THIRTY SURVIVING GLOUCESTERMEN
Charlie B.: Built in Essex, Mass ., 1920. Built as an auxiliary knockabout, she is now a powered dragger. She fished out of Newport, R.I., in the 1950s, but her home port since has been Cape May, N.J . 106 tons 86.9L 21.SB 21.5B Shannon: Built in Damariscotta, Me. , 1931, she fished under sail and later as a dragger. About 1965 she became a floating houseboat. Last heard from in Bridgeport, Conn. 43 tons 66.3L 17.0B 7.9D Marjorie & Dorothy (Sundowner): Built in Lunenberg, N.S. 1934, she followed the usual fishing/cargo-carrying career until recently, when she was sold down to St. Petersburg, Fla. There she is used to carry passengers. She is now a three-masted schooner, so she is easier to handle as a sailing vessel. 164 tons 138L 27 . IB 15D E.F. Zwicker (Capt. James Cook): Built in Lunenberg, N.S., 1934, she was used around her home waters until 1964. She then became a school ship for the Harry Lundeberg School in Piney Point, Md ., and is now for sale. 167 tons 145'0"L 27'0"B 15'7"D Arthur J. Lynn (Richard Henry Dana): Built in Lunenberg, N.S., 1936, she also belongs to the Harry Lundeberg School in Piney Point, Md . The school has added a bowsprit and two topmasts . She is a good looking schooner, for sale, that needs a good home. 168 tons 117' 4"L 26'B lO'O"D Harry W. Adams: Built in Lunenberg, N.S., 1937, this big knockabout schooner fished and carried cargo until about 1960. She was in the Caribbean
for a while and then was laid up in Newport News, Va. She has just been bought by a group who intend to use her as part of a maritime museum in Wilmington, N.C. 177 tons 129.3L 27 .OB Skilligolee: Built in Essex, Mass., 1938, as a yacht, later converted to a dragger. She now runs out of Cape May, N.J. Another good bet for anyone looking for a fine, solid old schooner. 62 tons 76L 18.5B 9.5D Theresa E. Connor: Built in Lunenberg, N.S., 1938, she was the last Canadian schooner to go dory fishing. She worked until 1963 when her crew got too old to continue any longer, and no more young men could be found who wanted to face the rough life of the dories on the Grand Banks. Since 1967 she has been part of the fleet of the Lunenberg Fisheries Museum . She looks to be in fine shape and the retired fishermen on board do a good job telling her story and that of her sisters. 185 tons 142L 27B 15D Caroline Rose: Built in Lunenburg, N.S ., 1940, she followed a career of fishing and freighting mostly out of Halifax. Recently she was bought by an American who plans to use her in the Caribbean. 173 tons 127'5"L 26'8"B 13D Lady of Good Voyage: Built in Ipswich, Mass., 1941, she fished out of Gloucester for many years and is now a dragger owned by the Ocean Fish Co. of Fulton Market, New York City. She has been fishing in Honduras for the past few years. The last American fishing schooner built that carried a mainsail. 80 tons 83 .2L 21B9.2D
The clipper bowed Ester Anita at the Fulton Market in the first quarter of this century. Just behind her is a spoon bowed Gloucesterman drying her sails.
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Sherman Zwicker: Built in Lunenburg, N.S., 1942. The Zwicker family owned many schooners and a fish wholesaling business. In any photograph of a group of Canadian fishermen there is usually a Zwicker present. She is now on display in Boothbay Harbor, Me. 183 tons 144'L 25' 11 "B 15'0"D Columbia: Built in Essex, Mass., 1942. She is a motor sailer that was fitted with otter trawling gear. She was an attempt to combine the best qualities of the schooner and the dragger. It worked too, because she was "highliner" of the Gloucester fleet for many years (a term used to denote the vessel that brought in the most fish in any given year) . 144 tons 93.3L 23.3B 1l.5D Pilgrim: Built in Thomaston, Me., 1944. Same as above for the same owners. Now being converted into a sailing yacht by Jerry Hillmen in Boston , Mass. She could set two sets of gear at once. You catch a lot of fish that way. 135 tons 92. 7L 22.0B 1l.9D Puritan: Built in Thomaston, Me ., 1944. Same as Columbia. Owned in Gloucester until recently. Last American schooner built to carry sail, even if a short rig. 122 tons 88.3L 22B l l .2D Francis Gelaldine: Built Lunenburg, N.S., 1944. She was fishing and then carrying freight until recently. Now owned in Corpus Christi, Texas, her future is undecided. 192 tons 131'4"L 27'0"B Norma & Gladys: Built in Trinity Bay, N.F.L., 1945. A knockabout schooner, built and owned by Harry Stone of that town . Last Canadian fisherman built to carry full sailing rig. She fished for a few years and then carried cargo. Bought by the Province of Newfoundland in 1973, she was rebuilt and re-rigged by the Clarenville Shipyard over the next year and a half. Starting in September 1974, she left on a two-year voyage around the world to promote ecology and a 200-mile limit for fishing . 113 tons 93 '2"L 23'4"B 12'0"D Philip E. Lake: Built in Clarenville, N.F.L., 1948 . She fished on the Grand Bank for one season and then switched to carrying cargo. She has recently been overhauled, is now for sale. 142 tons l 10'2"L 26'1"B15'0"D
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g Anyone knowing of any additional Jl schooners or ex-schooners built in New York or Down East to catch fi sh under sail is invited to be in touch. The list is shrinking as time takes its toll . If you ~ want to see what is left of the "fast and ~ able" Gloucester schooners look now , 8 before the last of them are gone. .t :J
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