Maine Maritime Museum: Part 2

Shipbuilding was hard, dangerous work as evidenced in the four 19th-century buildings of the Percy & Small Shipyard on the grounds of the Maine Maritime Museum.

The caulkers were deaf after years of using chisels to stuff the oakum into the chinks between the timbers of the ships.

The painters surely suffered from lead poisoning.

Most of the woodworking machinery was unguarded.

The men worked outdoors in all types of weather.

Only when machinery was installed in the mill and joiner shop did the men have three walls and a roof. The side toward the river was open with canvas to drop if the weather became too inclement.

And there was always the danger of fire. Smoking was strictly prohibited anywhere in the shipyard.

Percy & Small was fortunate to suffer only one major fire in its 25 years of operation. The evidence can still be seen in the charred beams in the mill and joiner shop. Where did it begin? In the blacksmith shop - the only place fire was allowed.



If you click on the photo, you can read the sign that says, "NO SMOKING ALLOWED IN THIS YARD."