Her steel hull was towed to the Amsterdam Maritime Museum in December of 1998 where the public will be able to view subsequent construction such as stepping of masts and rigging. She will be ready to sail this July. While under construction, she has been the site of a municipal back to work job creation scheme for the unemployed. Some of these newly-trained employees will stay with the ship. T he site is full of pictures of the construction, accessible through a forward and backward time line.
Load time is quite fast.
The English language option is handy. Altogether an exciting site chronicling a great idea. Welch's page is dedicated to the sailing exploits of Gloucester fishing Captain Marty Welch, presumably a relative. Captain Welch's claim to fame is that in 1920 he answered the Canadian challenge to the first International Fisherman's Schooner Race in a boat he had never sailed before, and won two out of three races. There may be more authoritative accounts of the famous races but none more charmingly personal.