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| c.1850 coastal cargo scow |
We were wandering to find water access points for our boat and at Crystal River State Park we saw what appeared to be a ship's carpenter nightmare (top photo). It looked like a sailing barge that would function as a party platform. Anyway, a fellow yells to me across the river and asked if we wanted to meet the fellows that built it. So we drive around.
Seems it is a reproduction of a common coastal craft pre-Civil War. It is flat bottomed and has lee-boards and could carry a respectable weight in cargo. The builders, a club, have sailed it on the Gulf of Mexico. It was constructed entirely in the historical manner including ripping the planks. No fancy fasteners. Within the next couple of years it will be a display on land as the worms and other destructive forces are at work. It is a wonderful example of testing historical materials and techniques and life-expectancy of material culture.
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| common pram |
In the shop, pictured below, the crew is modeling other "working" boats including a small river stern-wheeler and a "mullet" boat c.1905. (This is on a table just outside the shed on the left of the photo.) Eventually they hope to build a working replica.
This seems to have the informal support of the park staff and archaeologists working in the area.
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| outdoor shop |
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