A Brief History of the Gamage Shipyard
The rounded peninsular that is today the Gamage Shipyard marina has been a prominent South Bristol landmark for more than 250 years.
Native Americans made extensive use of the Bristol peninsula. What we now call the Gut was on the major travel route for native Americans going up and down the coast. The shipyard property is one of the more accessible locations on the Gut and certainly would have attracted the attention of both traveling and seasonal camping Indians.
European fishermen and explorers first appeared on the midcoast of Maine late in the 16th century. Pemaquid village was one of the first settlements established in the New World.By mid 17th century, the South Bristol mainland, belonged to George Buckland. Buckland appears several times in the records of Pemaquid after 1647. He was "appointed and to have the liberty to keep(a) house of publicke entertaynment and to retayle beare, wine and, licquors" in 1675. Where might Buckland's "publicke house" have been located The shipyard property, with its down river view, frequent small boat traffic, and safe anchorage would have been prime colonial real estate.
Iin 1676 the first of several brutal Indian uprisings and French and Indian wars started. The Indian raids and battles caused the rapid abandonment of the coast of Maine. The area remained unsafe for the English for more then 50 years.
By the early 18th century,Colonel David Dunbar, a representative of the Crown, brought Scotch-Irish settlers to the Bristol peninsular. The shipyard property first appeared in County deed records in 1787. The land was owned by a number local fishermen through the first half of the 19th century.
The A & M Gamage Shipyard
The recorded history of shipbuilding on the land begins with the purchase of land including the marina acres by Albion and Menzies (A & M) Gamage in 1871. A & M Gamage began building large wooden sailing vessels in the early 1850s. The company was a well-regarded builder of wooden vessels. Over the next 50 years, the brothers built more the 88 sail and steam boats. They sold boats locally and as far away as New York and maritime Canada. Many of their fishing vessels were in the Boothbay and Southport, Maine fleets as well as part of the large Gloucester, Massachusetts fishing fleet. Three of the last boats from the yard were the steamboats that made up the early Damariscotta Steamboat Company fleet - Anodyne (1895), Bristol (1901) and Newcastle (1902)
Harvey F. Gamage
In 1924, Harvey F. Gamage left his apprenticeship in East Boothbay boatyards to set up in business for himself. The same year he built a boat shed on the marina property. From 1924 to 1976, Harvey Gamage oversaw the construction of more then 288 sailboats, powerboats, draggers, scallopers and windjammers. Most of his early boats were sloops and schooner designed by the well-know naval architect John Alden. Powerboats and small fishing and lobster boats became more common in the 1930s and 1940s. The construction of 8 wooden military vessels occupied Gamage boatbuilding from 1940 to 1944. In 1944 the business turned to building rugged, able and profitable wooden fishing boats. Averaging about four boats a year, a total of 93 boats were launched from 1944 to 1969. These fishing vessels were heavily framed; diesel-powered boats from 70 feet to 112 feet in length and made up the backbone of the Gloucester and New Bedford, Massachusetts fishing fleets. There were also a few yachts, pleasure powerboats and lobster boats during this period.
The final period of Harvey Gamage boat building began in 1959, when Captain Havilah Hawkins asked Gamage to build the first schooner designed specifically for the windjammer passenger trade. The result was the 83-foot Mary Day, launched in 1960. From that date until 1976, when Harvey died, the shipyard's output was 43 vessels - a mixture of draggers, research vessels, yachts and large graceful schooners. The schooners were Mary Day, Shenandoah, Harvey F. Gamage, Clearwater, Bill of Rights, and Appledore II. At 152 feet, the Shenandoah was the longest vessel to come from the boatyard. The Antarctica research vessel, Hero dates from this period. In 1970, the first steel hull boat, the fishing vessel Elizabeth, was launched. This concession to change was followed by nine more steel fishing boats.
Boat building continued at the yard from 1976 to 1981 under the Gamage Shipbuilders, Inc. name. Eight fishing boats, mostly steel-hulled draggers and passenger vessels were launched. The last boat launched was the 55-foot long fishing boat Windsong built for Jim Fossett of New Harbor, Maine.
