A New Beginning
Languishing in a boat yard in New London CT for 30 years, DORIS, the largest all-wood sailing vessel built by Herreshoff Manufacturing Co in 1905, was scheduled to be scrapped at the end of August 2013. Given a one-year lease on life by the generous collaboration of a good friend and…
Framing
New year, new shop, new frame - old shape, old shell For Doris' second hundred years, we must repair or replace any piece that's not up to the challenge. What last year looked like an old boat with some new parts, and will soon look like a new boat with…
A Symphony in Motion
Watch the pros at Snediker Yacht Restoration as they steam-bend an oak frame for DORIS HMCo#625 [KGVID]http://doris1905.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Steambend-TL.mp4[/KGVID]
Making the Molds Work progresses on DORIS#625
Work keeps a jaunty pace at Snediker Yacht Restoration as molds for yacht DORIS take shape. This author could write many words on the process of making molds in Wooden Boatbuilding and how this is specifically being tackled in the DORIS restoration but, wouldn't you rather see the process? Here's a…
The Illustrious, Elusive Louise N. Grace
Not much is known to us about Louise N. Grace, the third owner of DORIS (1920 - 1933), however what we do know paints her as a fascinating, and distinctive, independent woman, artist, and entrepreneur of the early 1900s. One of eleven children, Louise was the 9th child born to…
DORIS can come alive again…
DORIS/VAYU owner David Revenaugh expresses his sentiment about the restoration of DORIS - the yacht he owned and loved for aprox. 20 years. A very special thank you to the Mercanti Family for sharing their slides detailing adventures aboard VAYU (Jim Mercanti, owned DORIS/VAYU from 1957 to 1974 and ran her…
Beautiful Decline of VAYU
"I remember the day I saw her..." recalls ex-owner Jacques Thiry, "she was a magnificent sight out in the distance, I saw her from the pier. She was beautiful, a very striking boat, floating high up in the water. Her interior had been torn out and she was being packed with hay. She…
HUNTRESS vs THE HURRICANE OF ’38
On September 21, 1938, around 2pm, The Great New England Hurricane slammed ashore at Suffolk County Long Island at approximately 60 miles per hour. The day would end tragically for many across Southern New England with staggering and catastrophic losses; 564 people would be dead, 1700 injured, entire marine communities washed…
The Big Move
This is how dawn found her; DORIS, poised to leave Crocker's Boatyard after 30 years, glowing in the new day's anticipation. Pulling onto the streets of New London one couldn't help but imagine her full sail – there she goes catching the wind and breaking free. This majestic yacht, now…
Moving Day
Freed today from her anchored ballast after 40 years, DORIS is poised for her move to Pawcatuck, CT. [gallery type="slideshow" link="file" size="full" ids="527,522,523,524,525,526,521" orderby="rand"]
Doris or Not Doris? Questioning Archive Photos
It seems like research should be a linear progression - you discover information, and throw it into your big basket of known things. The problem, as I learned well running the boat shop at Mystic Seaport for 13 years - researching boats and boat types - is that much unearthed…