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Photo Josephine Del Deo
Flyer Santos working on the bowsprit of the Rose Dorothea. |
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Photo Melora B. North
One-half scale model of the Rose Dorothea, winner of the Lipton Cup in 1907. |
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Building of Rose Dorothea remembered in photos
By Melora B. North
Banner Staff
Back in 1907 Provincetown sea captain Marion Perry, a fisherman, was getting hounded by his wife, Rose Dorothea, to get on board and take part in a fishermen’s sailing race running from Boston to Gloucester and back. It seems that his wife wanted to get her hands on the rather impressively large silver loving cup — now on display in the lobby of the Provincetown Public Library — being offered up to the winner by Sir Thomas Lipton, with a purported value of $5,000. It would appear she had fine taste, high aspirations and a winsome way — Perry ended up signing on for the race and winning, quite by chance.
The boats were on the last leg of the race and the Rose Dorothea, named for Perry’s wife, was in a winning pattern when suddenly his “toothpick” of a mast split and broke. Greatly angered, the captain cried they must head back home, a decision that proved to be the winning choice, for it was at that juncture that the winds shifted and his competitor was taken off course with her full sails that ate up the wind and blew her hither and yon. Disabled but still underway, the Rose Dorothea limped into port where Perry was awarded the cup and feted by his proud wife and friends.
A grand story to be sure, it was probably the drama and intrigue that captured the imagination of Capt. Francis “Flyer” Santos, a shipbuilder, who decided to build a one-half scale model of the boat now installed in the library where all are invited to view the 66.5-foot schooner in all her glory. His vision, a community gift built with blood, sweat and tears, is a tribute to Perry and all the brave fishermen and sailors who have taken on the sea and won her respect with their bravery and guile.
In honor of Santos’s efforts, the Rose Dorothea will be a centerpiece for Friday’s “Library Gems! Books & Jewelry Sale — Benefit Born to Read Program” being held from 1 to 5 p.m. when all are invited to purchase jewelry and books. During the afternoon there will be tours of the library at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m., as well as an informal discussion and a Q&A on the model at 2:30 p.m. A highlight of the afternoon will be a special opening at 1:30 p.m. for a new permanent exhibition of original large photographs taken by Provincetown resident and historian Josephine Del Deo, who documented the building of the model from 1977 to 1986 in print.
With nine prints in all, the photographs are all described by Del Deo who identifies the individuals portrayed on the walls and gives brief synopses of what is portrayed in the images.
Climbing the stairs from the main floor of the library to the second level, one can view the images that are big as life. Well lit by both gallery lights and the natural sunshine that streams through the windows, viewers can get up close to the black-and-white and color photographs that line the stairwell, making the climb a gradual and pleasant historic exercise.
In one colored print, in fact the first at the base of the stairs, a handsome, middle-aged Santos with graying temples and kind eyes begins construction of the Rose Dorothea in 1977. Dressed in a plaid shirt, overalls and a fishing cap, there is no mistaking the master boat builder he was.
A black-and-white image a few steps up documents 1978 when volunteer Ed Carlson took on the task of working on the planking, hammer in hand and a determined bearing. The photographer has even captured the initials of other volunteers carved into the grain of the wood.
Who were those other men? Students from Cape Cod Regional Technical High School were called upon to assist in Santos’s dream in 1984 when they built the dorys that flank the deck. In this photo the photographer has captured an image that shows the model with bowsprit in place amidst a backdrop of muted light in sunset colors.
A 1979 photograph portrays Santos constructing the bowsprit which was made from seasoned lumber scavenged from the Provincetown Library. A black and white, the image has a free feeling made possible by a background of generous proportion.
Santos and a young helper named David Ditacchio work together in Santos’s workshop where wood is piled high around the mast they are crafting in a photograph taken in 1984.
A particularly dramatic black-and-white image was taken in 1986 when Santos, Ditacchio and Richard Meads were stepping the mainmast in a precise measure, inch by inch, with an onlooker standing nearby in the library space.
Volunteer Ian Tsukroff adjusts the rigging in 1986, the black-and-white photograph so detailed you can see the braiding of the lines, even the hairs on Tsukroff’s legs clad in frayed jean shorts, the threads little coils of texture.
Master rigger Frank James and Santos make fast the mainsail to the main boom in a 1986 image that is so precise in hue the viewer might want to take out their shades to ward off the intense glow the sun is throwing as it bounces off the mast and trim.
The final image at the top of the stairs is a black and white of Meads standing by the mainmast after the ceremony to celebrate its hoisting in 1986.
All the images by Del Deo are bold statements and testimonies to the efforts that went into creating the half-model Rose Dorothea, which stands so impressively on the second floor in the library where the masts are so tall the ceiling had to be punched out to accommodate Santos’s dream — a cosmic joke with a twist, since the reason the schooner is there is because the mast broke and fell down.
mnorth@provincetownbanner.com
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Nov 27th, 2008