After being fully restored to sailing condition by professionals with the help of a group of volunteers, PIRATE sails out of The Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle, Washington, not far from where she was originally launched.
ST. LOUIS is a 36' Elco fantail electric launch from 1896. She has her original motor, much of her brightwork is original oak, and she has been housed in the same sublime boathouse, and owned by the same family, since 1900. She’s a bit of a local legend in Bolton Landing, on the western shore of Lake George, New York. Over the past year and a half, she has undergone a complete structural rebuild of her hull.
Because of careful attention for six decades by Dr. George Gilbert, her only previous owner, the 1954 Newbert & Wallace lobster yacht ALBATROSS only needed deck, cabin top, and cockpit sole resheathing when she came to a new owner last year.
The 43′ Penbo trawler-yacht ACADIA, launched as ADAGIO in 1969, was refurbished and reconfigured by Thomas Townsend Custom Woodworking and relaunched in 2008. She evokes Townsend’s signature aesthetic: spare and clean deck and interior arrangements, with an emphasis on functionality and keeping dry.
Among the dramatic changes during the MAYFLOWER II reconstruction has been the complete replacement of her rigging, reducing weight aloft by about one-third. The standing rigging is of Mystic Three Strand, made by New England Rope.
Almost any mast against a skyline can inspire a poet or painter, but it takes authenticity, the ring of truth, to take the breath away from even the most jaded professional mariner. That such a ship—ready for sea with a crisp and purposeful air—should also be the oldest surviving American square-rigged merchantman only makes the sight more compelling. Such was the CHARLES W. MORGAN in the summer of 2014 during her first venture to sea in more than 90 years.