Last spring Portland Harbor Museum returned to its roots when a permanent exhibition dedicated to the Snow Squall Project, supported by Albert H. Gordon and designed by Bob Ware, was completed after years of effort. This project had been the reason for our existence when the museum began in 1985.

In 1979 journalist/photographer Nicholas Dean discovered the remains of the last American clipper ship in Port Stanley, Falkland Islands and his dream to return Snow Squall to Portland Harbor where she had been launched in 1851 was realized through the sponsorship of Mr. Gordon and Harvard's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. Under the supervision of archaeologists Dr. E. Fred Yalouris and Dr. David Switzer and Betty Siefert, conservator, several expeditions were made to organize Snow Squall's recovery and return her to South Portland. A 35-ft. section of her bow was placed in a steel cradle in preparation for her journey home in 1986.

From 1987 to 1995 museum staff worked to preserve and document this section of the ship and artifacts found in her hold. Her documentation was accomplished through a grant from the Historic American Building Survey/Historic American Engineering Record and the resulting thousands of measurements and drawings are now in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress.

With the project's conclusion in 1995, Snow Squall set out on her final journey when a 17 ft. section of her bow was transported to Old Town to be dried in a lumber kiln. It was eventually delivered to its final destination at Maine Maritime Museum in Bath while two other sections were shipped to San Francisco and New York, both former ports of call for the Snow Squall. Three major pieces were retained by Portland Harbor Museum, however, making possible for us to illustrate construction methods of these graceful greyhounds of the sea.

With Mr. Gordon's blessing, Portland Harbor Museum strived to make these sections the centerpiece of a permanent exhibit telling Snow Squall's story and describing 19 century wooden ship building. Bob Ware designed a platform, unveiled this year, which put these sections - the deck hook, waterway and J-Section - upright in their proper position as part of the hull. The J-Section and the waterway show the inside and outside planking, the ribs, knees and a good example of a scarf (a way to join large timbers to make them as strong as a single piece of timber). The Deck Hook illustrates the extreme angle and massiveness of the bow, which had to be rugged enough to take the tremendous strain of being sailed very fast into bad weather.

It was a nerve wracking process to lift these enormous sections into place using rigging designed by Bob Ware, as their individual pieces were afloat with the bolts long gone. For Bob the project had come full circle, as he had designed and built Snow Squall's steel frame used in Port Stanley, he had cut up the bow during her disposition and now he has completed the display of the retained sections of the ship. Along with the platform, the gallery has new panels on which to display materials which had been in storage. The ships mast-cap, bottles found in the hold, and, most importantly, the architectural drawings are finally on view.

The Snow Squall Project supplied the foundation upon which to build the present mission of the museum and the research done by Nick Dean and others was the basis for our decision to tell the history of Portland Harbor. The icing on the cake has been a special visit this past fall by Mr. Gordon, who at age 99 traveled from New York to see the new Gordon Gallery. When we thanked him for making such an effort, he said it was a joy. I think that describes how we all feel. 

Photos top to bottom:       Portland Harbor Museum,  Artifacts brought up from the hold of the Snow Squall, The Snow Sqall's "J-Section" is shown positioned as it was when it was part of the ship,  The Snow Squall Project has taught us much about 19th century wooden ship building techniques and methods, A tea chest brought up from the hold of the 
Snow Squall  ,,,Bob Bent photos,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,