 Leavitt's speeches on the need for a new sanctuary ultimately proved persuasive.The Old Ship Church, so-called because the hammerbeam roof construction recalled that of an upside-down ship's hull, was completed July 26, 1681, when the townspeople of Hingham gathered on the knoll bordering on Bachelor's Row (now Main Street) to watch the raising of the frame of the new building.Observing the festivities was Deacon John Leavitt, aged seventy-three, who had argued the need for the new wooden edifice.