Kaeo Clarke and Carstan Gage officially graduated CBMM’s Shipwright Apprentice Program in a Shipyard ceremony last Monday. – PHOTO BY SHARON THORPE
ST. MICHAELS, MD
The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s Shipyard is pleased to share the graduation of Seip Family Foundation Shipwright Apprentices Kaeo Clarke and Carstan Gage from its state-accredited program.
CBMM celebrated Clarke and Gage with a ceremony in the Shipyard before a crowd of staff, friends, and state officials last week. Both have joined the full-time staff at CBMM as shipwrights.
“Kaeo and Carstan embody the spirit of this program,” Vessel Conservation Manager Sam Hilgartner said. “It’s both earthy and dreamy. It’s monotonous, tedious, and humbling, but also stimulating, uplifting, and gratifying. Kaeo and Carstan have moved through everything that it is, and they’ve come out of the other end of it in good working order, perfectly capable, and with plenty of enthusiasm to keep on going.”
A native of Annapolis, Md., Clarke grew up on the water, including several years living aboard a sailboat while growing up. His father runs the Oak Harbor Marina in Pasadena, Md., and he was working there in 2021, learning the basics of maintenance and rigging on modern metal and fiberglass vessels, when he applied for the apprenticeship in CBMM’s Shipyard to learn the trade of wooden boat building.
“In my interview, I said that I’m much better at moving boats than building them,” Clarke said. “I still don’t consider myself an expert at woodworking or boat building, but I can tell you that I know a whole lot more now than I did when I got here.”
Clarke has had the chance to learn on the job, including stints working on the Maryland Dove build and the current extensive refit of Chesapeake Bay buyboat Winnie Estelle. Early on, an extended stint working exclusively on the historic bugeye Edna Lockwood introduced him to the finer points of repair, and as a skilled painter, his brush work can be found on every vessel in CBMM’s floating fleet.
A recent trip to the Sultana Downrigging Festival brought a reunion with Maryland Dove and a reminder of how far he has come in the trade. He caulked much of the deck and had a large hand in fabricating the sole boards from Douglas fir as he was just getting started.
“It’s an honor to be part of Dove’s story,” Clarke said. “There are a couple portions of that boat I can point at and say, ‘Yeah, I did that.’”
A native of coastal Oregon, Gage made the cross-country move to CBMM in August 2022 with a design degree and experience working as a carpenter but little familiarity with boats.
He quickly made his mark around the Shipyard with his work ethic and enthusiasm for creative problem solving. Along the way, he became more confident in his skills as a shipwright.
“I would say the community is a big part of why I was able to succeed here,” Gage said. “All of the people here are very helpful, and they’ve created an atmosphere where it’s OK to take your time and really learn.
Gage has spent most of his time at CBMM focused on helping to maintain its floating fleet. One of the highlights was getting the historic skipjack Rosie Parks fit for sailing for the first time in several years, which included replacing sections of the sheer clamp, side planking, and deck boards.
Gage was able to sail on Rosie Parks this fall to the skipjack race in Cambridge, Md., and Sultana Downrigging Festival, and he also attended the Deal Island Skipjack Races as part of the crew on the working skipjack H.M. Krentz.
“After all that, I feel confident in saying Rosie is probably the best-looking skipjack on the Bay right now,” Gage said. “I had a big part in that, so that’s a good feeling.”
At the graduation ceremony, Clarke and Gage were honored for their successful completion of the apprenticeship program, which has been state-certified since 2018 and aims to prepare apprentices for an entry level shipwright position. The pair logged the requisite 4,000 hours of hands-on experience, plus additional skill development training, under the direction of CBMM’s staff.
After words from program supporter and CBMM Board Emeritus Tom Seip, Hilgartner, and Shipwright Educator Steve Garrand, the Maryland Department of Labor’s Director of Apprenticeship & Training Chris MacLarion offered his congratulations to the new graduates of a program that is unique in its scope and ambition, not just across the state but nationally.
“This is truly a standalone program,” MacLarion said. “This is the only registered one that I can find on the books anywhere in the country left that’s doing this through the state or federal government, that’s registering apprentices, training them, and graduating them to not only not lose the knowledge and the skills but to carry it down to the next generation.”
As he continues his career in CBMM’s Shipyard, Clarke said MacLarion’s words provided perspective on the program, the work that he’s put into his apprenticeship, and the accomplishment reaching graduation.
“That was really cool to hear,” Clarke said. “I didn’t know we were such rare birds in this program, but I’m happy to have been one.”
CBMM’s Shipwright Apprentice Program will continue to grow its unique impact with the addition of two more Shipwright Apprentices in the new year. Interested candidates can learn more at cbmm.org/Careers.
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