Institute of Maritime History

Roper has finished her spring haul-out.  Major work included plumbing the fuel, water, and exhaust lines for the diesel generator, and adding an anchor windlass and roller, a new Furuno 500 autopilot, and one more antenna for an AirMar flux-gate compass and GPS for the autopilot.  Profound thanks to the energetic and capable Brendan Burke of the St Augustine Lighthouse & Museum; to IMH stalwarts Cynthia Loden Dowdle, Isabel Mack, Dawn Cheshaek, Kebret Andarge, John Dowdle, Kirk Pierce, and David Wright; and to Rick Meatyard and his gallant crew at Tall Timbers Marina.

2013 fieldwork schedule:
February & March --
  sidescan sonar training on weekends
  boat maintenance on weekdays
April --
  dive & map sites in Potomac River or
    Chesapeake Bay on first 2 weekends
  boat hull and engine work after 11 April
May --
  boat hull and engine work until 9 May
  underway 11 May for Georgia and Florida
  scan sites in Georgia
  arrive St Augustine FL on 25 May
June --
  LAMP field school in FL
  17th century site in MD

After the high of getting "Patty" started last month, I spent the long Thanksgiving weekend tearing into "Selma", stripping her down and removing the cylinder head.  Let's just say it wasn't quite as clean inside as the port engine.  I knew I was in for something more "interesting" since I've never been able to turn the crankshaft with a wrench like I could on the other one.  So I was rewarded with some "pumpkin pie" rust in cylinder #2.

starboard bare block

My apologies for the long interval since my last entry, but I haven't really had any *visible* progress until this week.

I've been working on the port engine ("Patty"-- the starboard one is "Selma") since March.  This included removing all the engine components including the cylinder head.  I was prepared to do a complete overhaul, including pistons, sleeves, rings, etc. but I discovered that would require pulling the engine, which I hadn't planned to do. In any case, once removing the head, the pistons and sleeves looked clean enough not to need that attention.

A copy of the report on our third field session (Sept.-Oct. 2012) is attached.  I hope we can go back in the spring and continue work.

Going into this project, we hoped to draw each frame in profile and gather historical information relevant to the wreck and the cove. We have exceeded expectations, and as project director I couldn’t be happier. We have put in long days and a lot of hours, but there has been some fun thrown in, with a few swims in Echo Lake, an occasional stop for ice cream, and a visit to Bass Harbor Boat to talk with Robert “Chummy” Rich.

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Baylus Brooks continued to explore the local historical resources by visiting Mt. Desert Island Historical Society and the William O. Sawtelle Curatorial Center. Franklin and Crista led teams of volunteers and continued the profile drawings of the frames on the Seal Cove Shipwreck.