Sandy Bay Historical Society

Presentation - May 12, 2026

Boat Building in Rockport and Waddell’s Boat Yard

Tuesday, May 12, 2026 @ 7:00 PM at the Rockport Public Library

The program is about Dave Waddell and boat building in Rockport from around 1900-1950. Rockport, mainly the Waddell yard, launched over 50 vessels during that time that made it into the List of Merchant Vessels of the United States published annually by the federal government. One of Waddell's builds survives today as Surprise in the Maine tourist fleet. Another, Blanche Ring, although short lived, was the first of what would become a major change in the design of the Gloucester fishing fleet.

Presented by: Charley Seavey
Charley Seavey moved to Rockport as a wee lad in 1947. After graduating from UMass he went on a 50 year walkabout and finally returned to Rockport in 2018. Since then he's been active in town affairs, including election to the Housing Authority. He spent six years as a volunteer at the Essex Shipbuilding Museum, where, among other things he did major revisions and additions to the museum's List of Vessels built in Essex https://www.essexshipbuilding.org/vessel-list. This presentation grew out of a desire to have a similar list for Rockport.