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The Susan Constant, its masts removed, is carefully positioned so it can be lifted out of the water and into drydock for its restoration. Eric Speth/ Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
The Susan Constant, its masts removed, is carefully positioned so it can be lifted out of the water and into drydock for its restoration. Eric Speth/ Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
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The recreated 17th century Susan Constant went into drydock earlier this week, and demolition will soon begin on parts of the vessel that need to be replaced.

“Everything went smoothly,” said Eric Speth, director of maritime operations for the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation and project manager for the work being done on the ship in Mystic, Connecticut. “It took about three hours to move the ship from its dock, to a cradle and then onto dry land.”

Now at the Henry B. du Pont Preservation Shipyard at Mystic Seaport Museum, the Susan Constant — one of three reproduction vessels at Jamestown Settlement — will spend the next two years going through a $4.7 million preservation and restoration project. The ship and a 15-person crew made the five-day journey up to Connecticut several weeks ago.

This is the first major restoration for the Susan Constant even though the vessel, which was built in 1990, has been drydocking nearly every other year for cleaning, repainting and other minor repairs.

Speth, who also serves as captain when the ship is underway, was on hand Tuesday to participate in the drydock move. Prior to the move, the museum shipyard staff, a contractor with a large crane and Speth participated in the removal of the bow sprit and the foremast, mainmast and mizzenmast.

When fully operational, the Susan Constant weighs 280 tons; in drydock the weight is 250 tons.

The Mystic Seaport Museum shipyard staff created a cradle of wood that is being used to support the ship for the entire time it is in restoration. Eric Speth/Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
The Mystic Seaport Museum shipyard staff created a cradle of wood that is being used to support the ship for the entire time it is in restoration. Eric Speth/Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation

To make the drydock move, two crew members of the Susan Constant — Todd Egnor and Dan Uptmor — returned to help Speth, along with two shipwrights from the Mystic museum and the captain and two crew members from the Mayflower II, another reproduction vessel at the famed Plimoth Patuxet Museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Speth has worked with the Mayflower for over 20 years and has occasionally served as captain during sailings for filming, promotions, interpretative voyages and fundraising.

Whit Perry , who formerly worked in the maritime program at Jamestown, is now the Mayflower captain and has a job at Plimoth similar to Speth’s position at Jamestown.

Just for the Susan Constant, the Mystic Seaport Museum shipyard staff created a cradle of wood that is now being used to support the ship for the entire time it is in restoration, Speth said.

Moving the ship from the dock to the shipyard required the use of three yard boats and a ship lift — an elevator used to move ships vertically into and out of the water. Once the ship was out of the water, the cradle was moved off the lift platform and out on railroad-type tracks so it can be moved throughout the yard as needed during the restoration.

The hull of Jamestown Settlement's Susan Constant is power washed after being moved out of the water for its restoration in Mystic, Connecticut. Eric Speth/ Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
The hull of Jamestown Settlement’s Susan Constant is power washed after being moved out of the water for its restoration in Mystic, Connecticut. Eric Speth/ Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation

Speth, who is now back in Jamestown, will return to Mystic next week to supervise the demolition of the hull’s wooden planks that need to be replaced. He will be traveling to and from Jamestown to Mystic during the restoration. “I’ll be on site throughout the work as needed. I will approve all the work,” he said.

The lumber used for the new hull planking will be made of cypress from Georgia, while the hull framing and heavy wale planking will be Purple Heart, a tropical hardwood from Guyana in South America. This wood was harvested late last year and processed at a sawmill in the U.S. in the spring.

Wilford Kale, kalehouse@aol.com

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