Maryland Dove

The Maryland Dove at St. Mary's City.
Career	Maryland
Name:	Maryland Dove
Owner:	State of Maryland
Builder:	James B. Richardson
Launched:	August 14, 1978
Commissioned:	October 8, 1978
General characteristics
Length:	76 ft (23 m)
Beam:	17 ft (5.2 m)
Draft:	7 ft (2.1 m)
Propulsion:	Sail (1,965 square feet (182.6 m2)) 2 × Lehman 4-cylinder, Super 90 Engines

The Maryland Dove is a re-creation of a late 17th-century trading ship. She was designed by the naval architect and naval historian William A. Baker.

She is 76 feet overall with a displacement of 42 tons. She was built by James B. Richardson in a shipyard near Cambridge, Maryland, and was launched in 1978. Her home port is St. Mary's City, Maryland. The ship is owned by the state of Maryland and operated and maintained by the Historic St. Mary's City Commission.

Historical note

The first expedition from England to the planned colony of Maryland was undertaken by Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, and consisted of two ships that had formerly belonged to Baltimore's father, the Ark and the Dove.^[1] The two ships departed Gravesend with 128 settlers on board and, after being chased down and brought back by the British navy so that the settlers could take an oath of allegiance to the King as required by law, sailed in October 1632 for the Isle of Wight to pick up more settlers.^[1] At the Isle of Wight they embarked two Jesuit priests and nearly two hundred more settlers before setting out across the Atlantic.^[2] Since he could not lead the expedition himself, Baltimore sent detailed instructions for the governance of the colony, including commands that his brothers seek any information about those who had tried to thwart the colony and make contact with Claiborne to determine his intentions for the trading station on Kent Island.^[3] The instructions also emphasized the importance of religious toleration among the colonists, who were nearly equal parts Catholic and Protestant.^[3] With these last instructions, the expedition sailed for the Americas.

The Ark and the Dove, 1934 Maryland Tercentenary United States postage stamp.

The ships arrived at Point Comfort at the mouths of the James, Nansemond, and Elizabeth Rivers, in Virginia, February 24, 1634. On March 27, they landed at what is now St. Mary's, then the site of a Native American village, and they began the work of establishing a settlement there.^[4] The settlement of St. Mary's was built on land purchased from the native Yaocomico.^[5]

Back in England, Baltimore could do little to help the young colony through its tribulations, which included an ongoing feud with Claiborne that led to a series of naval skirmishes.^[6]

Lord Baltimore continued as Maryland's first Proprietary Governor (1632–1675), and attempted to maintain an active involvement in the governance of the colony, though he never visited it. During this long tenure, he governed through deputies, the last being his only son Charles.

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Browne, Page 40
2. ^ Browne, Page 45
3. ^ ^{a b} Browne, Pages 46-57
4. ^  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company. 
5. ^ Browne, Pages 59-62
6. ^ Browne, Pages 62-64

References

• Browne, William Hand (1890). George Calvert and Cecilius Calvert: Barons Baltimore of Baltimore. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company.

See also

• Province of Maryland

External links

• Historic St. Mary's City - official site
• Maryland Dove facts page Retrieved August 4 2010
• showing a photo of the Dove Retrieved August 4 2010
• The Dove at riverexploer.com Retrieved August 4 2010

Coordinates: 38°11′08″N 76°26′07″W / 38.18556°N 76.43528°W / 38.18556; -76.43528