The Allure of Traditional Boat Building with Ed Sturgeon

Ed Sturgeon was recently certified in the Boat Builder trade (wood).

Ask Ed Sturgeon about his first experience boatbuilding and he lights up. A friend connected him to someone building a traditional wood schooner in southwest Nova Scotia. "It was so romantic working down there," he says, "we were heating up pitch over a little bonfire and working barefoot, running in and out of the boat. And we were just using pine tar and linseed oil, and the smells were amazing." Working in a beautiful rural setting in a tidal bay near Surette's Island, Sturgeon was hooked.

He started using the skills he had to find work. "My father was a carpenter," he says, "so I had some of those skills already." He liked working with his hands and the doors that opened as his skill grew. "I've always sort of gone boat to boat, project to project, and helped out here and there, done a little bit of this and that, and that's been great fun. Just reputation-based, referral-based work." Later, though, he wanted something more stable. Something new. "I wanted to get involved here with the Maritime Museum and the boat school initiative that's happening here," he says, "and, to do that, it seemed advantageous to become certified with the Boat Builders Association."

Sturgeon completed a full Boat Builder apprenticeship at the Maritime Museum under Eamonn Doorly, finishing and becoming fully certified this year. He now has the paperwork to prove his skills and capabilities, in addition to his reputation and past work. Sturgeon now has the option of being a journeyperson and overseeing his own apprentices.

Ed Sturgeon's personal tool kit

Traditional wooden boat building is a combination of art and craft. "It's enjoyable. The aesthetic pursuit, the smells and the sounds and the connection to history and heritage," says Sturgeon. "Local heritage is through the designs of the boat, through working with old tools, learning to maintain the tools and the and the craft, you know, and the vessels." He says traditional wooden boat building is a great way to honour tradition when building new boats.

Sturgeon preparing to rig one of the Maritime Museum's boats on the Halifax Waterfront near the HMCS Sackville.

Plus, it is a way to stay connected to the natural world. "The closeness to the land as well, through working with wood and sourcing wood locally," he explains, "having to pay attention to the different qualities of the different woods you're using different rot resistance and hardness...And the fact that when you're done with a wooden boat, it basically just can melt back into the earth again and become dirt."

Overall, traditional boat building is an enjoyable job in surroundings Sturgeon loves. It has everything, and can even be a way to maintain natural beauty into the future. "There's this quote from Jane Goodall that I often go back to," he says, "she says, 'you don't save what you don't love.' And, working with traditional wood boats, I feel like is an entry point or, a way to build love for the natural materials. And then using the boats as a way to build love for the ocean. I feel like that's that's how traditional wooden boat building can tie into conservation work."

Ed Sturgeon enjoys being a traditional wooden boat builder in Halifax. "Traditionally, Nova Scotia being a seafaring province," he says, "helping to reinvigorate that culture, especially in a busy place, a busy commercial place like downtown Halifax...Can do a lot of good in the community by increasing people's interactions and awareness and love of the natural world that surrounds us."

For more information on the Boat Builder or Marine Service Technician trade click here.