The work on the Christeen Oyster Sloop is one-third complete and the funding for the restoration is half way there. It has taken from total 10,000 to 12,000 man hours to restore the ship. The entire project will hopefully be complete in time for the 1999 Oyster Festival.

David Short, the shipwright in charge of the restoration of the Christeen said many of the volunteers are former Grumann engineers. "They think if they can put a man on the moon they can build a ship," he said.

Mr. Short said, "A very interesting part of the project - besides the commitment of the volunteers - is that the ship is largely rebuilt of timber harvested in Oyster Bay, Bethpage and Plainview. Those logs were sawn on site and turned into ship building material on a day to day basis. The patterns for the ribs were all made from the existing pieces and cut out of oak stock.

When the Chelsea parking lot project becomes a reality, they are slated to get a few oaks, he said.

"I don't think we paid for any wood stock until Dec. 3, when the deck plank stock was sawn in Virginia." Most of the boat is made of greenwood, something that was probably true of the original boat, said Mr. Short. The deck planking had to be seasoned lumber. Those planks have to fit perfectly or there could be a leaky deck, something no one wants, he said. It takes one year to season one inch of lumber. The ribs are three inches square and the planking is three inches wide and two inches thick. They will be made of Long Leaf Yellow Pine.

The Christeen Oyster Sloop Preservation Corporation was lucky to find Long Leaf yellow pine from a company in Brooklyn that salvages and recycles wood. The piece they got is approximately as old as the original timbers. It is a heavy sap kind of wood. It was cut down and steam bent to form the sheer clamps. They are an inside structural planking for the deck.

While visiting there, Mr. Short pointed out sap that was forced out in the bending process.

(It is a curved piece of wood bolted in place inside the ribs, creating a lip on which the deck planks can rest.)

The wood was also used to form the centerboard.

For the mast, Mr. Short is looking for a "real nice white pine."

He said the ship has had a lot of work done on it. There were severe levels of deterioration while at the same time it had its original construction which has the needed details for a faithful reconstruction.

Mr. Short said the most rigorous part of the project has been done - stripping down the vessel of older additions.

With that done he could see that gravity took down the back end of the ship which he then raised. It has been a process of discovery.

The framing timbers are fresh timbers. The ribs were cut out of 3" thick whole oak sawed on a donated band saw. The frames were assembled by Mr. Short and volunteers.

"When completed I believe the Christeen will be an excellent vehicle to promote boat building craftsmanship and waterfront trades. It will expose children and the rest of visitors to the environment that supports Flower's oysters." Oyster Bay Harbor is the only place on the north shore of Long Island where shellfish are still harvested.

Mr. Short encouraged people to come down and visit the Christeen and find out firsthand how things are going. "Keep track. It's an important thing happening here," he said.

As for his next project, it could be working on the Regina Maris now home ported in Glen Cove. Mr. Short said "If they find the money, I'll stick around. I'm always interested. It's all I can do," he quipped. He attended the University of Connecticut where he studied agriculture but then dropped out to apprentice with ship builders in Maine. "I still want to be a farmer," he said.

His goal is to have the Christeen finished in time for the 1999 Oyster Festival. "We can do it and will do it," he said.

Once the ribs are in place and the sheer clamps added then comes the planking - "The rest comes easily - when the people turn out to lend a hand."

Mr. Short knows the business. He is the program director of the International Yacht Building School in Rhode Island.

"We built it from the ground up."

He said the site wasn't unlike Building "J" that the Town of Oyster Bay will be renovating to create the wooden boat restoration shop for the Western Waterfront.

"We took a 1902 power generation plant and turned it into a state-of-the-art yacht restoration facility that houses an apprentice school program and a commercial yacht restoration project in Newport, Rhode Island.

He saw his current job in a publication of National Fisherman. "We got David's name and almost immediately, after hearing about the project, he was interested," said Dave Relyea of Frank M. Flower & Sons, Inc. who is on the board of the COSFC.

The Christeen still needs more funding. In charge is Charlie Hatton, Resource Campaign Chairman. He said, "The Christeen Oyster Sloop is going to be the centerpiece of the Western Waterfront." The ship will be used for educational programs on the environment, local history and maritime arts.

It will be used for schools, elderhostel programs and private parties. "It will bring jobs to Oyster Bay in the form of shipwrights and apprentices. They need lunches and that means using local businesses," said Mr. Hatton.

The Christeen is a model - down the road - of what can be done to restore wooden ships. Others can be brought to the waterfront for restoration. The Regina Maris, now in Glen Cove, is a candidate for restoration. They have made inquiries about moving the Regina Maris to the Jakobson Shipyard.

Dave Short, is on the committee for the restoration of the Regina Maris. "I'm working with them to develop a plan, but I plan to see this through before I get involved with anything else," he said. He wants to see the Christeen finished.

The Christeen is also a natural for historical tourism, said Mr. Hatton, who is also on the board of the Friends of Raynham Hall Museum. The 38 foot ship was commissioned by a Centre Island captain. It was built in 1883 in Hempstead Harbor. It sailed across to Greenwich, Connecticut; worked on the Jersey shore; was a private yacht; was a live-aboard and finally, was owned by a New London, Connecticut educational foundation and brought to Oyster Bay where it was sold for one dollar. There is a lot of history under her decks.

Mr. Hatton sees the Christeen as part of a transportation hub that is forming in Oyster Bay with Locomotive #35; what may be a railroad museum and Raynham Hall Museum. The house was the home of Solomon Townsend, a successful merchant whose tall ships were harbored in Oyster Bay.

He said the Christeen will be a floating advertisement for Oyster Bay. It's hail-port is Oyster Bay. It will be in the Tall Ship events of Sail 2000.

It will be able to participate in traditional boat races too, said Mr. Hatton.

In December Mr. Hatton said the Christeen received $14,000 from a total of 25 people; four corporations donated $10,000 and it has two public grants of $50,000 each. When they totaled up at the end of the year, there were 75 individual donors. "No one big guy is coming in to solve the finances. It is being built by the whole community. It is a community based project," he said.

Money was also earned by selling boats donated to the Christeen Oyster Sloop Preservation Corporation. "We are over half way to financial completion," said Mr. Hatton.

Volunteers help that happen. Mr. Short keeps a log of the volunteers hours: an hour of their work is worth $11 in matching funds, which is the way the Christeen receives its public grant money.

Dave Short called the Christeen a vessel that has come home to Oyster Bay. It is representative of the oyster fishing that has taken place in the harbor. "It is a modest little project with a large amount of home grown ties. It was probably in the worst shape I've seen."

In his restoration he said they retained the original structure - the form of the vessel. The end product will be an accurate and faithful representation of the original vessel. "A national landmark, it deserves respect."