Gannon and Benjamin set sail on a new voyage

1 of 6

Updated June 13th. 

Two old friends, Ross Gannon and Nat Benjamin, sat side by side on a weathered bench against their shingled, well-worn boatbuilding workshop on Beach Road in Vineyard Haven on a recent Friday, sharing lunch with a few members of their staff as they looked out over the water, as they have most days for the past 45 years.

They swapped stories of the past and announced a look into the future: Gannon and Benjamin will both be stepping down from their management posts, and handing off the helm to their team of boat builders — a generational shift for an Island institution. 

While the Gannon and Benjamin duo breathed in the salty air and chuckled over their many evolutions, they revisited the story of their initial meeting. It was the blur of the mid-1970s, they said, at the Ritz Cafe in Oak Bluffs. They met over a $3 pitcher of beer and chatted about their shared love for sailing — a meeting that would come in handy later on when Gannon needed an extra set of hands on his own vessel. 

Gannon was in his mid-20s, attempting to repair his boat, Urchin — a 36-foot Casey cutter that he had pulled up onto the sloping shore of Vineyard Haven. He decided the project was too much work solo, and was looking for some expertise. 

Gannon remembered the man he had met in the local bar — a Martha’s Vineyard Shipyard worker and fellow self-described “hippy boatbuilder” by the name of Nat Benjamin. 

“I was working on the boat and I didn’t know how to do a lot of what I was trying to do; and I knew that Nat did,” Gannon, now 77, said. So he sought Benjamin out for advice. 

“I had a vague idea,” Benjamin, 78, responded with a laugh. 

What Benjamin knew for sure at the time, he said, was: “There was excitement on the waterfront.” They both saw huge possibilities for the Vineyard Haven shoreline, which then consisted mostly of a set of ramshackle sheds and shacks. For the next few weeks, they worked together on Gannon’s boat and discussed their interest in creating a space on the Island: a community-operated hub where builders and boaters came together. 

And so, the world-renowned boatbuilding company Gannon & Benjamin Marine Railway was born. It started officially in early 1980, when they leased their current Beach Road property and forged a partnership, which after years of long hours and hard work culminated in a beloved local business. 

Benjamin’s focus is on design, and Gannon’s on engineering, both with a love for the craft of boatbuilding. Now, on the 45th anniversary of what is known by some Islanders simply as “G&B,” the duo is looking back after having built more than 85 boats since their founding, and restoring many more along the way — including a few beloved vessels of their own. 

While they will retain ownership and continue to work there, the day-to-day operations will be changing hands, led by longtime partner Brad Abbott. Gannon and Benjamin said they have confidence in their staff and operations to take the helm, and that they both intend to continue working on big projects. But they won’t be steering the ship any longer. 

“It takes a little bit to get things right. This spring we came up with an arrangement that seems to work well with everyone,” Abbott said. “We all have some similar skills and overlap, but we also all each have our own specialties.”

Abbott, a partner to Gannon and Benjamin for the past 16 years, will lead the transition, and be overseeing daily operations as he has been, albeit with more responsibility. He has an electrical and mechanical background that has long provided critical support for the G&B staff. And team members Lyle Zell, Christian Cabral, and Antonio Salguero will be continuing in their already established management styles, while also stepping up. 

Zell, Gannon’s son, spent his entire life at Gannon & Benjamin’s boatyard. He learned boatbuilding alongside his schooling at the Island’s elementary, middle, and high schools. 

As a kid, Zell was small enough to fit into the spaces the adults couldn’t, he said with a laugh, and for him, it was a playground, a refuge, and the foundation he formed that led him to follow in his father’s footsteps. 

“I love it here,” 35-year-old Zell said as he looked around the sea-stained building — open to the elements, wooden, with tools lining the walls. “Most of us who work here don’t really want a lot to change. It’s kind of local, family-style … Everything works.”

Zell — who along with his wife, Abbie, is expecting a daughter of his own — said he’s excited to see the boatyard voyage into the 21st century while maintaining traditional boatbuilding techniques. It’s the quality Gannon and Benjamin were focused on when they founded the company, and it’s the value they’ve helped nurture in their team. 

“It’s great to be a part of it,” Salguero said. He motioned to the waterfront and referenced the many generational changes that were happening: “It seems like the whole waterfront here is in transition.”

Salguero has a design background, with a modern and traditional skill set. He’s also Gannon’s nephew, and has been working at the boatyard in many capacities throughout his life. He said a benefit of the G&B team is its diversity in skills. “We’ve got a whole range,” he said. “We share this passion for wooden boats and for being on the waterfront … [and] we make up a pretty comprehensive whole.”

Each of the four team members, led by Abbott, who will take the reins has a specialty, but they work on projects together. And they say they’re all further bolstered by the ties they’ve established along the way with boat owners, fellow builders, and local businesses. 

“Nat and Ross built a handful of things,” said Cabral, 35, whose father, Doug, also worked alongside the boatyard for several years as the editor of The MV Times, which looks out over the daily comings and goings of the boatyard. One of Cabral’s focus points is on the business side of G&B, but most of his days are spent working on the ships themselves. 

“They built a business, but in tandem with that, they built a community, a culture, and a reputation — one that shaped me, and one that I’m excited to continue,” Cabral continued, as he sat in the G&B workshop office, with aging photographs spanning four decades tacked on the walls around him. 

Gannon and Benjamin’s community values have always endured, particularly in the hardest times — most notably when a fire demolished the building in 1989. All that was left after that fire was ash and charred beams where the original boatyard once stood. The reaction of Island residents was a defining moment for Gannon and Benjamin both, who said their view of the closeness of their comrades was expanded exponentially. In the wake of the disaster, hundreds of community members offered their labor, know-how, and their time to help the two young men rebuild. 

“All of a sudden, I knew I was part of a community,” Gannon said. 

The nurturing of the local community they experienced that year has come in many forms — the pair proudly host cookouts and “beer Fridays” at the boatyard, where locals are encouraged to come by and connect with one another and the Gannon & Benjamin team. And their families grew up visiting the workshop — Benjamin’s wife, Pam, and their children Jessica and Signe, along with Gannon’s wife, Kirsten and their twins, Greta and Olin — all regularly weaving in and out of the hauled-out boats or setting out for a sail.

And the ethos of the waterfront as a whole has been largely informed by the values that Gannon and Benjamin, and neighboring pioneers like Robert Douglas, have imparted to their business community.

From the gas docks of Tisbury Wharf Co. to the art workshop Althea Designs, the world-famous Black Dog Tavern, the front door of The MV Times and all the way to the Steamship Authority — the Vineyard Haven waterfront provides a welcoming entrance to mariners, visitors, and residents alike. 

Plans submitted last summer outline a vision for the working waterfront under the leadership of the nonprofit Vineyard Lands for Our Community (VLC), chaired by Steve Bernier, the owner of The MV Times, which centers the Gannon & Benjamin boatyard around the surrounding businesses and expands the possibilities for all of their current and future establishments. 

The common theme for Gannon and Benjamin has been an honoring of maritime tradition while evolving in ways that respect the style and the spirit of the area — the resonant through-line they hope the project as a whole will embody. 

“There’s enough people now who see what a working waterfront is and want to preserve it,” Benjamin said. “Where in America could you come to a place like this?”

A group Benjamin is a part of, called “Tisbury Working Waterfront LLC” purchased the Gannon & Benjamin Marine Railway lot in 2021 after leasing it for many years. Located at 30 Beach Road, the lot also houses the MVTimes newsroom, which is in the ambitious plans for a working waterfront — known as HarborWorks — The MV Times will teach a new generation of Islanders the craft of journalism. When discussing the purchase, Gannon and Benjamin cited excitement for a new envisioning of the waterfront project.

As part of the broader plan, the newsroom is slated to move to the adjacent lot at Boch Park, giving Gannon & Benjamin Marine Railway room to expand its space and establish a way for the community to have more access to the waterfront, and to witness the work they do every day. 

“We feel [the waterfront is] worth preserving and enhancing — and making it even better,” Benjamin said. 

The changing of hands to the next generation at Gannon & Benjamin Marine Railway is a part of that vision for the boatbuilders. It’s the same energy of growth that the pair say they founded their company on. 

“There was an evolution,” Gannon said. “We were doing a lot with a little. Our generation appreciates handmade things … then there’s these young people who are interested [in that] and want to learn something. Every now and then, one of them catches fire and runs with it.”

The pair cited some of their most memorable projects, like Juno — a graceful 65-foot schooner that is the largest they’ve ever built. There are also upcoming projects like the restoration of the Menemsha fishing boat, Little Lady, which is a century old, and is awaiting fundraising and subsequent repairs to get her not only operational, but thriving yet again. 

Boatbuilders Gannon and Benjamin will both work on the legendary Little Lady, and many more future ventures. A purpose-driven career like theirs is hard to shake — let alone leave completely. But with management changing over, they said they feel only excitement about the future of their company and a dream of having more time to work on their own projects. 

“We’ve felt about the people that we work with — it’s not just a working environment, it’s a social environment. And I hope that continues, the way it’s become,” Gannon said. 

“I don’t think it will stay the same — nothing ever does — but the same feeling will be here,” Benjamin said, looking from his partners, Gannon and Abbott, out to the white-tipped waves beckoning in the distance, past the harbor and across Vineyard Sound.

Updated to reflect accuracy of ages and information about a building purchase.