PIECE BY PIECE

Setting sail from the Isle of Wight in 1633 bound for the New World, the Dove, a small, two-masted square-rigger, was caught in a sudden storm. Last seen flying distress lanterns by the crew of her larger companion ship, the Ark, it was assumed she was lost at sea. But six weeks later she miraculously sailed into Barbados, catching up with the Ark, and together they eventually reached Chesapeake Bay.

Built as a 40-ton cargo ship with a 7-foot draft, she was the ideal vessel for early Colonists to explore the Atlantic Seacoast. Escaping religious persecution, they settled in what eventually became St. Mary’s City, Maryland’s first capital. During the next two years they sailed the between Maryland and Massachusetts much like a coastal freighter, trading with