Marine Architect Bill Garden’s Thelma C Ship’s Plans at Mystic Seaport

Bill Garden Boats,
Image: Mystic Seaport

After some research, we’ve learned that the Thelma C was designed by legendary marine architect Bill Garden in the early 1960s. Bill began his career just before World War II, designing sailboats, which his friend Dave LeClerq built at his Commercial Marine boatyard on Seattle’s Portage Bay, between Lake Union and Lake Washington. In 1942, Bill was drafted and sent to the U.S. Navy Base at Adak Island in the Aleutians, where the U.S. Navy put him to work in their shipyard, a job he evidently enjoyed.  After the war, Bill and Dave collaborated again on hundreds of boat projects for more than fifty years, including sailboats, yachts, work boats and fishing boats. More information about Bill Garden can be found here: http://library.mysticseaport.org/manuscripts/Garden.cfm

Bill Garden
Photo: Mystic Seaport

Bill Garden "Seine Boat Plan, November 1961"
Bill Garden Collection, Mystic Seaport

If we have it right, the Thelma C was constructed from Bill Garden's “Seine Boat,” design of November 1961, labeled “Commercial Marine Construction Company Stock 1962 Model.” Online research found this plan at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut, where a friend of KMM was able to go in December and, with the help of staff researchers there, look at their collection of Bill Garden ship’s plans. This photo is of the likeliest Thelma plan, but we are waiting for digital or paper copies to make a definitive determination.

The ship’s plans will be used by a graphic artist to render a computer drawing of the finished exhibit on the harbor site, and the project engineers may also use them to design the exhibit cradle for the boat. Eventually, the plans will be displayed on a permanent interpretive panel near the boat, or in the multi-media cell phone tour which will accompany the exhibit.