WOOD-USING INDUSTRIES OF MAINE. I3I 



Ship and Boat Building. 



Ship building was one of the very earliest industries of 

 Maine. The first vessel ever constructed in New England was 

 built in 1607, at the mouth of the Kennebec, and a historian of 

 Maine has said that this river was at the time the scene of the 

 largest ship building industry in the country. For years the 

 building of wooden ships was among the most important indus- 

 tries of the State, but when the use of steel and iron in 

 ship building began to increase the ship building of Maine lost 

 its former importance. 



Included in this report under the head of "Ship and Boat 

 Building" are what might seem to be three separate industries : 

 ship building, the manufacture of small boats, and the manu- 

 facture of canoes. Most of the material used by this industry, 

 over half of which comes from other States, is consumed by the 

 ship yards which build such craft as schooners, barges, and tug 

 boats. These yards do not use a great variety of woods. For 

 frames, some yards use the native spruce. The spruce pre- 

 ferred for this purpose is that which is grown near the coast, 

 since it is considered tougher than that grown inland. Spruce 

 from such sites is known as "black" spruce, but should not be 

 confused with the real black spruce {Picea mariana), which is 

 a separate botanical species. Some yards use white oak, which 

 comes mostly from the State of Virginia and is commonly 

 known as Virginia oak. Much native oak is also used and the 

 exact proportion of red and white in this native stock is some- 

 what a matter of conjecture because of the fact that many ship 

 and boat builders reported the use of oak only. The planking 

 of vessels is usually longleaf pine. For decking, this wood is 

 sometimes used, and sometimes loblolly pine, spruce, or wdiite 

 pine. Cabins are made from white pine or loblolly pine, and 

 once in a while spruce. Spars and masts are usually made from 

 Douglas fir, although small spars are still made from native 

 white pine. In the days of the Colonies, large numbers of mast 

 for the King's Navy were furnished by the white pine trees of 

 Maine, and for many years the ship builders of the State used 

 white pine masts almost exclusively. Today, however, suitable 

 trees can not be secured, and Douglas fir has been found to be 

 the best substitute. For finishing woods in cabins, oak. mahog- 

 any, birch, etc., are used. Although not shown in Table 31, 



