The Mary E, built in 1906 by Thomas E. Hagan, is the lone survivor of more than 4,000 wooden sailing vessels that were built in the Bath, ME area. She is the oldest Maine-constructed clipper bowed swordfishing schooner still afloat, and the last wooden vessel built in Bath before Bath Iron Works took over the ship building industry in Maine.The name Mary E has two possibilities for its origin. The first is Mary Edes, the wife of Benjamin Donnell, the “best vessel designer out of Bath” and the designer of the Downeast Clipper Hull. Thomas Hagan, William T. Donnell and Gardner Deering trained under Benjamin. “Old Ben” was the senior shipwright when the Mary E was built, and was married for 77 years to Mary E. The second possibility is Captain Curtis Dunn’s wife, Mary Esther.
The Mary E was originally sailed by Captain Dunn of Newport, RI, plying the Block Island waters for 38 years as a fishing and cargo schooner. She was also active in passenger and mail service, and was a transporter of illegal goods and liquors during Prohibition. It is rumored that the actor Sterling Hayden was a crewmember in 1936 before he was a screen star. While in transit off Rhode Island, Captain Dunn lost a man overboard on a cold night and sailed back to his location to retrieve him, saving him from certain death. He did this with no electronics, only the salt water running through his veins.
In 1944, the Mary E was sold and converted into a motorized dragger. She sailed under a number of different owners for the next 20 years until a hurricane sank her in Lynn Harbor, MA on Thanksgiving Day 1963.
The Mary E lay in the mud for two years until a shipwright and logger, William R. Donnell II, the great grandson of the original designer purchased her in the summer of 1965 from Ed Gleason. Captain Donnell enlisted the help of his father, William T. Donnell II, the grandson and namesake of William T. Donnell the designer of the Mary E. Captain Donnell towed her back to Bath off the stern of the charter fishing boat Hey Babe, beginning a restoration that would consume the next two years of his life.
This project included installing a restored 471 Detroit Diesel, along with spars and rigging that required numerous expert boatmen from the Deer Isle-Stonington area. Having used seaweed to plug the holes after she was pumped dry, Donnell enlisted the help of friends to muck out the mud and clean off the barnacles. Then Dickey Alley, an 80-year-old caulker who started with Goudy & Stevens in 1910, re-caulked the entire hull. The entire town of Bath watched while the local paper kept track of their progress.
The restored Mary E was the first historic schooner to be certified as a U.S. Coast Guard passenger vessel. Captain Donnell sailed her out of Rockland, ME around all the scenic islands of Penobscot Bay. Soon after, the entire Maine Windjammer fleet became certified by the Coast Guard. Donnell paved the way for historic vessels such as Grace Bailey and Louis R. French to enter the ranks of USCG-certified passenger vessels.
In 1970, Donnell relinquished his reign and the vessel was acquired by Robert Morse of Morse Marine in Boothbay Harbor, ME. She sailed with day and overnight passengers. Soon after, she changed hands yet again, and in the early 1970s Teddy Charles, a famous jazz vibraphonist, found himself behind the wheel, steering her toward the New York area.
The Mary E operated out of South Street Seaport before the schooners Pioneer and Lettie G. Howard. When the South Street Museum purchased its own fleet, she moved on to the Seven Seas Sailing Club out of City Island, NY. The club brought sailing to many people of New York City who could not afford to own their own boats. The Mary E followed five traditionally rigged sailing vessels that Captain Ted Charles had owned (Tiki, Golden Eagle, Barbara, Valente and Christeen). In 1990, Charles moved the vessel to Greenport, NY, where she sailed until 2006. At the start of the 1994 season, she suffered a fire below decks during the night. Her crew worked hard and rebuilt the charred interior. With Captain Ted at the helm, she sailed winter voyages to Key West, FL in 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000 and 2001. Operating out of the infamous Schooner Wharf Bar, she made overnight trips to the Dry Tortugas and Fort Jefferson.
The Mary E has portrayed a rumrunner on the History Channel and has appeared in WoodenBoat, Downeast, Outside, National Geographic and WindCheck. In 2008, she was the sailing vessel in “Shoreline Sonata,” sailing from Northport, NY to Port Jefferson, NY with a PBS TV crew onboard.
In 2006, Captain Matt Culen and Captain Eric Van Dormolen began another restoration – 40 years after the original began in Bath – under the watchful eye of the Long Island Maritime Museum and with the help of master shipwright Josh Herman. Coast Guard requirements and respect for the authenticity of the vessel dictated that bilge stringers, 80% of the frames, top sections of both masts, main transverse beams, mast partners, drilled keel bolts, and a completely re-caulked hull be accomplished. This effort continues today with updating and restoration utilizing traditional methods.
Our latest restoration was completed at Brewer Yacht Yard at Glen Cove, NY by Josh Herman and our skilled wooden boat builders. The 2010 yard period was a success. We replaced portions of the keel, all the deadwood, shaft log, rudder post, keelson and refasted the hull. The hull fastenings are 3/8” lag bolts that connect the hull planking to the double sawn frames. Special thanks to our traditional boat builders Sacha Botbol, Mike Riff, Andrew Cooper, Ricardo Vincente, Chris Nelson, Nobby Peers, Kyle Autz and Mark Friel of Brewer Yacht Yard at Glen Cove, and Bogert & Hopper of Northport, NY (bogertandhopper.com) for supplying all of our bungs, dowels, and white oak planking and framing.
The Mary E continues to sail as Long Island Sound’s Official Tall Ship. Since her original keel was laid, she has performed a magnitude of different jobs that have only added to her prestige and proud tradition. We keep that tradition alive with pirate birthdays and wine tasting sails. We travel from Baltimore to Maine to work with any interested parties. In 2009, the Mary E moved to Essex, CT. We are partnered up with the Connecticut River Museum and sail off their dock for public day sails. For more information, visit schoonermarye.com or ctrivermuseum.org, or call 860-767-8269.
