Gloucester's Great Schooner Race

Schooners FAME and VIRGINIA ( catalog #8033 )

Twenty-Fourth Annual Gloucester Schooner Festival

August 29 - September 1, 2008

Schooners that plan to sail in the Mayor's Race on Sunday,

August 31, 2008 Click Here.

I'll be sailing aboard the AMERICAN EAGLE see you their.

Schooner AMERICAN EAGLE ( catalog #8041 )

Captain Robert A. Bartlett

ERNESTINA ( catalog #2010 )The Ernestina is one of only two sailing Arctic exploration vessels left afloat in the United States, the other being the schooner Bowdoin, also a National Historic Landmark. After a long and distinguished fishing and cargo-carrying career, Effie M. Morrissey (Ernestina) was purchased in 1926 by Capt. Robert A. Bartlett, Canadian-born Arctic explorer and captain for Robert E. Peary. After 1924, under Capt. Bob Bartlett, Ernestina or known at that time as "the little Morrissey" made 20 regular voyages north. On one voyage they reached within 600 miles of the Pole. In 2009, Captain Bartlett will be celebrated from Newfoundland and Labrador to New England.
Captain Bartlett Video Click Here.

New London Ledge Lighthouse

New London Ledge Lighthouse ( catalog #3003 )

This one-of-a-kind building was one of the last lighthouses built in New England, and it represents a rare case of an early 20th century offshore lighthouse that is not of cast-iron construction. By the early 1900s, New London, with its protected harbor at the mouth of the Thames River, had made the transition from whaling center to industrial city. New London Ledge Light was built because New London Harbor Light wasn't sufficient to direct vessels around the dangerous ledges at the entrance to the harbor. When it was first lighted, the New London Day reported that the light could be seen up to 18 miles away.
Probably the best-known part of this station's history and lore is the lighthouse's infamous ghost, "Ernie." It's been claimed that in the 1920s or '30s, a keeper learned that his wife had run off with the captain of the Block Island ferry. Distraught, the keeper jumped -- or fell -- from the roof of the lighthouse to his death, the story goes. Some versions of this story say that Ernie's real name may have been John Randolf or Randolph. If there's any truth behind the legend, it's elusive.

Damaged Spirit of South Carolina

The Spirit of South Carolina went into a Newport, R.I., dry dock Monday for inspections and repairs after lightning struck near the boat July 27 while the ship was sailing just off Block Island. Coast Guard and insurance inspectors found no signs that lightning actually struck the boat — no charring, no melted wires. While the anti-lightning equipment on the boat prevented a direct strike, it appears the charge hit the water and traveled up the propeller shafts. Just about everything electronic on the ship was fried. The damage is going to be well past $100,000, maybe twice that.

Mystery Shipwreck

On a recent two-week mission to explore the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, a team of NOAA scientists uncovered clues that may have solved the mystery of an unidentified shipwreck first discovered at French Frigate Shoals in 2005. Based on data gathered during the expedition, researchers have deduced that the vessel, a 19th-century wooden sailing ship, is most likely the four-masted schooner CHURCHILL, which sank in the area in 1917.

Large wooden schooners were the economic mainstay of American shipping between the Civil War period and World War I. The Churchill was carrying a cargo of copra (the dried meat or nut of the coconut) from Nukualofa, Tonga, to Seattle, Wash., when she ran aground on a reef at French Frigate Shoals on Sept. 27, 1917.

World's Largest Viking Ship

The SEA STALLION

Windjammer NewsLetter

Maine Windjammer Association August 2008 NewsLetter

Collector Prints August Special

Collector Fine Art Prints: August Special " Two Boats " 11x16 archival pigment ink print on media, matted 16x20 (includes shipping and handling) $ 45.00

To Order Print Click Here

NMHS Award to Kimberlys

On 24 October the National Maritime Historical Society will acknowledge those of particularly distinguished service to the maritime community at our gala Annual Awards Dinner at the magnificent New York Yacht Club. Karl Kortum American Ship Trust Award will be presented to Captain Arthur M. Kimberly, his late wife Gloria Kimberly, and the brigantine Romance. The Kimberlys are responsible for training many of the crews of today's sailing tall ships. For the rest of the story CLICK HERE.

TALL SHIPS HALIFAX

Brazilian Navy training ship Cisne Branco ( catalog #02286 )

2009 is the year for the largest gathering of tall ships in a decade. Between 50 and 70 tall ships will sail into Halifax Harbour next July 16 and stay for five days. Last year’s tall-ship event was a festival. But next year, Halifax will be a stop on a trans-Atlantic race.

When they leave Halifax on July 20th they’ll be speeding towards the finish line in Belfast, Ireland. The race starts next May in Vigo, Spain. “There are only about 400 tall ships in the world and some of them can’t leave their home ports,” she said. But Sail Training International draws some of them out for this rare race that circles the North Atlantic.

Schooner Bowdoin Returns From Arctic

Schooner Bowdoin ( catalog #02185 ) The historic schooner Bowdoin is back in its home port of Castine after completing its latest voyage to the Arctic. The 88-foot wooden ship sailed as far north as Hareo Island off the coast of Greenland, about 240 miles north of the Arctic Circle. It reached the northern-most point of its voyage in late June. Built in 1921 in East Boothbay, the Bowdoin made 25 scientific expeditions to the Arctic Circle under the leadership of Adm. Donald MacMillan until 1954.

Wind Power

Sometimes it takes an energy crisis to make us realize the value of old technology. As oil prices soar, tall wind-powered ship are looking like an increasingly viable alternative.
A British schooner docked in Penzance yesterday carrying 30,000 bottles of wine on a voyage that enthusiasts believe will herald a return to wind power in merchant shipping.
The first commercial cargo of French wine to be transported by sail in the modern era is due in Dublin this week after a six-day journey, which is being touted as a green and ultimately cheap alternative to fuel propulsion.
The 108-year-old, wooden, triple-masted Kathleen & May has been chartered by the Compagnie de Transport Maritime à la Voile (CTMV), a shipping company established in France to specialise in merchant sailing.

OLIVER HAZARD PERRY

This vessel will be transformed into the Ocean State’s (Rhode Island) very own Tall Ship, a three-masted, square-sailed behemoth that will tower over Newport Harbor and lay claim to being one of the largest classic sailing vessels in the country. “It will be the largest privately owned sailing vessel on the East Coast of the United States. The only larger active sailing vessel is the Coast Guard’s Eagle. The $4-million ship will be named the Oliver Hazard Perry after the Newport-born Navy commodore who played a key role in defeating Britain in the War of 1812. Fittingly, the hull was intended to become a replica of the Detroit, one of the British ships that Perry defeated in earning the nickname the “Hero of Lake Erie.” The 207-foot Oliver Hazard Perry won’t be a replica. Instead, it will be designed to resemble ships of the 1812 period and is expected to be completed for bicentennial celebrations of the war beginning in four years. Its primary mission, however, will be training youths in the long tradition of sailing. The Oliver Hazard Perry would carry about 30 to 40 sail trainees and a crew of 10 to 15. Once all the work is done, the ship will tie up at Bowen’s Wharf and begin its mission –– sail training. It will be in and out of Newport regularly, in the winter, anticipated to sail the Caribbean, doing programming down there with schools and colleges. The Oliver Hazard Perry would probably participate in commemorations of the War of 1812, including the battle on Lake Erie in 1813.

Maltese Falcon

This mega yacht was built for American billionaire Tom Perkins in 2006.