![]() Mahone Bay Plycraft Co.īuilt thousands of laminated plywood “runabout” boats from 1949-1962. The final days of commercial boat building concentrated on the building of pleasure crafts. Fibreglass sailboats were built on the site of the present RPS Composites factory located at 740 Main Street, under several different company names, including Paceship Yachts. During this period, as many as 500 people were employed in Mahone Bay shipyards.Īlthough fishing vessels were still being built until 1967, after WWII the industry transitioned to mainly constructing pleasure boats. Shipyards continued producing vessels during WWII. As years passed, the trend was to build larger vessels for longer distance trading with the United States, West Indies,īy the end of WWI, there was no longer much demand for sailing vessels so the local shipyards began designing and building power vessels that used engines instead of sails for fishing and moving goods (including rum-running). By 1850, at least 43 vessels had already been built by small shipyards in the Mahone Bay area and larger shipyards began being established to build mainly schooners and other smaller vessels, primarily for fishing and moving goods. The earliest official registration form found for a vessel built in Mahone Bay dates from 1817. The ships had to be launched laid over on their sides due to the shallow waters A relatively small operation, it produced approximately 24 vessels from 1888 to 1911, ranging from 22 to 100 tons (approx. ![]() The shipyard was located near the Michael O’Connor Memorial Bandstand on Main Street near the parking lot of the Independent grocery store.įounded in 1884, Henry Schnare’s yard was located on the harbour between the St. The first commercial shipyard in Mahone Bay was established in 1850 by Elkanah Zwicker and sold in 1862 to Titus Langille. Primarily building vessels for the fisheries and cargo, including some designed specifically for rum-running, the yard operated until 1942, during which time it built at least 100 ships. His shipyard was located near the corner of the Fauxburg Road and Main Street in front of where the RPS Composites factory is today. Obed Ham, written up in his time as “the genius of Mahone”, was Nova Scotia’s first builder of pleasure yachts, a trend that continued in Mahone BayĪBRAHAM ERNST/ERNST & SONS/ERNST SHIPBUILDINGĪbraham Ernst’s first recorded ship was built in 1888. Ham retired in 1932 after building over 400 vessels. The yard focused on the design and production of custom-built pleasure craft, ranging from a 16-foot catboat to a 128-foot yacht. In 1901, Obed Ham established his shipyard on Main Street, just down the harbour from the Ernst yard. The yard closed in 1906 and was purchased by John McLean in 1917. One of his vessels was said to be the largest ever constructed in Mahone Bay, the 1200 ton (183 feet) full-rigged ship Kinburn, in 1873. It is claimed that the yard built a total of 148 vessels, however to date only 51 registration forms have been found for vessels built by John H. John Zwicker, brother of Elkanah, began operation in 1862, in a location adjacent to the present-day town wharf. Zwicker yard in 1917, and went on to build 74 ships until 1959. ![]() Upon John’s death in 1910, his sons carried on the business, expanding by buying the John H. John McLean earned his master shipbuilder credentials at the age of 21. It was located between Maders Wharf and the present-day town wharf. ![]() John McLean established his yard in 1865 (however, registrations for vessels have only been found starting in 1900). For more information on these shipyards, look for the small blue and white signs at each of their locations or contact us at MCLEAN AND SONS SHIPYARD These sawmills established by the early settlers produced first-rate lumber for shipbuilding.īelow is a short description of the six major shipyards producing many large vessels that were active in the Mahone Bay area between 1850 – 1942. The British claimed this land as theirs and this particular area was ideal for sawmills due to vast amounts of timber and the two rivers emptying into the bay, which made for easy transport of logs to the sawmills. ![]() For more information, visit our Town’s History page: The Mi’kmaq were very skilled at building birch bark canoes and had been living in this area for over thirteen thousand years before Mahone Bay and Lunenburg were settled in 1753-1754 by “British Subjects” mostly from France, Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Mahone Bay’s boat building history begins with the Mi’kmaq. Taylor and Graham Duncan and updated by Mahone Bay Museum staff as needed. The database below lists boats built in Mahone bay area was prepared and researched by John A. ![]()
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