The sea is always with Robert Squarebriggs. It is in his past as a sailor in the Royal Canadian Navy. It is with him through his great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather, both ship builders and masters. It is with him through his father, who was also a sailor in the navy. And it is with him every day in the model boats he builds.
“I guess you could say the sea is deep in my blood,” admits Robert. “My poor old grandfather, Daniel Washington Squarebriggs, being the only exception. He became a ground-pounder. Army. We will never live that down,” he says with a twinkle in his eyes.
Robert is a master carver and model shipbuilder with a passion for all things nautical. He scours novels for inspiration. Many of the boats he builds come from tales of 18th-century ships and the sailors who manned them. Once he is hooked on a ship, he finds the plans for the vessel, scales them down, and begins the painstaking work involved to bring the ship to life. The frigate HMS Shannon is one of his favourites.
“I sailed on a frigate,” says Robert. “They are fast.” Plus, Robert rode out a hurricane in one, but his frigate was powered by a motor – the Shannon was under sail in the early 19th century and won immortal fame under Captain Philip Broke during the War of 1812. Broke took on and defeated the USS Chesapeake in a short but bloody engagement, restoring British pride in the Royal Navy. Robert has been working on the Shannon for seven years with an attention to detail that has to be seen to be believed – or not seen, for that matter. Besides all the things that you can see (each small cannon is made up of 14 hand-carved pieces), there are the things that you can’t, like the furnished captain’s quarters and his sword hanging on the wall.
No one will ever see it, but to Robert it is important to know that it is there and that it is right. This love for model shipbuilding started back when Robert was still in the navy. He attempted a kit but quickly decided he could do better than that. And with a passion that only a sailor could bring to shipbuilding, he has been honing his skills for decades. He is always carving.
If his wife goes shopping, he takes a little travel kit along and sets up on a bench in the mall and just starts to carve. “If you are going to build model ships, you have to know how to carve.” So whether he is at the mall, or waiting at the doctor’s office, he is always carving: birds, animals, miniature soldiers and sailors, anything really, even dragon-topped canes.
Now, like master shipbuilders of the past, Robert is passing his passion and knowledge on to a new generation. His granddaughter, Octavia, is a keen carver and another young Miramichier, Ryan Dickson, with his own nautical roots, is taking up the challenge. As Robert says, “His ancestors built some of the finest boats ever seen around the Miramichi.”
But far from hanging up his tools, Robert is still casting an eye to the sea for inspiration. And if ever a tall ship drops anchor at Ritchie Wharf, you can bet that he will be one of the first ones aboard. The sea is always with him.
154 Percy Kelly Dr.
Miramichi
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