Antique wooden catboat restored and added to the Mississippi Maritime Museum

The Mississippi Maritime Museum in Pascagoula hasn’t even opened yet, but it is already adding more to its collection.

The museum has announced the debut of a restored wooden catboat. They christened it today by breaking a bottle against the boat’s bow.

The boat was donated to the museum by Mort and Joan Caplan of Gulfport and recently restored on the Coast.

The boat was built in Nova Scotia and modeled after a shipwrecked catboat found on the island. The catboat arrived just in time.

After several years of preparations, the Mississippi Maritime Museum will finally open its doors to the public this July. Maritime Restoration Builder Ron Baczkowiski said, “It’s an American icon of the sailboat, it’s something that is unique to America. It’s been memorialized in famous paintings, showing the utility of it. I think it’s very appropriate to have here at the Mississippi Maritime Museum.”

Now all the vessel needs is a name. Students in the Pascagoula Gautier School District have been voting on a name for the catboat.