Making the Sail

Entrepreneur holds weddings, reunions,
even burials on schooner

August 21-27, 1998
Boston Business Journal
By Ted Griffith

A few weeks ago, Tom Ellis received what he considers the highest compliment for his business.

While standing on the deck of Ellis' 65-foot wooden schooner, a customer turned to the 47-year-old entrepreneur and said, "This must have been just what it was like 100 years ago." Ellis, who sees himself as part businessman and part history teacher, is still savoring the comment.

Since June of last year, Ellis has been striving to recreate a part of his hometown's past. He has been offering sailing trips out of Gloucester Harbor on a custom-built replica of the schooners used by Gloucester fisherman for more than 40 years.

"I'm not just selling boat rides," said Ellis, a tall man with a white beard and glasses.

"American history is what people are focusing on today to get a grip on their own identities and fishing is a very important part of American history. I was in the antique business for 12 years and I was selling pieces of history. That opened my eyes to how important local history is and my own history is, being the grandson of a Gloucester fisherman."

His history lessons are proving popular. Ellis said he has served thousands of customers since the first trip last summer. His business, Thomas E. Lannon Inc., generated about $100,000 in revenue in 1997 and Ellis projects that will climb to $250,000 this year.

People can charter the boat for birthday parties, family reunions, weddings and company outings. A few customers have even hired the schooner for burials at sea. Ellis also offers daily sails open to the public from the Seven Seas Wharf in Gloucester. Tickets range in price from $15 to $25.

Bill Stride, owner of the Gloucester based Good Harbor Filet Co., has chartered Ellis' boat four times for family reunions and company outings.

"The first night he took us out it was blowing pretty hard, maybe 20 knots, and it was an incredible experience when they put up the sails and the boat heeled over and started to move," Stride recalled. "Tom's doing a great thing. I respect what he has done." Ellis will need as many loyal customers like Stride as he can find to help pay off the $600,000 cost of building the schooner. To raise money for the construction, Ellis used up his savings and took out a mortgage on the Gloucester home he and his wife share.

Despite the risk, Kay Ellis said she supported her husband's decision. She and the couple's 18-year-old son Brian now help run the schooner business.

"I never felt like this wouldn't work," Kay Ellis said. "I'm a glass-half-full kind of person. There were people all during the construction process telling Tom that this wouldn't work, but I never thought that was true. We never failed at anything before." Before they began the schooner venture, the Ellises already had experience running small businesses. From 1984 to 1996, Tom Ellis owned and operated an antique store, the White Elephant, in Essex. About four years ago, Tom and Kay Ellis were involved with starting a kayaking business in Essex. They sold their interest in that operation more than a year ago when they were raising money for the schooner.

Ellis said he loves the life of an entrepreneur.

"One of the fun things about running your own business is that if you get and idea, you can just run with it," he said. "You don't have to consult a board of directors. You just do it."

Weighted down with the heavy financial burden they took on to pay for construction, it was paramount for the Ellises that the schooner be built quickly, so they could get it in the water and start generating revenue. Tom Ellis hired Harold Burnham, who was 29 at the time, to supervise construction. Burnham's family had been in the boat-building business for 11 generations and he had overseen the construction of a few small boats himself. But a 65-foot schooner was the biggest project Burnham ever attempted.

Work on the schooner began in the fall of 1996 and she was ready for use in June of 1997. Before he started, Burnham reviewed thousands of old photographs and documents to ensure the Thomas E. Lannon would be authentic.

Burnham and a team of craftsmen worked long hours, regardless of the weather, to complete the schooner in just eight months. They used locally grown white oak and black locust trees for the frame. For the 70-foot masts, they used white spruce.

"From the time Tom hired me, I didn't stop working until the day we launched it," said Burnham, now 31.

"It was a lot of work, but looking back on it-besides getting married and having kids-that was the greatest thing I have ever done in my life."

Ellis also takes pride in the role he played in building the schooner. Ellis did a variety of things to help move the project along, including overseeing the payroll and supplying the materials.

"Anybody can build a boat in 10 years," Ellis said, "but I defy anyone to do it in six months."

While he saw completion of the schooner as a major victory, Ellis said the real sense of fulfillment came when he took his first passengers out onto the ocean. He said he relishes the chance to see his customers enjoying a sail.

"That's what this is really about-the experiences that people have," he said. "This is not virtual reality. It's real reality."

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