Jim Schoel’s recollections

Attended Hurricane Island Outward Bound School the spring of 1968 as a student

Became a Watch Officer instructor in 1970, leading two courses of students

In 1971, worked alongside Lance Lee in a three watch group of graduate students. During that time we visited Bill Coperthwaite’s Yurt community in the Jonesport, Maine, vicinity. (He was deceased fall of 2013). He was a strong voice in the restoration and promotion of native craft skills both for preservation and expression as an antidote to the ills of modern life. Both Lance and I were struck by Bill’s craftsmanship as represented in his community. In addition, I recall long discussions with Lance regarding the promotion of small boat building. Lance moved on from his Outward Bound experience to the founding of the Apprenticeshop in Bath Maine. I moved on to help found Project Adventure at Hamilton Wenham High School, Hamilton, Mass.

While Lance was determined to build a traditional boat building shop where he could teach the craft of boat building while at the same time research traditional small craft, I was determined to bring boat building skills into a traditional High School (along with Adventure skills, which were an “adaptation of Outward Bound challenge and team building activities in a traditional school setting”). I moved from Hamilton-Wenham to Gloucester High School in the fall of 1974, where I founded, along with Peter Parsons, Gloucester Museum School, which was a program of Gloucester High School. The school was devoted to the preservation of community traditional skills and attitudes. To this end, GMS began to build traditional rowing dories while at the same time publishing a magazine about Gloucester. We selected Sam Manning’s Maine Fishermen’s dory because of its somewhat wider beam and lower sheer from the traditional Gloucester fishing dory. It could also be sailed, and although we were not equipped to run a sailing program, we made sails, masts, centerboards, and rudders for two of our boats. We established a base, with aid from Mac Bell and the Mighty Mac corporation, in an old building just up the beach from the greasy pole, on the water front where the family business had made oil skins for fishermen. We built a boat shop, a dark room, a storage area for boats and equipment, and a classroom in that building. Their support was crucial to the success of Gloucester Museum School. Steve Kent was the boat building instructor, Renee Sarofeen and David Wise the magazine teachers, and Emily Nickerson the marine science teacher. Celeste Archambault, a former Outward Bound instructor, led the outdoor program. Our boat building program was successful enough that we constructed and sold boats for recreational and commercial purposes. Our pride and joy was the outboard powered round up boat (it chased pogies into a seine net) we built for the Pogie FV Ida and Joseph.

From this point on, Lance and I pursued different courses regarding our commitment to small boat construction. I was more concerned with Gloucester youth and constructing an outdoor program that would serve them. We not only built and used dories, we engaged in rock climbing, camping, and expeditioning (all seasons). Use of the dories was expressed in long distance rowing expeditions with GHS students.

Enter a third player—Mr. Ed McCabe of Hull, Mass. Influenced by the success of the Apprenticeshop, Ed, able to procure space in a former Coast Guard life saving station, began to provide rowing and boat building experiences for youth from Hull and surrounding communities. I had met Ed through a mutual friend, George Gorman, who had met him while attending the Boston College school of Social Work, and so was aware of the work he was doing.

The formation of Atlantic Challenge, a rowing and seamanship event for teams from France and the United States, was initiated in 1986 in order to celebrate the rededication of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor. Atlantic Challenge brought the Apprenticeshop, Hull Lifesaving Museum, and Gloucester Museum School together in preparation for that event. Since [the great statue was a gift by the French to the U.S.], it made sense that the French would participate. A team from France did compete. Gloucester sent two teams: a female team led by Pat De La Chapelle, Kandy Roberts (a former student of the Gloucester Museum School) and Terry Rubin, which paved the way for formation of a male team led by Jim Watson. (note: we can learn more about the men’s team from Jim).

Lance had built two Bantry Bay gigs in the Apprenticeshop in Bath in preparation for the event.

(note: Ann, your work on the history of the event in NYC, and in the lead up to it is stellar…you remind me of of many details and give me information I knew little or nothing about. Thanks.)

In regards to the building of Siren Song, the women needed a sponsor, and a repository for donations. The Gloucester Museum School provided that. In so doing, GMS became the owner of the boat. Larry Dahlmer of Smith Cove in East Glolucester was its builder. When Pat moved to California, the leadership for the team waned, and Pat made arrangements for me to take over the boat for use in the GMS programs. In fact, during one of the early Cape Ann rowing races, I entered (unofficially) my Church’s youth group, and those young men completed the row! The boat was maintained by the students at the school and by yours truly. When storage became an issue, (Montgomery’s boat yard in Riverdale, had provided it free of charge for quite some time), Siren Song was moved to my yard, something easily done because of the incredible trailer that the Siren Song team had left us.

Formation of the Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center (now Maritime Gloucester), near the CG station, saved Siren Song, as she was soon berthed there. Through many “Rebuilds”, the boat survives to this day, and is a “rowing favorite” form many in the rowing program there.

For a period of years Siren Song was used for the Snow Row. I had left Gloucester High School to work for Project Adventure, thus effectively ending the work of Gloucester Museum School there. But GMS has continued to support Adventure work in Gloucester. I continued for many years as president, but the real power behind the organization is its executive director, Jo-Anne (Finkle) Crawford, a member of the original Atlantic Challenge team. She is currently the director of the Gloucester Museum School Project Adventure Summer Camp, based on Ram Island in the Annisquam river. The camp has continued to use Maine Fishermen’s dories. Since 2008, a program at Gloucester High School has begun to help maintain and use the dories once again, coordinating with the summer camp to do so. Winter storage for the boats is spread out across Gloucester from Ram Island to the restored Fish Shack in Lanes Cove and Russel Robb’s yard. Siren Song is not only stored at Maritime Gloucester, it is an honored guest there, having spawned two new rowing gigs in over subscribed use by the rowers there.