Marco Polo Project

KATE BRAYDON/TELEGRAPH -JOURNAL Barry Ogden, centre, Bob Coes, left, project manager and volunteer Wayne MacEachern inside the Marco Polo.

Iconic ship will dock at Harbour Station next month
Theatre Marco Polo will be the focal point of musical

JON MACNEILL
TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL
AUG 26/10

    A replica of the world's fastest tall ship in her day is on schedule to dock at Harbour Station next month, said the president of the Marco Polo Project.
   Barry Ogden, a community activist who spearheaded the project more than two decades ago, said the Marco Polo Barry Ogden has been working on the Marco Polo project for more than 24 years. Original vessel was 270 feet long, 180 feet high replica will be transported to the arena via Harbour Bridge in the coming weeks. Ogden said plans to carry the vessel by barge across the water were nixed because engineers decided that method was more likely to damage her.
    Instead, Lenron Inc. will drive the scaled-down ship - which will stand 65 feet high and measure 90 feet long with the bow spread and masts - on a flatbed trailer.
   Lenron is a Saint John-based company that specializes in hauling over-sized loads. Ogden noted the Saint John Iron Workers will also help with the transfer.
   Ogden said the exact date of transport hasn't been finalized yet but noted it would arrive at Harbout Station before Oct. 23.
   That's the date the Saint John Theatre Company, in partnership with the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra and the Saint John High School concert choir, will perform Marco Polo: The Musical on the arena's ground floor.
   Two shows will be held for an audience of 4,000 people and the Marco Polo replica will be the focal point of the set.
   "People are going to be absolutely amazed to see a tall ship inside Harbour Station," Ogden said, adding the event should draw national and international media attention to Saint John.
   He also expects the vessel will turn some heads as it makes its way from the west side shed where it was built to the arena.
   Ogden said only the hull of the replica will be carted across the bridge because the Saint John Theatre Company is designing its own bow spread and mast especially for the show.
   The ship's three permanent masts and bow spread haven't been built yet.
   When Ogden started this project 24 years ago, the plan was to build an exact replica that wouldn't sail. Ten years of research ensued whereby shipbuilders and engineers explored design options and decided it wasn't practical to build scale replica.
   The original Marco Polo - launched from Saint John in 1851 - was 270 feet long and 180 feet high. A ship that size would stretch 15 feet above City Hall, Ogden said, possibly making it difficult to find her a final resting place.

   With some two months of finishing touches left on the ship, Ogden said the Marco Polo still hasn't got a permanent home.
   She won't be docked in the harbour be cause maintenance costs would be too high, he said.
    "Her final location is being worked on right now," Ogden said. "It will be on land, and we're very open as to where that could be."
    After the musical, the boat will be stored for the winter and Ogden expects to find her a home by the time the project enters its 25th year.
   Wherever she comes to rest, he's confident the tall ship will become a Port City icon.
   "I think it will be the most photographed site in the province of New Brunswick "he said.
   From the onset of the project in 1986 and since actual construction began about six years ago, Ogden estimates hundreds of people have volunteered their time on the project, making it "the longest, continuously worked on waterfront project ever" in Saint John, Ogden said.
   "This has really been a community project. It's not just about building a ship; it's about bringing a community together and having pride and creating opportunity," Ogden said.
   "People love the story of the Marco Polo;' he said, noting she had 10 different captains and was the first clipper ship to circumnavigate the globe in six months.
   "It's an icon that created pride and continues to, even today."

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