LB2012.17.537

LB2012.17.537

Winter view of several of the Windjammer Schooners tied up at the Camden, Maine public landing, covered in their winter wraps. The schooner, whose bow can be seen in the foreground of the photograph is the ADVENTURE.The schooner to the left is the MATTIE also known as the GRACE BAILEY. The Schooner ADVENTURE was designed by the famous marine architect Thomas McManus as a "knockabout" without a bowsprit for the safety of the crew. The schooner was built in 1926, in Essex, Massachusetts, by the John F. James and Son Shipyard. She measured 121.6 feet in length, 24.5 feet in breadth, and 14 feet in depth. Her gross tonnage was 130 and her net tonnage 62. When built, Adventure was powered by a 120 horsepower engine turning a single screw in a cutout space in the rudder. FISHING THE BANKS (1926-1953) Schooner ADVENTURE. fished cod, haddock and halibut from Nantucket to Newfoundland, along the Grand Banks of the North Atlantic. Carrying a sailing rig, diesel engine, and 14 dories, Adventure was an exceptionally fast and able vessel, the ultimate evolution of the fishing schooner. Schooner ADVENTURE.was a "highliner," the biggest moneymaker of all time, landing nearly $4 million worth of cod and halibut during her fishing career. When retired in 1953, Schooner Adventure was the last American dory fishing trawler left in the Atlantic. WINDJAMMING (1954-1988) In 1954, Schooner ADVENTURE. was retired from fishing and converted into a windjammer for passenger cruising, removing the engine, propeller, and prop shaft. ADVENTURE. carried passengers along the coast of Maine until 1987. Her grace, beauty, and prowess as a sailing vessel earned her the nickname "Queen of the Windjammers." NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK (1988-PRESENT) Captain Jim Sharp, who had owned ADVENTURE. since 1965, donated ADVENTURE. to the people of Gloucester, Massachusetts by way of The Gloucester Adventure Inc., a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization formed to be steward of this historic vessel. The organization's mission was three-fold: 1. Restore and preserve ADVENTURE. in perpetuity, 2. Utilize Adventure as an educational resource with programming for maritime, environmental and cultural issues and 3. Sail ADVENTURE. as a symbol of Gloucester's maritime heritage. A fully restored and operational Schooner ADVENTURE. will heighten awareness of Gloucester's role in the development of the American Fishing Industry, the plight of the thousands of men lost at sea, and how a fleet of fast and able schooners defined a regional economy. Adventure is nearly fully restored and has sailed in the last two Gloucester Schooner festivals. In order to be certified as a commercial passenger vessel, the most recent restoration projects have focused on installing all of the requirements of the Coast Guard's regulations for Sub-chapter passenger vessels, including tankage for fresh water and grey water, piping to pump the bilges (5 compartments), piping for fire protection on deck, AC and DC electrical distribution and a modern navigation system. Since ADVENTURE. is subject to preservation restrictions, work being performed is in accordance with The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Historic Vessel Preservation Projects. A team of shipwrights has reconstructed the Fo'c'sle and Galley based on research of comparable historic vessels including the Evelina M. Goulart (Essex Ship Building Museum) and the L.A. Dutton (Mystic Seaport) utilizing means and methods prevalent when ADVENTURE. was constructed in 1926. When completed, ADVENTURE. will have the look and feel of when she was new. GRACE BAILEY, also known for many years as MATTIE, is a two-masted schooner whose home port is Camden Harbor, Camden, Maine. Built in 1882 in Patchogue, New York, she is one of four surviving two-masted wooden-hulled schooners, once the most common vessel in the American coasting trade. She was one of the first ships in the fleet of historic vessels known as "Maine windjammers", which offer cruises in Penobscot Bay and the Maine coast, entering that service in 1939. She last underwent major restoration in 1989-90. She was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1992. Description and history: GRACE BAILEY is a two-master schooner, with an 80-foot (24 m) deck and an overall length of 118 feet (36 m). Her rigging consists of a mainsail, foresail, and two headsails. She has no engines, normally sailing with a small boat that is powered by an internal gasoline engine. Her wooden hull is framed and planked in oak, with pine decking. When built, it was originally fastened with wooden treenails, but these were replaced by galvanized ship spikes during restoration. Below decks she is now outfitted with cabins for carrying passengers and crew. GRACE BAILEY was built in 1882 in Patchogue, New York by Oliver Perry Smith for owner Edwin Bailey, who named her after his daughter who was born in that year. She was rebuilt in 1906, at which time she was renamed MATTIE, a name she sailed under until her restoration in 1989-90. She served in the coasting trade until 1939, the last twenty of those years on the Maine coastline. Relatively small ships like this were the workhorse of the coasting fleet, carrying goods and supplies to areas where road access at the time was difficult or impossible. In 1939 she was chartered by Frank Swift, who had just two years earlier seized on the idea of using schooners for passenger excursions, since they had become financially unviable in the coasting freight trade. Meeting with financial success, he purchased her outright the following year. She has since then served in the "windjammer" fleet, providing sailing cruises to paying customers.