ROCKLAND — Tucked away in a small workshop on Rockland Harbor’s North End, a scruffy part of town where the marine trades and industry intersect, and noisy ospreys nest atop rusty poles, the little wooden sloop Wren is undergoing a transformation, a Cinderella tale that will culminate this week with her relaunch into Penobscot Bay. 

For the last six months, this Herreshoff 12½ day sailor sat on a boat cradle inside Cody Smith’s workshop, surrounded by tools, ladders and an armchair covered with boatbuilding supplies. She was carried there on a cold day last February on the back of Steve Laite’s trailer, after being transported to the mainland in 2019 from a North Haven boat shed.

That’s where Wren’s owner, Lisa Morgan, first spotted her, a neglected hull with a “Herreshoff for free” sign unceremoniously hanging off her side.

“Why not,” thought Morgan. No one likes to see a Herreshoff languishing, and to Morgan, an artist who works with her hands every chance she gets, the opportunity to learn how to restore a wooden craft ignited her imagination.

While a sailor, Morgan is not a boatbuilder. She put the word out and found Cody Smith, a young master builder on the rise. (He more modestly refers to his training as hawsepiping – learning on the job).

“It was in terrible shape,” said Smith, when he first laid eyes on the boat. 

The frames were cracked and the fasteners gone. Peeling paint and varnish hung from her sides, and planks were rotting.

Morgan asked Smith to help her take on the project, and he did, tackling it with gusto. He obtained plans of another Herreshoff, tacking them up on the shop wall for reference, as he probed and calculated how to make repairs on a boat that had been built by masterful Rhode Island boatbuilders at the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company generations ago.

Meanwhile, Morgan began prepping Wren, sanding, caulking and painting. She would be spotted more than once engrossed in thought, standing in the paint aisle at Hamilton Marine, poring over the back of cans and searching for the perfect match.

The Herreshoff 12½ has been a longtime favorite sailboat acquired by yacht clubs throughout New England for summer sailing lessons and races. Nathanael Herreshoff  designed the 12½ originally in 1914, and the lineage remains in production long after his death. Read a short history here: H Class Association.  The plaque on Wren reads 2028, Bristol, Rhode Island.

“All told, 364 12½s were built by the Herreshoff Mfg. Co.,” according to the Association. “Mr. Herreshoff died in 1938. Starting before his death and continuing after, manufacturing of the 12½  was carried on by the experienced, well-trained employees of the Herreshoff Mfg. Co. until 1943. Following the closing of production at the Herreshoff Mfg. Co., the Quincy Adams Yacht Yard was licensed by Herreshoff Mfg. Co. to build the design. Quincy Adams used the Herreshoff builder’s plate, and built 51 hulls from 1943 through 1948. And finally, in 1947, Cape Cod Shipbuilding acquired the rights to the design, and they built about 35 wooden hulls between 1948 and 1950.”

Wren was originally bought by a North Haven family in the 1940s, and then sold in 1963 to a Vinalhaven family, who sailed her for almost another 50 years. Then, Morgan, who always dreamed of having a Herreshoff 12½, became her steward. But first, there was work to do, and with this project. every detail matters.

Morgan stumbled on a nautical antiques store just up the hill in Rockland, and found a bronze cleat for Wren’s deck.

“It’s the little finishing touches,” she smiled.

“I’ve learned a lot working with Cody,” she said. “About suitable wood, white oak for the frames, locust for the floors and the mahogany.”

Smith is captivated by the boat’s design and engineering, the elegant curve of the sheer strake, and the reverse curve where the hull meets the keel. By the second week of September, he and Morgan had packed the hull with wet towels, in advance of Wren’s relaunch.

“We’re maintaining a higher ambient moisture temperature,” said Smith.

Morgan is grateful for the support of family, friends and the boat community, especially the knowledgeable people who work at the North End, who offered resources and wisdom.

“Just being down here in a community of wooden boats is wonderful,” she said. “There are so many wonderful people in the boatbuilding trade.”

Morgan and Smith plan to launch Wren Thursday, Sept. 15, at 3 p.m., with the help of Ed Hurlburt, who will load Wren onto his trailer, and take her to Rockport Harbor to meet the high tide.

If all goes well, Wren will be tied up at the dock for a few days, and buoyant.

“Hopefully, she won’t take on too much water,” said Morgan. 

Still, Wren is a Herreshoff, and there is a rich heritage of quality and beauty to keep her afloat. Plus, she has had six months of careful tending, and loving restoration. It will be a glorious launching. All are welcome to attend.

Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657