“THE DOVE”
The Dove is an accurate recreation of the ship that brought the first settlers to Maryland in the 17th century. It is a truly worthwhile experience to view this historic ship. It is being brought to Salisbury through a joint venture of the Nabb Center and the Wicomico Historical Society. It will be here from September 15-18, with the 15th & 16th being reserved for tours by the school children in the County. The public is invited to tour the ship from 5:30-7 on Third Friday or on either Saturday or Sunday. Tours are free. The ship will dock in the Wicomico River next to Brew River Pub.
The Dove is permanently docked at St. Mary’s City across the Bay. It is owned by the state of Maryland as a learning experience for anyone viewing it. The trip to Salisbury is the only time the Dove will be away from St. Mary’s during 2011. The crew dresses in period clothing and gives knowledgeable answers to the questions asked by visitors to the ship.
A lot of replica ships are not suitable for sailing, but the Dove is capable of putting out to sea just as the original Dove was. There were two ships that originally came to Maryland with our state’s first settlers. The other ship was the Ark. It was about 10 times as large as the Dove and carried all the settlers. The Dove is listed at 42 tons. The Ark was about 400 tons. The Dove was used for carrying supplies. It went back to England and returned with more supplies after the initial crossing. To view this 76 foot ship and realize that it came across the Atlantic is really mind boggling. It is only 17 feet wide and needs only 7 feet of water under it to stay afloat.
What a lot of people don’t know is that most of the larger ships of the era carried smaller boats with them. This was to explore unknown waters for depth. They would take “soundings”, which is a rope dropped into the water to check for depth. It would not be a good situation for them to blindly sail one of the larger ships somewhere and get stuck. Remember, there was no AAA in those days.
The Dove is so authentic in its construction that it has absolutely no electricity on board. On this trip, they will be gone for 9 days. Cooler chests with ice are the only means the crew has for keeping any food. They have installed a motor to travel because they are on a schedule and can’t always wait for the wind to power them. Also, sailing up the Wicomico would be quite a challenge. The builder, Jim Richardson, built the ship in Cambridge. It is as authentic as any ship of the era you will ever see. The original ship sank in the Atlantic Ocean on one of its trips to or from England.
The ship is available for free tours on Saturday and Sunday, September 17th and 18th for the general public to get a chance to visit this historic ship. The hours are from 10-5. School children from Wicomico County fourth and fifth grades were given special tours on Thursday and Friday. I hope everyone takes advantage of this historic opportunity.
George, thank you for the information about this ship. A friend of mine took me to Riverside Drive to view the ship. He made the comment, "Can you imagine how it was to travel the ocean on this little ship?" So now I understand from your information that the Dove was not designed for people but for supplies, and that the settlers all came on the Ark. Thank you for the clarification.
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