A. J. Meerwald

The "A. J. Meerwald" is a Deleware Bay Oyster Schooner. She was launched in 1928, to take on the task of dredging the bays floors for oyster like that of the Skipjack. Upon, the decline of the oysters, she was outfitted as a clam dredger, and after years of hard service, was finally added to the list of historic landmarks and eventually labeled as Deleware's tall ship. She continues her service under the Bayshore Discovery Project, an organization, whose goal it is to educate people on taking care of the the Bay environment.

This bottle has been sold at Skipjack Marine Gallery in Portsmouth, Virginia. Check their website for new SIBs at: http://www.skipjackmarinegallery.com

In Construction:

Her hull is carved from bass wood, likewise the hatches and cabins. The rig is stained bamboo scewers, turned and sanded to size. She is complete with nearly all her rigging lines in exception of the halyards, which become too bulky at the mast base.

Ready for the Bottle:

The A J Meerwald is depicted under full sail. She has all her details uncluding the three different colored stripes running the length of the hull. The captains wheel is a watch gear and the turnbuckles are tiny watch hands.
The green trailing boards on the bow display the extremely tiny and hardly visible handpainted name, though slightly hard to decipher. Likewise, the stern has the green banner board with the name also displayed.

Going in the Bottle:

She was used as a demonstration boat at the World Expo. Here you can see me working on curling the sails around the hull and pushing it in. The main sail was rather large and I had to remove it from between the lazy jacks to allow it to curl correctly...this is the advantage to working with a gaff rigged sail.

To Right, see how tight it had to be rolled up to enter the bottle. To other bottlers out there, I have something you may want to note. When working with an upright bottle, always put it in bow first! This way, the boat acts as it should hinged. It allows you to hold the mast while the hull unfolds itself downwards.
I have had the misfortune in the past to put one in stern first and was unable to lift the mast due to the shape of the bottle I could not flip the boat around and upright. Luckily I was able to remove it and try again!

Complete...Almost:

I'm saying almost complete, because I'm trying to decide on whether I should add birds into the bottle. I think it would be a nice touch.

Ship in Bottle - A J Meerwald, inside a beautiful and clear decanter.