New Boat on the Dock

DENTON - When a big, black and red rig with hundreds of bolts the size of fifty cent pieces first appeared at the Mathews Bros. docks near the Choptank River Yacht Club, people noticed. It’s obvious from looking at her that she has a history, and folks have been wondering ever since how a boat like that ended up in a place like this.

The vessel’s name is Panther, and her story begins almost a century ago and an ocean away. Built between 1930 and 1933 at the Van Praet & Van Damme Scheepvaart shipyard in Baasrode, Belgium, she was constructed for the German Navy as a sail training vessel for naval cadets. At the time, Germany had no business even building her. As punishment for their actions leading up to and during World War I, the Treaty of Versailles imposed strict limitations on Germany’s ability to grow their military. But if the outbreak of World War II wasn’t proof enough, Panther’s existence shows that the Germans weren’t really playing by the rules. Still, ships like her had to be built discreetly, hence why she technically hails from Belgium. 

After serving her purpose in the second World War, Panther eventually found herself in Venezuela, where she was used as a cruise vessel for tourists – complete with cocktail tables flimsily welded to her deck.

Peter and Kate Gentry, a couple from Baltimore, first learned about Panther from a friend. The Gentrys said they had been searching for a larger, traditionally rigged vessel with good headroom and enough space to cruise comfortably with family and friends. After arranging for Panther to be brought to Florida for a survey, they decided to purchase her based on the report, her strong construction, and what Peter Gentry described as her “seakindly nature.”

For the next twenty years, the Gentrys cruised and enjoyed Panther while steadily renovating her rig, powerplant, and deck configuration. Now their focus has shifted to her interior. The Gentrys chose Mathews Bros. in Denton to help with the gargantuan task of modernizing Panther due to the company’s “sterling reputation for careful work and excellent end results.”

Today, Panther’s interior has been completely removed. Her hull has been refinished, painted, and insulated, and work is now underway on what is essentially a full rebuild. Gentry said what they are doing now is “like building out the insides of a house with electric, plumbing and sewer lines, generator, lighting, storage, staterooms, galley (kitchen), heads (bathrooms), and sitting areas.”

Once the interior work is complete and her masts and rigging are reset, the Gentrys plan to return to more extensive cruising and to continue using the vessel as a sort of floating classroom, offering dockside historical education programs for schools and communities.

So the next time someone asks what’s up with that new boat down at the docks, you can say “That’s Panther!”