Highlander Sea Refit

4/21/2006 We have an immediate need for volunteers to help with prepping and painting through the rest of April and into May. We will also begin up-rigging in May and will need help with it. Please contact the Volunteer Office at 810-982-8913.

11/21/05 Highlander Sea is home.  She will be at the Port Huron Terminal Company for the next couple of days, then moving to the Port Huron Yacht Club for the winter. Please see the volunteer page if you are interested in winter maintenance work, which will be going on at the ship. There are also projects you can take home.

11/7/05 We are pleased to announce Highlander Sea is back in the water. The date for her return has not been set; Captain Allnutt will be performing sea trials mid-week and we will let you know shortly when she will return.

11/6/05 "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."

Reported by The Soo Evening News.

8/5/05 Some great pics of the restoration, courtesy of Angie Siemen:

  

Work continues on the ship. For an update please see the article from the Soo Evening News titled "Schooner Restoration Reaches Planking Stage".

The current ship´s crew consists of Captain Micah Allnutt, Chief Mate Ben Hale and Carpenter Andros Kypragoras. Captain Micah has been dividing his time between MCM Marine, the site of the refit, in Sault Ste. Marie, MI. (Soo) and his home in Port Huron. While in Port Huron he has been working on our volunteer program, introducing himself to our community, working with the advisory board, organizing the ship´s office, etc. etc. Next week he will be traveling to the Soo with Nobby Peers, a consulting engineer from Whitworth Marine in Maine.

Chief Mate Ben Hale has been busy measuring and planning the replacement of the ballast on the ship. This is an incredibly technical endeavor and is being done in conjunction with our Naval Architect and under the auspices of the Coast Guard. I can not begin to tell you what else Ben has been doing, his help is incalculable. He is awesome.

Last, but certainly not least, our Carpenter Andros has been overseeing 4-6 ship carpenters and additional laborers from the marine. He has been the mastermind and problem solver for a myriad of technical and tactical circumstances that have come up since the refit started. He has been on a veritable scavenger hunt for a ship´s saw, a crane capable of lifting the foremast, a way to get the crane in place (no problem - you just spin the dry dock), lumber (which we were lucky to find in our home state), a mill that could handle the lengths required (South Carolina) and competent ship carpenters willing to work in the Soo (that was a real selling job when it was below zero).

We are grateful to our crew and appreciate the commitment they have made to Highlander Sea. It is not easy, in the case of Micah and Ben, to ask a sailor to give up a season of sailing. Thanks, guys. We truly could not have done it without you. Mary Russel

5/19/2005 The restoration project on Highlander Sea is making remarkable progress under the auspices of ship´s carpenter Andros Kypragoras. Each week Andros sends us a "Shipyard Report" and we are all getting very familiar with terms like planking, deadwood, futtocks, tail-feather, horn timber, various fastenings and DOM (drawn over mandrel) tubing.

The project involves people and vendors from all over the country. We have carpenters in from the east coast and the mid-west. Andros has been ordering supplies from California to Maine to South Carolina. The trip the timber is taking is the most adventurous, traveling from the forests of mid-Michigan and Tennessee down to a mill in South Carolina and then trucking up to Sault Ste. Marie for placement by the carpenters.

The owner of the mill, Churchill Hornstein, spent a weekend "wood shopping" with Andros in Michigan, where they found some "gorgeous" (their word not mine) oak trees. Churchill is also involved in the Spirit of South Carolina project. This tall ship is currently being built by a foundation in Charleston, SC. Churchill has challenged us to a race once both of these magnificent ships are completed. The challenge was accepted once we were assured by our crew that Highlander Sea would win, providing she had feathered props (seems the crew is always trying to get these).

Along with our resident expert, Andros, we have continuing input from a naval architect, Tim Graul, a former mentor, Dave Short and visiting engineer, Jim Jefferson.

Captain Micah Allnutt and Chief Mate Ben Hale have been busy working with the architect and the engineer on the interior design of the boat. Ben has tracked down some original ship drawings from the Hart Nautical Museum at M.I.T. Captain Micah is "old school" as far as sailing goes, and he is anxious to get the ship closer to her original interior design. One modern change will be additional
black water space.

Please see the photo gallery on the website for additional pictures of the ship and you will get an idea of the scope of this project and the work involved. It is quite an undertaking and involves an incredible commitment by Dr. Acheson for the financing and the crew for the labor.

Mary Russel, Acheson Ventures, LLC

3/1/2005 For an update on restoration taking place at the Soo please see the article in the Soo Evening News.

2/1/05 Highlander Sea will be extending her visit in the Soo. She will be having some extensive work done to her frame. Her sailing schedule will be changed to accomplish the work. We should have a better time frame around the 1st of April, please check at that time.

Mary Russel, Acheson Ventures, LLC

1/3/2005 Highlander Sea continues her stay in Sault Ste. Marie, MI. She has a new Captain, Micah Allnutt. Micah has most recently served as Master on Lettie G. Howard which is a schooner involved with the South Street Seaport Museum. An interview with Captain Allnutt will be featured in the next ship´s newsletter. Welcome Aboard, Micah.

Mary Russel, Acheson Ventures, LLC

10/26/2004 Highlander Sea is currently spending the winter in Sault Ste. Marie, MI. The following is a journal entry from Linda Thibdaue, one of her loyal volunteers and Chairman of the Advisory Board, who made the end of the season journey. Thanks for your wonderful insight, Linda. The Acheson Ventures Team also adds its thanks to the great crew, all of whom are mentioned below. You did an awesome job and should be proud. Hope to see you all back next season.

Mary Russel, Acheson Ventures, LLC