The four-masted schooner NANCY HANKS nearly ready to launch at Thomaston, Maine in 1917

The four-masted schooner NANCY HANKS nearly ready to launch at Thomaston, Maine in 1917

The four-masted schooner NANCY HANKS nearly ready to launch. Stories of black cats, a mutiny and a murder, her captain lost at sea, and stranding on a Florida reef plague this vessel's record. True or not, she lasted only ten years before finally burning up. In 1917 the 4-masted schooner Nancy Hanks, 1162 tons, was built by George Gilchrest in the Dunn and Elliot shipyard on Water Street, Thomaston, Maine. When shipyard owners were not building a ship, they often leased to independent shipbuilders. Gilchrest leased the Dunn and Elliot Yard on Water Street in which to build the Nancy Hanks. Dunn and Elliot did not renew his lease in 1918 because they were scheduled to build the schooner Margaret Throop, so Gilchrist secured the former O'Brien shipyard in which to build the steamer Utoka for the United States Shipping Board.