THOMASTON — By mid-summer 2015, Noah and Jane Barnes hope to have the historic schooner Nathaniel Bowditch back in the water, plying Maine's Penobscot Bay with guests aboard once again.

The Barnes's have been owners and operators of the schooner Stephen Taber out of Rockland since Noah's parents retired in 2003. Noah has been sailing aboard the Taber since he was 7 years old, as his parents, Capts. Ken and Ellen Barnes, were at the helm for 25 years before their retirement after the 2003 season.

The Barnes's acquisition of the Nathaniel Bowditch came about at the beginning of August, from an unnamed owner and for an undisclosed price. The schooner had been seized Dec. 23, 2013, by U.S. Marshals, when a civil foreclosure case was filed against its previous owners, Owen and Cathie Dorr. The Dorrs were accused of defaulting on a $375,000 Promissory Note secured through a First Preferred Ship Mortgage of the vessel with The First N.A. bank in 2010. The bank in March 2011 assigned the mortgage to Thomas B. Federle of Yarmouth, and Federle filed a lien against the Nathaniel Bowditch and the Dorrs Nov. 25, 2013.

A public auction of the vessel was held on Valentine's Day 2014, but there were no bidders and the private holder of the bank note retained ownership until its sale to the Barneses.

In July 2013, the Dorrs were still sailing and entertaining passengers, and the 82-foot schooner Nathaniel Bowditch, built in 1922, took first place in the 37th annual Great Schooner Race's Leeward Class for post-World War I vessels.

The Dorrs had owned the schooner since 2003, and as a member of Maine Windjammer Association, it sailed on multi-day excursions in and around the islands of the bay with as many as 24 guests. In an earlier interview, Owen Dorr told PenBayPilot that it had been a financial struggle to keep the boat maintained and operating since 2008, when the economy took a downward dive and affected them in many ways.

They eventually defaulted on a loan for the vessel, and lost ownership.

When it was seized, all of the Bowditch’s equipment was removed, it was dismasted and towed from its berth at Lermond Cove in Rockland to Camden Harbor, where it spent the winter. The schooner is now on land in Thomaston, at Lyman Morse Boatbuilding, on the waterfront under a temporary, wood-heated heavy plastic "building."

This week, the Nathaniel Bowditch is virtually unrecognizable. It's been gutted and stripped, and it's in the process of being renovated, repaired and reconstructed.

"It is a magnificent vessel and we are doing all we can to get it back to its former state," said Noah Barnes. "We are grateful to the Dorrs for their stewardship and also the good work that was done in the past 10 years they had her, keeping her safe and doing the work necessary to get it to where we can now bring her back."

Suffice it to say, Noah is in love with the Nathaniel Bowditch and what it will become. And though its name is masculine, it is and will be nothing short of classically feminine, as so many traditional vessels are revered by seafarers.

"When we get done, she's going to be smoking hot, a heart achingly beautiful vessel," said Barnes. "She's going to be vavoom, and kaboom, not just cute but sexy, but not Audrey Hepburn, more of a classic beauty like Rita Hayworth."

Right now though, the Nathaniel Bowditch is a rough, holey skeleton of its former self. There's a pile of rotted and splintered wood, as well as newer boards, piled up on the ground under the schooner's bow. The frames of the schooner can be seen about midship to the stern, where planking has been pulled off to expose the wood underneath and below deck. Planking has been removed a couple feet down from the rail on both the port and starboard sides, again exposing frames and rusted spikes and hardware that needs to be replaced.

"We're looking forward to saving this vessel, and she needs more work than the Coast Guard was aware of, but it's good our contact at the Coast Guard is a good man to work with," said Barnes.

Barnes is also very complimentary of the crew of shipwrights he currently has on staff. They include Mike Rogers, who is leading the project, Simon Larson, Tim Clark and Gino Scalzo.

Barnes said it is his job to push as hard as they can to get the project done, and that it’s Rogers' job to keep Barnes' feet on the ground.

And Barnes said the knowledge that he gets to work with people he likes is what will keep him going through the winter. He said his summer was spent sailing the Stephen Taber, with no days off, and he anticipates this winter project will allow no days off either.

But it still feels good, he said.

"These guys are the best guys around, the best freelance boat builders around, in my opinion," said Barnes. "There are more out there, but this is what I call a dream team and aside from being good at what they do, they are also people I would voluntarily invite to my wedding reception, guys I enjoy hanging out with and playing music with."

The reconstruction plans call for a lot of repair, but also a redesign below deck. For one thing, Barnes plans to sail with fewer guests — 16 — eight fewer than it used to. That means more space for the guests in larger cabins.

The trips will still be multi-day excursions, but gone will be the tradition of family style buffet dinners that most of the Midcoast's schooners offer. Many guests love the camaraderie and fellowship of that style of dining, but Barnes wants to up the ante.

He said the Bowditch experience is going to be based on amenities and special things, some of which are still being researched and determined.

"Our trips will be more expensive, but we'll be paying closer attention to the finer aspects of what our guests want," said Barnes. "Some of what we are continuing is what we are already doing on the Stephen Taber. We will offer plated meals, incredible food and very careful hosting. Usually breakfast on a schooner is served at 8 a.m., but we want this to be about what the guest wants. How would you like us to make an omelet for you when you wake up, and would you like a smoothie with that? That's where we want to get to."

With 16 passengers instead of 24, Barnes said they have a better chance of achieving more personalized hosting and attention, serving more individually and having the time to put more effort into the small touches that will make the trip worth the price.

As for the interior of the “new” Nathaniel Bowditch, Barnes said they are working with a marine architect, but in truth nobody knows the business better than he and those like him do. So they will count on the marine architect to give them "the lowdown" on what the Coast Guard requirements are for width of bulkheads and hallways between cabins and how big escape hatchways need to be. But the rest will come from their own experiences, keen eyes, dreams and customer feedback, no doubt.

"The design will ultimately be ours," said Barnes. "The Bowditch's interior was really put together in 1972 for sail training, so it needs to be changed to accomplish what I think works best in this industry."

Barnes would not disclose how much the rebuild would cost other than to say the total investment will be "less than $1 million."

"We are not the 1 percent building a schooner at Rockport Marine," said Barnes. "A project like this might very well take millions, $3 million, but we are doing it smarter, better and ourselves."

Barnes said he is grateful to Lyman Morse for giving them the opportunity to work at their yard on the Thomaston waterfront, and with Barnes' own people. He said it's Lyman Morse' business to take work and do it themselves.

"It is how they stay in business," said Barnes. "If we are going to do this work at a shipyard, it would be a lot of money, well into the millions. But we're doing it the Maine way, with our own crew of boat builders and it's great that Lyman Morse gave us an opportunity to use their yard to our rebuild. You can't go far on land with a boat this size, and theirs was the winning offer."

For Drew Lyman, having the Nathaniel Bowditch at his yard and helping others is something that fellow business owners like him can be proud of.

"I've always felt that a big part of being business owners in this area is that we have to encourage and help support everyone in the community," said Lyman. "Noah and the team on Nathaniel Bowditch are undertaking a great project and it is/will be exciting to watch the progress. There is an incredible amount of history around Nathaniel Bowditch, and although we are a very small part of this project it is still an honor to have the boat here at Lyman Morse."

Barnes called what's happening, and how it's all come together, "good mojo." He said that in addition to the crew he has working on the hull of Nathaniel Bowditch, he has three more people at their other shop working on the spars.

"It's good mojo to be keeping 12, 14, 16 people employed all winter on a traditional boat building project. We are keeping the tradition of boatbuilding alive while keeping people employed and it feels really good," said Barnes.

"This is the last big, traditional schooner rebuild since the John F. Leavitt was built in the 1970s at the Newbert & Wallace Shipyard in Thomaston," he said.

The project is not without needs though, in the form of hiring more people to help. Shipwrights and junior shipwrights are urged to apply, as well as people who know something about boats and people who know how to work really hard.

Barnes said to stay on deadline, he'll need some more people on the project, as well as any authentic shipbuilding materials people might have laying around unused.

"Surely everyone has a crazy uncle or a grandfather with blocks or marine hardware in their barn we can use. Give me a call. Take a picture and post it on our rebuild Facebook page. And what we really need is a real ship saw," said Barnes.

As for who will be the captain, and crew, of the Nathaniel Bowditch when it is back on the water, Barnes would only say that yes, he had a captain, and some crew.

He said he has had a great deal of interest expressed by his best past employees on the Stephen Taber, and that he would be thrilled to have them because he knows them and he trained them.

One question that's been swirling around the community since the Dorrs lost the Nathaniel Bowditch is whether or not they will find a way back to it.

The connection between Noah and Jane Barnes and Owen and Cathie Dorr runs, deep, especially for the men. Noah said he looks forward to working with the Dorrs on the project down the road, but nothing has been formalized as of late.

"The way things happened with how they lost the boat, was deeply unfortunate for them and I can't imagine it not being an utterly heartbreaking situation," said Barnes. "The Dorrs have long been friends of ours, back since I was a teenager I have known Owen. They are in our thoughts a lot and we hope that at some point we can work with them more on this project. I look forward to that time, but right now, things are still very raw for them. This has been a public thing for them and they deserve better."

Related stories:

• Schooner Nathaniel Bowditch going to public auction Feb. 14 at Camden's Sharp's Wharf
• No bids for schooner Bowditch
• Mary Day earns Cutty Sark, Windward Class awards in 2013 Great Schooner Race