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Sparks were flying at the Neuse II Tuesday and it was a good thing.
Members of the Welding Club from Lenoir Community College were behind the sparks as they completed the long-awaited work to assemble and attach twin propellers to the Confederate ironclad gunboat replica.
“They had a good time,” said John Cavanaugh, head of the college’s welding department. “They thoroughly enjoyed themselves.”
Shipbuilder Alton Stapleford, who observed the installation, said club members worked at the boat for three or four hours. The crew did a good job and Stapleford credited Hubert Spikes of Grifton with leading the propeller project.
Spikes, the retired owner of Maury Saw and Tool Co., took on the job of manufacturing and installing the propellers early last year.
“I’ve known Alton since he had Atlantic Boat Company,” Spikes said. “I used to do his saws for him. After he retired we didn’t cross paths for several years. I stopped by the boat one day and Alton was there with a couple of helpers. He said he needed somebody to make propellers.”
Spikes took up the challenge. He made a mockup of the twin propellers and showed it to Stapleford. The design was close, but a little too modern, Stapleford decided. No one knows the exact design of the original propellers, but boat originator Ted Sampley snapped a photo of propellers on an old boat in Georgia. The lines of the propellers were less rounded than the mockup. Spikes went back to work.
“I started making calls trying to get people to donate materials,” Spikes said. “A company in Mecklenburg County donated a heavy piece of aluminum pipe. A company in Washington took the aluminum and cut blades out the way we had them drawn up. I took it to a machine shop and they welded it onto a hub. We did the shaft and running gear. Roberts Company in Winterville furnished the pipe that resembles the shaft.”
A formidable team was in place to get the job done.
A company in Shelby donated difficult-to-find square nuts. Hex nuts, used in construction today, were not invented when the CSS Neuse was built.
Cavanaugh’s crew became involved after Spikes visited LCC’s welding department. He and Cavanaugh found they had a bond: Cavanaugh is a retired Navy diver. Spikes once worked on submarines at Newport News, Va.
“We had a long conversation about old boats we knew about,” Spikes said. “I asked if his class could do some welding for me.”
“It correlates with our fabrication classes,” Cavanaugh said. “This gives the class the opportunity to actually make something – see a finished project. It was a good hands-on project.”
“We really appreciate the Welding Club,” Sampley said. “They just dropped everything and came out. They even brought their portable welding equipment. It’s a very significant part of the development of the boat and we’re so proud of what they’ve done.”
The twin propellers are in, but Spikes’ involvement with the boat is not ended. He has contacted a company in Walstonsburg that will donate pipe needed to install escape hatches on the boat.
“I hate the warfare going on over there,” Spikes said about the boat controversy. “That boat would be so beneficial to Kinston. I was over there a couple of weeks ago by myself. A man and his wife came by. They said they came all the way from Ohio to see it and it was closed. … Eight thousand people have been to that boat. Another day a couple of young kids from Russia came. They didn’t come just to see this, but they stopped here. It’s going to sit there and rot if somebody doesn’t do something about it.” |
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