New Photos Of MAYAN's Build, From 1947

As the years roll by we continue to collect more information about MAYAN's history. A year or so after we took over as caretakers of MAYAN the grandson of the man who built her contacted us with a few bits of information on the boatyard and the Grandfather who'd also helped him build his first boat. Now, Robert Tewes has come back again with some ancient (1947) photos of how they stepped the rig in Belize which are tremendously entertaining. Stacey Tewes is in the crew along with the first owner Paul Allen and Mr. Allen's father. 

Recently launched, preparing to receive spars

Discoveries like this are invaluable and give a very real sense of the conditions under which MAYAN was built. It is also rather amazing that a vessel of MAYAN's size and quality was built in such a small and primitive town. 

Near Belize City, there is a small river, called Haulover Creek. A quick search on Google Earth has revealed that the creek is still there and the boatyard in the photos appears to still be building and repairing boats. 

The first of our collection shows MAYAN riding to an anchor with her stern to the boatyard. She has her boomkin and bowsprit in place and is probably about to receive her spars. 

A few leads indicate MAYAN was built in less than six months. Of course, in those days there were fewer complexities to a yacht like this. A gasoline engine with a simple gravity feed fuel tank, an ice-box that used ice to chill it, oil-fired running lights, and oil-fired interior lamps. The windlass was manually operated and there were no halyard or sheet winches. Today, MAYAN has become much more complex, but we make every effort to disguise that complexity behind her lovely old Honduras mahogany panels. 

Once the hull and spars were complete, MAYAN headed up Haulover Creek under power while her spars were sent overland to meet her at the bridge. Lacking a crane tall enough to step the masts and wishing to avoid building jack-yards to lift the spars, the crew used the bridge to get the spar in place.

In the picture on the left, you can see Paul Allen, who commissioned the build, standing at the helm. His father who helped Mr. Allen fund the project seated on the left in the white hat and an unidentified crewmember standing on her aft deck as they powered up to the bridge.

As they approached Haulover Bridge, they could see one of the masts hanging from the bridge beams. The crew from the boatyard had successfully carried the spar to the bridge and rigged it vertically. Given the weight of the spar, that was quite an accomplishment. 

We know that MAYAN's original foremast rotted out during the time David Crosby owned her and he had a new one built of Douglas Fir. We aren't certain of the history of the mainmast. However, we have determined that it is spruce and that it is hollow. That last fact was a surprise to us all, but it's nice to know it isn't as heavy as some had suspected. 

From the picture below, we surmise that MAYAN was anchored and hauled back to the bridge. She was then probably tied off beneath it and moved about to get her under the spar dangling from above.

We've been involved in stepping spars on old boats and the entire idea of dangling 75' of spar above one's head from a bridge under the steady gaze of kids and other passersby is daunting. 

Of course, we know that these folks knew what they were doing, the spars went in and they headed back down the river to finish the rigging.

With her rig standing and her covers deployed, MAYAN spent her final month being prepared for her passage to New York City. Paul Allen and his grandson, along with four other sailors, would make the trip stopping only in Florida and twice along the east coast to resupply.

When she arrived in New York City she was immediately put up for sale and rapidly sold into the eager market for yachts. After this, we lose track of MAYAN until she turns up in the early 1950s as the yacht of the Bissel family. But that's antoher story.