Building Henrietta in Bucksville, SC |
Paddling along to Winyah Bay |
I had a warm welcome from folks bundled in wool sweaters and jackets when I landed in Belle Isle.
Dinner at Ned and Marsha's with their cousins had great conversations about the maritime history of Georgetown. Our pre-dinner cocktails and after-dinner liqueurs in the drawing room were graced by bowls of fresh cut camellias from the garden.
Welcome to Georgetown group at Belle Isle |
Camellias floating in a bowl |
Toast at dinner |
When I had paddled past Bucksport, SC, I thad thought about Bucksport, ME, but didn't realize that the SC town was founded by Henry Buck from Bucksport, ME. He had come across Carolina longleaf pine lumber that is good for ship building, and went to South Carolina in the 1820's to build saw mills to create lumber to be shipped to the Maine ship yards. Many of the ships that hauled the lumber and other goods from Georgetown were captained by Maine sea captains from Penobscot Bay towns in my neck of Maine, and many of the ships were built in Maine as well. There was one experiment of building the largest wooden sailing ship in South Carolina in Bucksville, using ship builders from Maine. The Henrietta was the first and last ship built there. The Mainers didn't much like the heat, humidity and insects of the south. Also, it turned out that the Wacamaw River was too shallow to launch the completed ship. (It had to be floated out using hundreds of sealed empty turpentine barrels strapped to the hull.) And the last straw was that the ship yards in Maine said they would stop buying lumber from the area unless they stopped building ships.
A morning at the South Carolina Maritime Museum revealed loads of photos from my local Penobscot Maritime Museum, further demonstrating the relationship between the two areas. There was also a nice painting of the Linah C Kaminski which was partly owned and named by one of Nat's relatives. What I would give for a set of sails like those on my kayak!
Linah C Kaminski |
I'm glad to be getting off the water for five days. There are record cold temps on the way. I'm off to Chapel Hill, with eleven speaking and media engagements planned over three days. Good way to wait out the cold. I'll be back on the water on Tuesday, January 13th.
Paddle Day: 87
Paddle Day: 87
Date: Jan 7, 2015
Start: Pawley's Island, SC
End: Georgetown, SC
Distance: 17.9 miles
Paddle, hike, bike distance: 1243.5miles
Motor portaged: 264 miles
Total distance: 1507.5 miles
Max speed: 5.9 mph
Moving ave.: 4.1 mph
Kayak storage: Belle Isle Marina
Hosts: Nat and Marsha Kaminski
End: Georgetown, SC
Distance: 17.9 miles
Paddle, hike, bike distance: 1243.5miles
Motor portaged: 264 miles
Total distance: 1507.5 miles
Max speed: 5.9 mph
Moving ave.: 4.1 mph
Kayak storage: Belle Isle Marina
Hosts: Nat and Marsha Kaminski
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