The Oyster Sloop Christeen reached another milestone in her voyage to the bay. On Sunday, July 4, volunteers gathered around to celebrate the last plank, the shutter plank being placed in the ship's bottom. What is even more marvelous is that the mast for the Christeen is from the Adirondack retreat of East Norwich resident Tom Kearney.

Although Shipwright David Short had a special tree log from New Hampshire, ear-marked to become the mast, in investigating it, he found it fell short of his requirements. He wanted a tree that raised up in the air 50 feet before any branches appeared. Tom Kearney told him there were a few on his upstate property that he thought would be just right.

"I knew we had trees that would fit his rough description. When we found them, I was delighted and Dave was too," said Mr. Kearney.

"We went up to the Adirondacks together and walked through the woods searching for a tree, and marked several as possible. Then we showed them to a logger. He brought in his equipment, and cut down the trees and skidded them out to the road where they loaded them onto a 48 ft. tractor trailer truck for the trip here.

"Just the other day, I peeled them. You have to do it fast so the borer bugs/Pine Bark Beetles don't get into them. You could see they were starting to bore in. They do it in week or two. So a piece has to be peeled right away -that stops them.

"The next procedure in making the mast, is to set them up to cut square, then octagonal and then shave it to make it round. They also taper them. That will be interesting work," he said.

The tree they picked is straight as the proverbial arrow. It had only a few twigs that needed removing, said Mr. Kearney.

They actually brought down a spruce and two white pines. The 50 foot log, cut from the 90 foot tall white pine will be the mast/spar and the other tree will be a spare. That way, since it is such a long trip, there will be another choice if they find a crack, a fault or some decay in the log.

The spruce tree will become the boom. The 35 ft. log will become the horizontal piece that carries the bottom of the sail.

Mr. Kearney started working on the Christeen over a year ago. "I do it when I can. Sometimes I get a phone call that they need help. Other times, I just go down with old clothes and tools and do something I know needs doing.

"The metal detector work I knew. It was tedious, but basically it's done," he said.

The metal detector was used when they were cutting up old logs used for the planking above the water line and for the decking. They spotted old nails and spikes inside the log and cut them out before using the saw mill blades. They lost several blades before they started doing it that way.

"All that yellow pine was huge-used timbers, about 150 years old, purchased from a company in NYC. They salvage the material. They were 26 to 28 feet - long leaf yellow pine that were probably columns holding up a roof. When demolished, they took the timbers and cut them into 4 x 16 x 26/28 ft long pieces," said Mr. Kearney.

The reason they used the old yellow pine is that today, it doesn't grow as big and therefore is not as dense as the older wood. The denser-stronger wood is inside that three inch inner circle, he said. Nowadays, they don't let the trees grow as long (time-wise). Once you cut the old material, it is beautiful and stronger than what you can buy in a lumberyard today, he said.

Below the waterline they used white oak that came from out west. They were 2" x 16" x 30" and made of white oak - new trees.

All the ribs/framing, were made out of local white oak. Last year, he and Clint Smith were going by the Oyster Bay Jewish Center, when they noticed there was a beautiful white oak there. They asked and were able to cut it down.

"Clint talked to a lot of local landscapers and got a lot of material we were able to shape into the ribs of the boat. The planking was steamed in a steam box so they could be put into the shape of the contour of the ship. They were fastened on with spikes," he said.

Christeen Oyster Sloop Preservation Corporation President Clint Smith, is another East Norwich resident, the retired Oyster Bay Harbormaster and a 50-year member of the East Norwich Volunteer Fire Company where he was a president and ex-chief. He and his wife Anne bought the saw mill for the Christeen. "That was when there were no funds at all," he said. "That old saw has done a lot of work. It's still cutting. Friday, I started doing the boom."

Mr. Smith said a marine architect is working on what the sail's dimensions will be.

"We still need money. I want people to come down and see the boat. We are there 9 to 5 daily. If and when we start working on Saturdays, we be open on the weekends," said Mr. Smith.

Tom Kearney said, "It's fun being part of this. I think we are guaranteed a cruise on the boat when it's finished, There is no pay but there are other rewards. Especially when we see that mast sticking up and knowing it came from our property. I'm delighted with that thought," he said.

Mr. Kearney retired from his job with Nassau County where he worked as a civil engineer. One of his largest projects was working on the interior roadways around the Coliseum. His first job was on the survey crew for the Long Beach bridges.

The Christeen is expected to be in the water before the Oyster Festival. Their dream is to have it under full sail and ready to meet the Ernestine when she comes into the harbor on October 16 and 17. If you would like to help the project or donate money, you can call 922-1098 for information.