"Scaffolding was down and tools removed and her winter cover was cleared away as Highlander Sea stands nearly ready to re-enter her element at MCM Marine earlier this week. Visible to starboard of her massive iron rudder are the two new propellers and shafts fitted beneath the pilot schooner's skinny stern.

 

"With new frame sections, a new keelson, new underwater planking and new paint all around, the 81-year-old schooner is ready for re-launching today after a nearly one year rebuild at MCM. After a few days to soak up, provision, fuel and take on crew, Highlander Sea will head south down the river for her home port at Port Huron. There, shipwrights will continue interior work and re-rigging on the schooner, the pride and joy of owner Acheson Ventures."

   

   Highlander Sea at the Soo

 

The project involved people and vendors from all over the country. Carpenters came from the east coast and the mid-west. Supplies were ordered from California to Maine to South Carolina.  The timber traveled from the forests of mid-Michigan and Tennessee down to a mill in South Carolina and then trucked up to Sault Ste. Marie for placement by the carpenters.

 

Captain Ben Hale tracked down some original ship drawings from the Hart Nautical Museum at M.I.T.