constant — at the whip staff.
“As a ship’s captain, Captain Speth’s skills in my book are unmatched,” Lanier said. “I’ve sailed with a few different captains, but primarily with Eric Speth. Eric is always calm and always thinking about five or six steps ahead. Everything’s planned out. Nothing rattles him — even when the weather is completely ugly.”
![If it were not for the efforts of a William & Mary president in the 1960s there would not have been a marine science program to benefit from the school’s recent largest financial gift. Davis Y. Paschall, president 1960-1971, was instrumental in the development of the substantial academic programs of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) at nearby Gloucester Point on the York River, The Virginia Fisheries Laboratory was established in 1940 as the Virginia Fisheries Laboratory as a joint effort between W&M and the Virginia Commission on Fisheries (now the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. It was initially organized […]](https://www.pilotonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/6SCYSOUXX5GSHC7UWSYZ2RSEAU.jpg?w=408 "If it were not for the efforts of a William & Mary president in the 1960s there would not have been a marine science program to benefit from the school’s recent largest financial gift. Davis Y. Paschall, president 1960-1971, was instrumental in the development of the substantial academic programs of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) at nearby Gloucester Point on the York River, The Virginia Fisheries Laboratory was established in 1940 as the Virginia Fisheries Laboratory as a joint effort between W&M and the Virginia Commission on Fisheries (now the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. It was initially organized […]")
