"Almost 400 years ago ...a Maine vessel launched America's love affair with shipbuilding. In 1607 ...at the mouth of Maine's Kennebec River, a group of hardy English settlers established a fragile foothold on this coast, 13 years before the Pilgrams. Here they created the continent's first ocean going ship, a 30-ton pinnace, calling it The Virginia. In 1608 and 1609 ...The Virginia ranged Maine's coast, and voyaged across the Atlantic at least twice." This quote is from their website.