"Friendship of Salem" Repair Work

Press Release (10/12/2022)

Salem, Mass. - Salem Maritime National Historic Site announces that a contract has been awarded for approximately $1.3 million to repair Friendship of Salem. The work will be performed at the ship's home berth on Derby Wharf in Salem, Massachusetts and was funded through the National Park Service’s Recreation Fee Program.

This contract includes replacing the deck and significant portions of the transom, bulwarks and associated framing. While initially planned for 2020, delays in contracting occurred due to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Currently, the project is anticipated to begin this fall, with work to be completed in the winter of 2023.

Captain Tanya Banks-Christensen, who was recently hired as ship supervisor and captain, said, "We're very excited to get started on this long-awaited and much needed repair project, the first and most integral step to getting Friendship of Salem rigged, sailing and serving the public to the vessel's utmost capacity." Friendship of Salem will continue to be open for limited visitation through October. Any additional open hours will be determined at a later date and announced on the park website and social media.

The replica tall ship Friendship of Salem was designed with the appearance of an original 1797 Salem-built vessel. The keel was laid in Scarano Shipyard in Albany, New York in 1996 and uses modern technology and materials to meet today’s safety and accessibility requirements. Friendship of Salem represents New England’s influential role in the development of global and domestic maritime trade and in the economic and political development of the United States.

In 2021, 181 thousand park visitors spent an estimated $11.8 million in local gateway regions while visiting Salem Maritime National Historic Site. These expenditures supported a total of 147 jobs, $7.2 million in labor income, $11.2 million in value added, and $18.0 million in economic output in local gateway economies surrounding Salem Maritime National Historic Site.

About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America’s 423 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov, and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

 

Current Repair Work

Progress updates for the current repair work on Friendship of Salem will be posted to this website. Check back for new updates.

 

4/16/2023 Update

Contractor James was able to get the main lamination on the starboard quarter badge completed, in addition to getting the majority of the starboard half of the transom closed in.

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4/9/2023 Update

Contractors are at the stage where parts of the transom are going back on. This week, James was able to get most of the structure of the quarter badges back in place, as well as get the first layer of the lower section of the transom glued on.

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4/2/2023 Update

Work continued preparing the transom for putting layers of laminate back on, so contractors mostly focused on that this week. James was also able to remove the outer starboard stanchion and fit a new one in it's place. Barring any surprises, next week should bring the start of adding some transom rather than removing it.

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3/16/2023 Update

Last week James and his team were able to get the inboard starboard transom frame into place. This week, it was glued in and preparations were made to start laminating wood back onto the transom - to create some more structure to hold those big timbers in. They've been working hard at placing new blocking and clearing out old wood so there's a good clean area to start with.

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3/19/2023 Update

This week contractor James was able to get the inboard starboard frame out, and get the new one set into place. So, that's two new transom frames in and a great place to start out next week.

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3/14/2023 Update

An exciting week on the ship repair contract front. Contractor James and company were able to fully remove the outboard starboard transom frame and place the new one in. He also started removing the inboard starboard one, and plans to get that one fully out and replaced next week - as weather conditions allow. On the days that weather has not allowed work on the transom, he has been working on removing the starboard rail cap and otherwise preparing the bulwarks on that side.

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3/5/2023 Update

The contractors worked a lot on making sure things were ready to remove and replace the first of the transom frames. They also worked on making patterns for the starboard cap rail and pulled off some of the ceiling planks below so they could do some frame and hull inspection.

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2/19/2023 Update

More prep work was done on the starboard side and transom. This included some more bracing work to shore up the structure of the ship before any framing is removed. Some bracing was also placed under the deck in the area around the capstan to help reinforce the deck beams there. The park also removed the upper rudder shaft, though not part of the contract, it will get some much maintenance work during this time. Additionally, it's removal made it possible for James to support the cover in a different way that will make work on the transom a little easier.

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2/12/2023 Update

The ship repair contract continues to progress. James has disassembled all of the steering gear and associated hydraulics, and started removing and disassembling various things on the starboard side (gunport doors, sheaves, fuel fills, etc.) Additionally, he was able to get started on removing some of the deteriorated wood along the bulwarks on that side. He is awaiting lumber for the transom frames, so has slowed a little on that, but he was able to set up some bracing this week to prepare for the frame removal. All in all, things are moving along well.

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2/5/2023 Update

Contractor James and company continued exploring and removing damaged parts of the transom, removing/disassembling the steering gear and also started taking off some of the gunport doors on the starboard side.

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1/29/2023 Update

Contract work is moving right along. James and crew continued deconstruction and discovery of the transom. This week, that included taking off the planking, starting on the quarter badges, removing the tiller and tiller box and starting to take apart the rest of the steering gear for maintenance.

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1/22/2023 Update

After full construction of the cover over the entire deck, contractors shifted toward deconstruction work. The trim and decorative parts were removed from the transom, and well as the settees and some interior trim from the aft cabin.

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12/4/2022 Update

The capstan was removed this week with a crane and came out fairly easily. It will now be brought to a subcontractor to get it back into good working order before being put back on the ship. The contractor for the ship repair project is worked on framing a cover for the ship. The cover should be completed in the next couple weeks and will extend over the entire deck, making work possible throughout the winter.