PEOPLE & 



PLACES 



Despite the abundance of penaugers in the 

 1 8th century — they transported goods along 

 shallow rivers and sounds — none of the onginal 

 boats remain. There are but a few sketches on old 

 maps. 



Mike Alford, the designer hired by the PCRA, 

 and Larry Babits, director of the ECU Maritime 

 Studies Program, collaborated on researching 

 the history and possible designs for the replica. 

 Alford concluded that French Protestant sailors 

 introduced these two-masted split dugouts to the 

 American colonies in the late 1 600s. Babits has 

 been researching periaugers since 1984 and had 

 a special interest in seeing this working replica 

 created. 



The final link in the cooperative effort was 

 hinng Craig Wright, an experienced wooden boat 

 builder from Connecticut. 



The onginal boats were not built out of 

 blocks of cypress as the replica is, explains Paul 

 Fontenoy, curator of mantime research at the 

 Maritime Museum. "The original was cut out of 

 one or two [cypress] logs. In terms of structure, we 

 tried to be as close as we could to what was likely. 

 Some parts may be a little fancier, but they have a 

 lot of practical aspects." 



The construction of today's Periauger was 

 time-consuming — a volunteer crew worked on 

 the boat hull each day, five days a week, at the 

 museum's watercraft center in Beaufort, notes 

 Fontenoy. 



Construction of the masts, booms, sweeps 

 and rudder had been accomplished in the winter 

 of 2002-2003 by eight volunteers in Hertford, 

 under the direction of Monty Spindler, the PCRA's 

 Periauger Project director. 



After nearly four years of planning and 

 nine months of construction, the Periaugerwas 

 chnstened in the Beaufort waterway lastjuly in 

 front of a crowd of coastal officials, residents and 

 tourists. 



GETTING ITS SEA LEGS 



No one was quite sure how Periauger would 

 handle during its sea trials in mid-July, but the first 

 few outings satisfied the designer, the builder and 



the owners-to-be. 



"It's not exactly like any other boat I've 

 sailed," says volunteerjohn Vang, who's been 

 sailing replica ships for 20 years. The most similar 

 feel was with a shad boat, he added. 



The speed of Periauger on the open water 

 was a surprise to the builders. Historic, flat- 

 bottomed boats aren't known to cut through 

 the open water with such swiftness, according to 

 Fontenoy. 



"It's faster than I expected it to be," admits 

 Fontenoy. "The flat bottom is a great way of 

 getting lots of capacity. This is a cargo carrier, 

 so if you make this kind of boat anything but 

 flat bottom, you're reducing the amount it can 

 carry," he adds. 



Despite its easy handling, the Periauger crews 

 still managed some close calls during sea trials. 

 A motor boat was always available the to assist 

 Periauger in case of trouble. 



During one particular trial in August, the 

 Periauger narrowly escaped sailing into a concrete 

 barrier. Nevertheless, the boat made it through 

 the trials without damage. The crew wasn't so 

 fortunate dunng the Odyssey, though. Dunng 

 the three-week trip, it went aground twice, got 

 tangled in a support boat's anchor line and hit its 

 towboat once. 



Although Vang, along with other Beaufort 

 volunteers, captained the sea trials for Periauger, 

 he did not guide the boat on its Odyssey. "It's 

 a tradition that the builders do the sea trials to 

 make sure everything works, then we'll turn it over 

 to the owners," says Vang. 



RELIVING HISTORY 



Nothing was going to stop Periauger and its 

 crew, dressed in colonial garb, on its three week 

 Odyssey — not even Hurricane Charley, a crew 

 with a steep learning curve or even Blackbeard. 



Hurricane Charley was the first to strike, 

 delaying the voyage by one day. This forced Ernst, 

 commander of the voyage, to put Periauger on a 

 trailer for the trip to New Bern, but it didn't cause 

 any changes to the rest of the sailing schedule. 



He arranged for Periauger to sail for five 



TOP TO BOTTOM: Construction drawings included a sail plan by Mike Alford. • By Spring 2003, construction 

 was in advanced stages. • The builders put the fmishingtouches on the interior hull. • A large crew pushes off 

 the dock to practice rowing trials in the Beaufort waterway. • Swamping tests are performed to see how well the 

 Periauger floats when flooded with water. 



28 WINTER 2005 



