Brett,

I will be there pounding wedges too. This will be the third time for me. As a special honor to workers who have just past the 20 year mark in the shipyard, I was invited to pound wedges for the last ship down the ways. I am pretty excited about this event and Maggie will be there with me. She's pretty excited too. Maybe we can all get on the same crew together.

My great grandfather was at the launching of the Battleship Georgia in 1908 in his naptha launch the Black Fox. He picked up the King Wedge as it floated by in the Kennebec. We still have this shipbuilding artifact in a place of honor by the hearth.

Several years later after the launch of the Georgia, the Black Fox blew up on it's way down River from Bath and sent my great grandfather and great uncle into the icey waters of the Kennebec. Naptha engines were known to be a little dangerous, especially if they sprang a fuel line. A school teacher from Phippsburg saw the catastrophe from shore. She swam out to save both of them and then swam back out and retrieved what she could of the remains of the Black Fox. We have these artifacts on display also. Our family is forever greatfull to that school teacher who risked her life to save the lives of Edward and Theodore Stewart.