Marco Polo Project

Photo credit:Jeff Ducharme/Telegraph-Journal. Volunteer Jim Henderson works on the inside of the hull of the Marco Polo. The replica will head to her home on the waterfront next year.

TEACHER'S DREAM TAKING SHAPE
Replica Marco Polo scale recreation now 60 per cent complete

JEFF DUCHARME
TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL
OCT 08/08

    For the last 21 years, the Marco Polo has dominated the life and dreams of one man. Barry Ogden has poured thousands of dollars of his own money into it and spent most of his waking hours on it.
   And while there's more work to be done, says Ogden, the project to build a one-third scale recreation of the storied ship is has reached the 60 per cent mark. With the cabins installed on the ship's deck and much of the hull planked, the ship grows more majestic with each nail pounded into her hull.
   "Unbelievable, the work that they're doing," Ogden said about his 14 volunteers.
   While his volunteers installed the cabins, they were built by members of the Tobique First Nation, who were students of the Carpentry Centre of New Brunswick.
   "The workmanship is just unbelievable," Ogden said.
   Bob Coes, project manager of the Marco Polo, said the group is not playing with a model that will sit on a mantle. The ship they're building is a one-third scale recreation of the original.
   "They really have no idea,' he said when people quiz him about the scale of the ship.
   The ship will be 27 metres long and approximately 19 metres high. The original ship's mast would have been seen above City Hall when she sat in the harbour.
   Ogden, a Saint john High School teacher, has spearheaded the project to build the one-third replica of the ship that was built in 1851 by Saint John shipwright James Smith.
   Called the fastest ship in the world, she has been celebrated in theatrical productions, novels and songs. She was the first ship to circumnavigate the globe in six months.
   While it won't float, the replica will cost approximately $300,000 and the group is always looking for more donations of time, material or money.
   Ogden had hoped to have the ship floated across the harbour before winter, but that won't happen until next year. DMK Marine has agreed to float the replica across the harbour on a barge.
   Her final home is still unclear.
   "It's going to end up somewhere between Pugsley and Long Wharf," Ogden said.
   "I think it will be the most photographed site in the city," said Ogden.
   He hopes wherever the ship finds port, she can be seen by visitors and resident alike. He said it will leave visitors in awe and instill a sense of pride in residents.
   Coes agrees that a lot of jaws will drop when the ship leaves the west side warehouse and finds her new home on the waterfront, where all can see her and take pride in her.
   "They're going to see something they didn't expect to see", said Coes.

Volunteer Jim Henderson works on the inside of the hull of the Marco Polo. The replica will head to her home on the water front next year.

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