Schooner SYLVINA BEAL

Schooner SYLVINA BEAL

Scantilly-clad women relaxing aboard the SYLVINA BEAL on July 17, 1981 with an unidentified two-masted schooner seen off the starboard bow. Built in1911 by Frank J. Adams in East Boothbay, Maine, for Charles Henry Beal, the SYLVINA W. BEAL is the oldest existing auxiliary knockabout fishing schooner in North America and one of two known existing Maine-built fishing schooners. Over her long life, the Beal has proven to be a worthy vessel, completing over 108 years of active commercial service as a fishing vessel, a sardine carrier, and a windjammer. The SYLVINA W. BEAL is the only surviving sailing sardine carrier & the oldest surviving American knockabout fishing schooner. She was built in 1911 for owners in Beal’s Island, Maine She was named for the wife of the managing owner (Charles Henry Beal). She fished as both a herring and mackerel seiner from 1911 to 1980. She was also used as a seafood cargo carrier until she was converted to a windjammer passenger schooner in 1981. Class: Schooner Build date: 1911 Built by: Frank J. Adams Yard Built at: East Boothbay, Maine Built for: Charles Henry Beal (1872-1951) of Beals Island, Maine Charles Henry Beal was the son of Tall Barney Beal / Barnabas Coffin Beal III (1835-1899). Named for: Sylvina “Vina” Whitney Alley (1871-1940), Charles Henry Beal’s wife. Sparred Length: 84' LOA: 78' Draft: 8 1/2' Beam: 17' Masts: 2 Rig: Gaff rigged Rig height: 60' Freeboard: 4' Sail area: 2,200 sq. feet Gross tons: 46 Hull: wood Capacity: 77 hogsheads of fish. [1 hogshead (hhd) = 17 ½ bushels or 63 U.S. gallons.] The SYLVINA W. BEAL is a knockabout schooner, a type of schooner without a bowsprit (called "Widow-Makers"). She was built with long bow overhangs to allow easier handling at wharves and prevent loss of life at sea caused by men being washed off the bowsprit when furling heavy sails in bad weather. The SYLVINA W. BEAL had an auxiliary gasoline engine. Built as a schooner with auxiliary power, it ran under power most of its working life after being converted to a sardine carrier. In 1917, she was bought by the Seacoast Co. and converted to a sardine carrier and repowered with a 100-horsepower Chrysler gasoline motor. She was another [besides the HELEN McCOLL of the Seacoast Canning Co. boats that contended for “Flag Ship” of the Seacoast fleet. At one time, prior to 1926, she had no wheel house and she had twin propellers. The SYLVINA W. BEAL had another distinction. She was "the first sardine carrier equipped with radar. In 1948, a General Electric Electronic Navigator was installed and tested. It had a 10 to 20-mile range, and Captain Clarence Grew guided the BEAL through a series of maneuvers in dangerous waters and brought her back to the wharf. The sardine carriers could now travel in any weather, day or night, and "see" where they were going." “The BEAL was sold to Captain John Worth of Belfast in 1980 to be reconverted into her original form and used as a Maine “windjammer” in the coastal schooner trade. After undergoing extensive renovations, back to a two-masted sailing vessel with auxiliary engine and wheel-box, she sailed out of Portland taking parties on sailing vacations along the coast of Maine.” In 2002 she left Downeast Windjammer and Captain Steve Pagels in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, for her new berth in Eastport with Captain Butch Harris. The boat has also been used as a setting in two movies, Amistad (1997) and Age of Innocence (1993). She is owned by Eastport Windjammers of Eastport, Maine. Information obtained from the following sources: The Schooner Ardelle, Copyright 2014 Fisherman’s Voice, December 2018 Volume 23, No. 12 Sylvina W. Beal - Fishing Schooner, Southwest Harbor Public Library