Steve Spurling
Master Boatbuilder Passes Over the Bar
Steve Spurling, a well-known boatbuilder in Southwest Harbor, passed away March 10, 2019. Laurie Schreiber photo.
Editor’s note: Master boatbuilder and World War II hero Steve Spurling, of Southwest Harbor, died March 10. Born March 11, 1921, he was just 1 ½ hours shy of his 98th birthday. Following is a modified excerpt from a profile written in 2016.
At Jarvis Newman’s shop in Southwest Harbor, a photo of a handsome boat named Maddy Sue, previously Trail Away, hangs on the wall.
It was built by Chester Clement for Captain Francis Spurling. Captain Francis’ son, Steve, is 90-something and lives with his wife Arlene two doors down from Newman’s shop. Steve has been a boat captain and boat builder all his life. He still builds small craft, including Whitehalls and dinghies of his own design, in a shop behind his house.
Inside his shop, there’s the throb of fluorescent bulbs and workshop clutter: piles of sawdust and fastenings; stray drill bits, clamps, lead weights, sandpaper, measuring tapes, hand tools, lumber, and hardware lined up around a snub-nosed pram under construction. It’s his design, based on a small Norwegian boat once used for light fishing. He continues out the back door, past a steambox, to several shelters storing half a dozen finely wrought small craft, brightwork gleaming in the sun, built from cedar on oak, with mahogany and oak trim. Under plastic is Nefertiti, a 1956 Concordia yawl owned by John “Jock” Williams, a nearby boatbuilder. The two have worked on its restoration on-and-off for a couple of decades. The project is on hold, but never fear, Spurling is ready to get back to it. After all, he’s been building boats for “a while,” he says.
Fine joinery and gleaming woodwork were hallmarks of Spurling’s craft. Laurie Schreiber photo.
Make that 80 years. Spurling grew up on Great Cranberry Island. As a young man, he hopped a boat every morning to Southwest Harbor for work at the Southwest Boat Corporation. He recalls building a 90-foot wooden dragger outdoors, enduring snow and rain.
When World War II stormed in, Spurling joined the heavy machine gun section in Company D of the Army’s 351st Infantry Regiment. His section, supporting the assault on Sarti, Italy, came under intense enemy fire, killing the platoon leader and six other members of the company. Spurling assumed command, reorganized the men, and kept them alert and supplied with ammunition. He was awarded a Bronze Star for heroic achievement in action.
“This heroic action by Sergeant Spurling lessened the enemy resistance greatly and inspired his men so that, despite the inclement weather, they exerted their utmost efforts in support of the attack,” reads the citation. “Sergeant Spurling’s brave and fearless actions under fire reflect great credit upon himself and exemplify the high traditions of the United States Army.”
Spurling returned to Southwest Boat for a while. But mainly, for 50 years, he oversaw the fleet of boats belonging to a wealthy Northeast Harbor summer family. Winters, he worked for area boatbuilders, including Williams, where for many years he where he produced fine woodwork finish for the yard’s fiberglass boats.
Spurling recalls the “little bitty” boat that used to carry mail and a few passengers to the Cranberry Isles in the 1930s. The fare was 10 cents. Lobsterboats, open and narrow, were small and vulnerable compared with today’s powerhouses. Winters, the harbors were full of ice.
Spurling has a similar photo of Maddy Sue, but it was snapped during her early days as Trail Away, under his father’s helm. After his father died, Spurling bought Trail Away from his stepmother. When he took the boat captain job, he didn’t need it so he sold it to a summer fellow and didn’t necessarily expect to see it again. He was pleasantly surprised in recent years to discover that yet another owner was restoring his father’s boat to its former glory.