Wednesday evening, Capt Dan Cleveland and your Volunteer Coordinator were invited over to the LowCountry Maritime Society, with a few other Charleston luminaries of the Wooden boat/tall ship world to get acquainted with a long-time secret of the Spirit of South Carolina story. (For more on the LMS, see their Facebook page link at bottom of the story)
This episode begins during the inception of the schooner's design and planning.
In 2002, as the keel for Spirit of South Carolina was being laid on the same grounds as her Pilot Schooner ancestor, Francis Elizabeth, off to the side another, smaller keel was being squared up and framed up. This craft was envisioned to be commissioned as the schooner's "gig". A pilot schooner typically carried one to two small boats capable of being rowed or sailed, as a means of transferring her pilots to and from their client vessels. Originally intended as a larger version to match the scaled-up Spirit of South Carolina. As her plans were being finalized, her creators concluded she would still be too small to fulfill her intended mission of educating and training youth, so they enlarged her size to 16 feet. She would be propelled by three banks of oars, or a two-masted fore-and-aft sail rig.
The same volunteer group and skilled shipwrights, using timbers and materials from the Spirit of South Carolina, fashioned her ribs, thwarts, spars and lap-strake hull. On finishing, she was christened Charles S. Sneed, after the visionary-Co-Founder of the South Carolina Maritime Foundation who led the efforts to building the Schooner Spirit of South Carolina.
But as far as we know she was never actually launched.
Now she has a chance, with our help. The LowCountry Maritime School, under supervision of their Educator and Boatyard Manager, Rachel Bergquist is organizing a volunteer effort to refinish her, fit her out and make her ready for the water. She's banking on volunteers willing to spend up to two hours at a time late Wednesday afternoons to lay in with her on the job. As an educator as well as project manager, Rachel is also a great teacher in marine woodworking skills, so you're in for some free advice, coaching, and instruction as well.
The first Wednesday session is tentatively set for 2 December, at the LowCountry Maritime School Boatyard, on 1230 Pherigo Street, Mount Pleasant.. (Behind the Red Drum Restaurant.) For some more information on LMS, See their FACEBOOK Page.
https://www.facebook.com/lowcountrymaritimesociety
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