“As far as I know, most of the swampbottoms that were built, were built in Epworth. There were a couple of fellows down there: Ren Roberts was one man...”

Although Andrew (Andy) Riggs grew up around boats, he didn't start building any until the age of 73. Born in Port au Bras on the Burin Peninsula in 1941, Andy worked as a welder at the Marystown Shipyard. In 2005, he moved…

“I was only about fifteen, I’d say, when I built the first dory with my father,” said Sam King. His father, Gabriel, was a carpenter in North Creston and built and repaired dories for others. “We never had it built before a fella wanted to buy it,” he said…

Weather lore in coastal Newfoundland, has always been a valuable part of everyday life for fishermen eking out a living on the ocean. A determining factor for safe voyages, understanding the various indicators of weather was…

Robert Boyd Coleridge was born February 28, 1928 in Trinity, Newfoundland. He learned how to build boats from his grandfather, George Henry Christian, who repaired schooners for Ryan Brothers Limited. Boyd built at least seven boats over his lifetime…

Built in 1989 by Calvie Meadus, fisherman and boat builder from St. Jones Within, Trinity Bay, this motorboat measures 19’6” long and just over 6’ beam. “She is quite substantial for a motorboat her length with big flaring on her bows and…”

“You see, to we, a boat is only a boat. That’s all. It’s just nuttin’” Lance Short told us over tea and desserts served by his wife Pat. It was a chilly, damp October day and the crackle of the fire…

Locally known as a “bully boat,” this style of boat was common from Smith Sound to Trinity Bight for use with handline and trawl into the 1970s. Built in Ireland’s Eye, New Bonaventure and elsewhere in this area, these boats were distinguishable by…

Born 1884 in Garnish Newfoundland, Stephen Leonard Grandy sparked a longstanding family preoccupation with dory construction which began with his employment with G & A Buffet Ltd., a company selling dories along the south coast of the Island. Stephen studied the design…

Henry Vokey was born with boat building in his blood; His uncles and grandfather before him were boat builders. Henry Was born in 1929 to parents Joseph William and Mary Vokey and grew up in Little Harbour, located in Trinity Bay, Newfoundland. As a boy…

When Calvie was fifteen, he used this three piece mould method to build his first boat. The day he had her out on the water for the first time, someone came along and wanted to purchase her. “There was an old fella down there, Uncle Lige Price…”

Built over winter 2011-2012, her knees were taken from a juniper (tamarack) tree that was uprooted during Hurricane Igor. All the wood for this rodney was harvested…

Deer Island was once a fishing community located on the north side of Bonavista Bay. Labeled “Popplestone Island” on modern navigational charts, Deer Island was home to seventeen families before it was resettled between 1952 and…