From collection Irving Nevells Collection
LB2012.17.799
Schooners MATTIE & STEPHEN TABER under sail off Camden. MATTIE / GRACE BAILEY HISTORY 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. STEPHEN TABER Stephen Taber is a two-masted schooner, built in 1871, operating as a "windjammer" in the tourist trade out of Rockland, Maine. A National Historic Landmark, she is one of a small number of surviving schooners originally built for the Atlantic coasting trade, and one of only three with a centerboard, allowing access through shallow channels and to shallow landing points. She is named for New York lawyer and politician Stephen Taber, and has a well-documented history of continuous service since her construction. Description and history Stephen Taber is a wooden schooner, with a deck length of 68 feet (21 m), an overall length of 115 feet (35 m), and a maximum width of 22 feet 5 inches (6.83 m). She has a draft of 5 feet (1.5 m) when the centerboard is up, and 14 feet 6 inches (4.42 m) when it is down. She is normally operated by a crew of five, and is rigged according to a historical 1883 photograph with a main sail, foresail, and two headsails. Her framing and planking are oak, and were originally fastened with treenails, which were replaced during restorative work with galvanized spikes. She has a low deckhouse aft, and her hold is presently configured for passenger accommodations. Her main deck, which is not original, is pine. Stephen Taber was launched in October 1871 at Bedel Shipyard in Glenwood Landing, New York, on the south coast of Long Island Sound. Her owners were the Cox brothers, and she was named for Stephen Taber, a lawyer and politician living in Roslyn, New York. Until about 1920 she worked primarily in the area around New York Harbor, although she was briefly adapted for carrying passengers in 1900 and 1902 when the coasting business was slow. In 1920 she was sold to a captain in Maine, and operated in and around Penobscot Bay. In 1946 she was sold to Captain Boyd Build, who adapted her for the "windjammer" tourist trade, a role she has served since, now based in Rockland, Maine. She has been in continuous service except for periods of restoration, including in 1900, 1930, and 1981-83.
