A homecoming celebration will be held for The Freya, a steel-hulled sailboat built on Gwynn’s Island by the late Gilbert Klingel, at 2 p.m. Saturday at the old Gwynn’s Island Boat Yard, adjacent to the Mathews Maritime Foundation’s boat shop on Ferry Road, Gwynn’s Island. The public is invited.
There will be photos, memorabilia and information about Klingel’s life and accomplishments on display. There will also be refreshments.
Currently docked at Cobbs Creek, The Freya will sail to Gwynn’s Island just as the celebration begins. She will be preceded by The Peggy, a buyboat that’s considered by many to be the Mathews flagship. Boat owners are welcome to join the small boat parade in Hill’s Bay at around 1 p.m. and help escort The Freya home.
Captain John Bonner of Mathews, Rob Bonner and Donnie Pressley, both of St. Augustine, Florida, spent 11 days sailing The Freya from St. Augustine to Gwynn’s Island. Captain Benji Whitcomb of Kingston, New York, joined them for the first leg of the journey.
When The Freya reached the Chesapeake Bay, filmmaker Dave Miller of Miller Productions of Virginia joined the crew to film footage for a documentary about the boat’s builder titled “Gilbert Klingel: Man of Steel.” The film is being co-produced by Klingel’s daughter, Marcy Benouameur of Gwynn’s Island, and Tom Robinson of Moon. Miller also filmed the PBS documentaries “Journey on the Chesapeake” and “Breathing Life into the Chesapeake,” and has produced many other PBS documentaries.
The 64-year-old vessel will remain on Gwynn’s Island as part of the MMF’s historical boat fleet, said Robinson, adding that The Freya is expected to eventually be named a Virginia Historic Maritime Landmark.
For more information about the celebration or the trip, visit www.mathewsmaritime.com.
Gilbert Klingel
Gilbert Klingel was a renowned adventurer, explorer, naturalist, shipbuilder and author who was born in Maryland in 1908 and lived there most of his life. In 1953, he bought property for a boatyard on Gwynn’s Island and built boats there part-time until he moved to the island permanently a decade later. He died in 1983.
While in his early 20s, Klingel established his credentials as a naturalist when he organized a research trip to Haiti to study reptiles. He shared his findings with the American Museum of Natural History, after which the museum helped to equip his boat, The Basilisk, as a biological laboratory for a return trip.
During that trip, he was shipwrecked in December 1930 on the island of Inagua in the Bahamas. He remained there, explored the island, and took pictures with his salvaged cameras. Afterward, he published his first book, “Inagua,” which was translated into four languages.
Although Klingel worked as chief metallurgist at ARMCO Steel Corporation in Baltimore until retirement, his heart was always in research. He built two steel diving bells that he used for research in the Chesapeake Bay, and used the information he acquired in his best-known book, “The Bay.” He also wrote the book “Boatbuilding with Steel.”
In addition, Klingel wrote articles, mainly about the Chesapeake, for such publications as the Baltimore Sun, National Geographic and Natural History.
An effort is underway to raise funds to help pay for the continued restoration and maintenance of The Freya and for the filming of “Gilbert Klingel: Man of Steel.” To contribute, visit www.mathewsmaritime.com.
The Freya’s trip home
The Freya’s trip home was the subject of a number of blog reports and Facebook posts written by Bonner and Pressley.
On May 24, Bonner said that the crew had experienced long days fighting strong winds.
“We will remember this trip until the fog of time takes it away,” he said in the blog. “It was an honor for us all, and the help we received to get her into shape for this trip has been invaluable in bringing this effort to fruition. Gilbert Klingel was a man to be remembered and The Freya celebrates him.”
Upon landing at Gwynn’s Island on May 28, Pressley wrote on Facebook that he was going to miss the boat and the crew.
“Every day was something new and unexpected,” he said, “from raging seas and inlets to the slow pace down the canals and rivers. From lots of laughs to the misery of sitting in pouring rain and the sun beating down on you … Rocking me to sleep at night with the waves or the waves rolling me out of my bed, trying to cook food while standing at a 45 degree angle or the times that you went hungry cause you just too tired to cook … Yes, you can say I had one hell of a time and it’s one that I’ll never forget.”