Bark TRAJAN Discovered

Sailing Bark Trajan

The Sinking and Discovery of A 19th Century Lime Carrier

On December 5th 2008 the discovery and identification of the shipwreck Trajan in Newport Harbor,Rhode Island was the culmination of luck, perseverance and research by Divers/Maritime Historians John Stanford and Mark Munro.
The Trajan was a Bark rigged sailing vessel and took her name from the Roman Emperor Trajan. She was built in 1856 at the yard of H. Merrian in Rockland Maine, had a length of 125’, a beam of 29’ 6” and a draft of 13’. From 1856 to 1864 she made several passages between New York, Cuba, and England. By 1867 she was engaged in the Rockland Lime Trade under the command of Captain W. Sleeper. At the time of the Trajan’s loss, August 17, 1867, she was on a voyage from Rockland Maine to New Orleans carrying a cargo of lime. Lime was a dangerous cargo: if it got wet, a chemical reaction created heat and sometimes caused the schooner to catch fire. This was to be Trajan’s undoing.

Though no photos of the Trajan are known to exist, she was similar to this 1860s freight bark. For the rest of the story Click Here.

ADIRONDACK II

Catalog Number: 2032

Built in 1999 by Scarano Boat Building, Adirondack II is reminiscent of the classic turn of the century pilot schooner. Like the Pilot Schooners that worked the coast throughout the 19th century she is a wooden hulled traditionally rigged schooner and she is a working boat known for her elegant profile and surprising speed.

For the rest of the story CLICK HERE.

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.