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Adventure to set sail again
By Molly Parker
Staff Writer
The Adventure may soon sail again at Charles Towne Landing.
In early December, the state awarded a $1.4 million contract to a wooden shipbuilding company in Maine to reproduce the old Adventure that sank into disrepair several years ago.
The original Adventure was built in 1969 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the site that in 1670 became the first English Colonial settlement in the Carolinas.
The vessel deteriorated under the weight of weather and age. Park staff attempted to rebuild the ship as they set out to redevelop Charles Towne Landing a few years ago, but it was too far gone to float again, said Dawn Dawson-House, spokeswoman for the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism.
Rockport Marine in Rockport, Maine, was the only company to bid on the proposal, according to the S.C. Procurement Information Center.
Once the vessel is completed, a crew of about eight from Rockport Marine will sail it to Charleston, said company assistant yard manager Maria Simpson.
Designed by renowned 20th-century shipwright William Avery Baker, the Adventure is a reproduction of the type of 17th-century vessel used for trade between North America’s East Coast and the West Indies.
The ship will measure more than 53 feet long with a 14-foot beam, a 6-foot draft and a ketch rig, and will be built with oak carvel planking on an oak frame.
The Adventure will be moored at the state-owned park; the older ship will remain as an outdoor exhibit.
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