The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s (CBMM) popular Apprentice for a Day program is offering historic boat enthusiasts a special opportunity to contribute to a “stem to stern” restoration.
This winter and spring, participants can work alongside CBMM shipwrights as they restore the 1912 river tug Delaware, which hauled lumber, towed schooners, and occasionally carried parties of young people to Sandy Hill for day trips on the Nanticoke River.
The tug was donated in 1991 to CBMM by Bailey Marine Construction and is a longtime member of the “floating fleet” on display at the museum’s St. Michaels waterfront. Now that it’s due for restoration, it will be a teaching tool as much as a project.
Apprentice for a Day students will learn the fundamentals of ship construction by removing, milling, and replacing floors and frames that will then become part of the vessel’s backbone,” according to CBMM. Because Delaware is constructed with both sawn and steam-bent frames, apprentices will get to learn both techniques.
Work days are scheduled for select dates beginning Saturday, January 18. Participants can sign up for single days or the full weekend. For more information or to register, click here.
-Meg Walburn Viviano
