"In 1975, volunteers of Institute of Ecotechnics built a sturdy and unusual oceangoing ship, a 25 meter ferrocement Chinese junk, to sail the world oceans, creating a demonstration of contemporary sea people. The ship has since sailed 270,000 nautical miles over the last 45 years.
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Ecotechnics members formed a team doing design, engineering, construction, logistics and sailing education. John Allen, Freddy Dempster and Phil Hawes worked out the design and engineering; Margaret Augustine ran the construction site; Marie Harding kept an eye on finance, Kathelin Gray did logistics. Dempster, Augustine, Allen, Harding, Gregg Dugan, Gray, Robert Rio Hahn, Mary Evans and Warren LaForme were amongst the key people in this effort.
The group moved into a large three-storey redwood house in Berkeley, provided by Dempster’s mother. Theatre of All Possibilities’ bus transported the crew to the Fifth Avenue Marina in Oakland, where they squatted and built the ship, near where Jack London built his ship, the Snark.
To raise money and attract volunteers, the Ecotechnics team opened a café – The Junkman’s Palace –on the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Alcatraz. It became a popular local eatery whose profits supplied most of the project’s operating costs.
Theatre of All Possibilities’ ensemble were part of the construction crew, and performed locally during the construction.
Work began with locating condemned houses to salvage wood and nails for ship construction scaffolding. The keel was laid in August 1974. Next came a frame of half-inch steel rebar, supporting a dozen sheets of wire netting to reinforce the cement which was sprayed into the net and troweled smooth. To maximise strength, the cement was kept wet and cured for a full month. On February 24, 1975 the ship, named after the Greek philosopher Heraclitus (who said ‘change is the only constant’, and ‘you never step in the same river twice) was launched."
https://vimeo.com/305508105
...
Ecotechnics members formed a team doing design, engineering, construction, logistics and sailing education. John Allen, Freddy Dempster and Phil Hawes worked out the design and engineering; Margaret Augustine ran the construction site; Marie Harding kept an eye on finance, Kathelin Gray did logistics. Dempster, Augustine, Allen, Harding, Gregg Dugan, Gray, Robert Rio Hahn, Mary Evans and Warren LaForme were amongst the key people in this effort.
The group moved into a large three-storey redwood house in Berkeley, provided by Dempster’s mother. Theatre of All Possibilities’ bus transported the crew to the Fifth Avenue Marina in Oakland, where they squatted and built the ship, near where Jack London built his ship, the Snark.
To raise money and attract volunteers, the Ecotechnics team opened a café – The Junkman’s Palace –on the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Alcatraz. It became a popular local eatery whose profits supplied most of the project’s operating costs.
Theatre of All Possibilities’ ensemble were part of the construction crew, and performed locally during the construction.
Work began with locating condemned houses to salvage wood and nails for ship construction scaffolding. The keel was laid in August 1974. Next came a frame of half-inch steel rebar, supporting a dozen sheets of wire netting to reinforce the cement which was sprayed into the net and troweled smooth. To maximise strength, the cement was kept wet and cured for a full month. On February 24, 1975 the ship, named after the Greek philosopher Heraclitus (who said ‘change is the only constant’, and ‘you never step in the same river twice) was launched."
https://vimeo.com/305508105