by Danielle Frawley

Editor's Note:
This is the second installment describing the history of the Shelburne Shipyard. Part one, which gave the early history of the shipyard, ran in the Shelburne News on Aug. 26. We hope you enjoy this two-part series about one of the oldest businesses in Shelburne that also played a significant part in our country's history.

World War II is what brought Jerry Aske and his family to Shelburne in 1942. After the War began, Jerry's father, Jerry Sr., learned that the Shelburne Shipyard was available for building ships for the U.S. navy. Jerry was a nine-year-old when his family made the move from Minnesota to Shelburne. At first, Jerry's father leased the shipyard from the Champlain Transportation Company, finally purchasing the yard in 1946.

After the purchase, the shipyard first built the ferryboat, Valcour, for Horace Corbin, who owned the Champlain Transportation Company and sold the yard to the Askes. In the deal, if the boat was finished early, there were extra benefits; if the boat was finished late, there were penalties. Jerry's father finished the boat so early that Corbin threw in real estate as payment. The real estate was three houses and an apartment building. At some point throughout his life, Jerry said he has lived in three of those four houses, and lives in one to this day. Members of the Aske family, various ships' captains, and staff also lived in the houses over time.

The primary business for the shipyard was building boats for the navy during World War II and again for the Korean War. Contracts were competitive, but Jerry Sr., devised production methods that resulted in making his bids lowest, sustaining the shipyard throughout the war. During the Korean conflict similar methods resulted in production of two captains' gigs per week and, later, 35-foot landing craft at a rate of one per day. Constructed at the shipyard, the boats, were later transferred to various navy bases via the Rutland Railroad.

Until he came to Shelburne Aske's father was not a shipbuilder (although his great grandfather had been one in Norway). He learned shipbuilding on the job, keeping a step ahead of the equally novice crew he hired from the limited work force not off fighting the war. He and his team of men managed to build some of the best boats the navy ever used, according to testimonials from naval officers and inspectors. Even 60 years ago, the use of local products proved important. Aske's father used native Vermont oak from trees milled in Ferrisburgh in lieu of the pine planking called for in the navy specs. The skipper of one of those boats, Subchaser SC1029, wrote of a bombardment that he was certain pine planking would not have withstood.

That first summer Jerry Sr. was learning how to build boats, and young Jerry and a cousin, who came from Minnesota, was experiencing a new way of life. Interestingly, Aske's cousin Bud Anderson, and his parents, took lodging in the Tracy House in Shelburne Village.

"We practically owned the lake, there being no private boating then due to the war," reminisced Aske. "We camped out, boated, and played on the old Vermont III side wheeler that had been decommissioned and docked at the shipyard. Aske attended the Shelburne School, UVM, and worked at the shipyard during summer vacations.

The Askes sold the shipyard in 1968 to the president and vice president of the Chittenden Bank. The bankers sold to the Griswolds, the current owners of the business. After leaving the shipyard the younger Aske owned the magazine, "Window of Vermont," worked in the ski industry, and finally returned to Shelburne and opened a small "satellite" marina adjacent to the shipyard. He runs that marina to this day, and keeps tabs from his front deck, which overlooks the operation.

Although the shipyard no longer makes vessels for the navy, Aske holds memories of America's history in his mind. As he sits on the deck, looking out beyond the boats towards Burlington and beyond, he says, "From a nostalgic viewpoint I wish the lake was less crowded, as it was when I first knew it, but then, I have to admit, I am very happy that so many people today are able to enjoy this wonderful resource."