The Pine Tree State was a shipbuilding mecca

Jnana Hodson

Sep 26

You wouldn't believe how many incredible seagoing vessels were built in the Pine Tree State. Maybe it's because we have thousands of miles of coastline and tons of trees.

Just consider:

The first ship built in Maine was at the failing Popham colony in the winter of 1607-1608. Where did they even get the sails? Yet the pinnace, the Virginia of Sagadhoc, was not only the first ocean-going ship built by English in the New World, but it returned to Jamestown the following year.
In colonial days, the tallest, straightest trees were set aside as King's Pines, reserved for the masts of the Royal Navy. Conflicts with the French kept many of them from being harvested before the American Revolution.
From the 1830s to 1890s, Maine built more ships than any other state. More than 20,000 ships were launched from Maine shores, many from impromptu shipyards built along tidal rivers.
Bath, with more than 22 shipyards at one time, was arguably the center of action. The town isn't far from the former Popham colony, where the first ship had been built.
During the Civil War, Confederate cruisers captured more than 100 Maine-built or Maine-owned vessels. Coastal forts built during the war included Gorges at Portland, Popham at Phippsburg, and Knox near Bucksport.
In 1862 the screw sloop-of-war U.S.S. Kearsarge built at Kittery sank the C.S.S. Alabama in a crucial naval battle.
Maine accounted for 70 percent of the ships, barks, and barkentines built in the U.S. between 1870 and 1899. On the East Coast it also could claim to have built half of the three-mast schooners, 71 percent of the four-mast schooners, 95 percent of the five-mast schooners, and 90 percent of the six-mast schooners. I'm guessing a lot of those tall, straight pines could still be found.
At one time, tiny Shackford Cove here in Eastport had four boatyards. And nearby Pembroke was also prolific.
The shift to steel vessels largely decimated the yards building wooden ships, which capitalized on the state's deep forests. Unlike most of the state, the shipyards at Bath, Kittery, South Portland, Woolwich, and East Boothbay successfully converted to metal at the end of the 1800s.
Today the state has an estimated 200 boatbuilding firms, most of the small and working with composites like fiberglass, laminated wood, and resin-based composites.