Deep Cove Marine Services embodies The Boat School legacy
Throughout Maine’s history, marine trades occupations have been an economic lifeline for coastal and inland waterways communities. The industry is Maine’s 3rd-largest employer, and the demand for skilled workers in boatbuilding, marine systems, and marine finishing outpaces availability.
A prime example of the impact of The Boat School’s role in marine trades education exists right here in Eastport. Matt Lacasse was a Calais High School senior when he took a drive down Route 1 and across the causeway to Eastport. He wanted to see the boatbuilding program in action. Seeking a trade that would free him from the ordinary, Matt found a shop full of students at work. He liked what he saw and enrolled in the 2-year boatbuilding technology program.
Matt spent the next 2 years in the shops and classrooms, learning wooden and composite boatbuilding with Dean Pike, a ’80 alumnus, manual and computer-aided drafting with Bret Blanchard, a ’79 alumnus, and marine systems with Rusty Duym, former harbormaster in Northeast Harbor. After graduating in 2004, Matt went to work at Moose Island Marine’s boatyard and did a stint at Eastport’s Estes Head port facility and Breakwater Terminal, then returned as manager of Moose Island Marine. When the opportunity arose to take over the business, Matt was ready for the role of proprietor of the boatyard and marina operation rebranded as Deep Cove Marine Services.
In a business community immersed in the tourism trades and port activities, Deep Cove Marine Services stands out as a thriving, full-service boatyard with 10 full-time, year-round trades professionals. DCMS provides the only haul out/ launch services within a 100-mile radius that is capable of handling large commercial fishing and aquaculture boats, U.S. Coast Guard vessels, pleasure yachts, recreational boats, and whale watching tour boats. The 5-acre boatyard handles about 100 boat moves annually, with inside and outside storage for 150. Matt’s shops buzz with maintenance and repair jobs. He also volunteers as steward of the Friends of The Boat School’s property and serves on our Advisory Council.
Photo by Rafi Hopkins
DCMS brings immeasurable economic benefit to the Eastport area. Hidden down the Deep Cove Road, a young man who had his eyes on the future is now hard at work keeping our working waterfront economy afloat, a testament to the values and skills that Friends of The Boat School seeks to revive.
“Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing,
Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness;
So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another,
Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.”
– “The Theologian’s Tale,” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
In this iteration of The Scuttlebutt, we pay homage to the Jonesport Shipyard, in particular the Sune Noreen family. Down another long and winding road to Moosabec Reach, a boatyard family dedicated their lives to those ships that pass in the night.
Because they feared the shipyard falling to a fate similar to Osmond Beal’s boatyard, which was sold and then gated off, the Noreens repeatedly stalled their retirement. Now, with the shipyard recently handed off to the indefatigable Jon Johansen and his wife Ann, the Noreens’ life work and a working waterfront property will be preserved. Congratulations to all!
Photo by Laurie Schreiber, courtesy Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors
The Friends of The Boat School Board of Directors welcomes new board member George “Buster” Townsend to our crew. Buster, a local like the rest of the board, is a former Maine State House representative who led the Eastport Estes Head port development effort. He also brings extensive knowledge to our campus redevelopment project as one of its former facilities managers.
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This past fall we developed a snapshot of our redevelopment plan, available here. Our first task is mitigation of hazardous materials, which is now underway thanks to a $675,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfields Cleanup Program made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Campbell Environmental Group of Falmouth will oversee our project. A key component of this project is community relations. University of Connecticut’s Technical Assistance Brownfields (TAB) team will be helping us inform the community about our redevelopment plan and why brownfields mitigation is key to our success. To this end, a community gathering is planned for Thursday evening, August 22, in the Welcome Center at Eastport’s breakwater. A major accomplishment for a small volunteer board with no paid staff, this pending redevelopment is testament to our belief in our mission to “Bring back The Boat School” and the dedication by our board members that rules the day.