In 2013, I donated all of my black-and-white negatives (about 25,000, mostly boats) to Penobscot Marine Museum with the understanding that they’d be scanned and put up online so anyone could see them.
Scanning is well along, and posting is just beginning.
This first batch of about two hundred were mostly shot when I was in junior high school (about 1947 and 1948) while my pal Don Merchant and I were haunting Rockland, Maine’s waterfront and our less geeky classmates were playing sports. Snow Marine Basin was then being created on Crocketts Point, across from where the Maine State Ferry terminal is presently located, and we hung out there, eagerly helping, immersing ourselves in boats, and taking photos.
Fish processing in Rockland made for a working waterfront that fascinated us: its draggers, lobster smacks, and sardine carriers became so familiar that we knew which ones were in port just from seeing their mastheads as we pedaled our bikes down Sea Street.
Don’s photos are also at PMM (collection LB2013.13), and by viewing his and my collections together you’ll get a good idea of what was going on along that waterfront in the days following the Second World War when fish were plentiful and yachts were few.
If you search for PIXIE/EAST WIND, PENOBSCOT, SEA WOLF, LELA, ALLSTON E., NABBY, CUCKOO, or BRUTAL BEAST, you’ll find what our own boats or the ones we used looked like. The steam lighter SOPHIA and the little tug HUGH were special to us even though they were on their last legs at the time. Search on Snow Marine Basin and you’ll begin to understand why both Don and I chose maritime professions.
My obsession with Herreshoff began with DELIGHT, VENTURA, COCKATOO, and JOYANT, discovered after Anne and I were married and moved to Mystic, Connecticut.
To view all of this batch, click here.
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Sandy Lam says:
Hi David,
We’ve updated the link with a new one from the Penobscot Marine Museum. The previous one was outdated. We hope you enjoy!
wayne heisler says:
HI Maynard butch heisler here in chester nova scotia you went to new zealand to look at a boat & how they were built one of the photoes were of a yacht set up & not planked up lost that one would like to have it again if posable beautful lines
Vernon Powell says:
Thank you Maynard. What a wonderful compilation of your life in boats. Your fore site as a younger lad than you are now, in documenting this life photographically is quite something. Your memory of the people, places and events that relate to the photos, provide wonderful commentary on your part in history. And your generosity in providing this wonderful archive is greatly appreciated by me and no doubt many others.
David Rawls says:
How little we understand the impact our life and love will have in the future, as we ‘sail’ blithely along! Thanks Maynard! I believe this is called Legacy?
chip puhl says:
Maynard,
For those of us who grew up in photography, the f64 club and wooden boats this is a treasure for all time. Thank you for all you do and the relief it brings during these tough times.
The photo geek in me would love to see technical data – not for every photo but general information like your favorite camera , lens, film and processing,etc.
Thanks again, Chip
charles parker says:
After seeing Anne’s smile and a paintbrush in her hand………..You chose well, young man, you chose well…
Eric T. Pomber says:
Wonderful collection!
Mark Darley says:
What an astonishing resource!
Philip Myer says:
Wonderful Maynard, please post some more if you can- thanks Philip Myer
Bill Theurkauf says:
Fantastic collection! I was intrigued by photo LB2013.1.5.1 on the museum site, which shows the stripped hull of Malabar II on a beach, “ready to burn”. Same Malabar II in the OCH video? I the intro, Eric mentions that her hull was iron sick and rebuilt in the 50s. Did the “rebuild” actually about to making a completely new hull?
John Pratt says:
Maynard, this brief slice of your early life, and the reactions to it above, vividly demonstrate the appetite among folks like me for a full account of your life and the boats you have loved. Please write it!
David Heal says:
Terrific photos! Is there any way to view them in a slide show format? The current presentation format seems to require a lot of button pushing.
Steve Stone says:
Hi David. For the images above, you can click on one, then use the arrow key on your computer to flip through them all in a slideshow format. As for the image at the Penobscot museum’s site, it does require lots of button pushing and we don’t have any control over their presentation/software.
johan tolken says:
agree
George Vaccari says:
Thank you Maynard
George
Robert De Leo says:
You are the real treasure Maynard…thank you so much for this archive and for sharing it with those of us who are nostalgic for a past we didn’t experience.
Bob
John Wujack says:
Maynard, Thank you for sharing all of this history. Stay well during these difficult days.
Best, John
Bruce Sinclair says:
More! More!