"The Age of Sail" at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum During Schooner Days

From the deck of the Lightship "Portsmouth."

Saturday, October 16, 2010, 10am – 5pm

The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum presents “The Age of Sail” on Saturday, October 16th, 2010 from 10:00 am – 5:00 pm. Learn about the history of ships and the impact they played on our local history. This event takes place during the heart of Schooner Days, a three-day celebration offering numerous maritime related activities along High Street Landing, just in front of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum. During Schooner Days, Portsmouth’s waterfront will be lined with schooners from around the world.

 The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum, corner of High and Water Streets
Lightship Portsmouth Museum, London Slip (foot of London Street and Water Street)

Call the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum at (757) 393-8591. For more information regarding Schooner Days, please visit www.portsnavalmuseums.com

Schooners Begin to Arrive Pre-dawn at Portsmouth, Virginia's waterfront for Schooner Days

Schooner "Pride of Baltimore II arrives at Portsmouth, Virginia's waterfront. Photo by Joe Elder.

 The "Pride of Baltimore II" followed by the "Lynx" and the "Woodwind" were pre-dawn arrivals at Portsmouth, Virginia's waterfront arriving around 5:30 A.M.. Favorable winds on the Chesapeake Bay produced a fast-paced race, but as of this posting, we have not received official race results. Included below are a few pictures taken as these schooners arrived. More to come. See you at Schooner Days!

Schooner "Woodwind" from Annapolis, Maryland arrives with the lights from the City of Norfolk in the background. Photo by Joe Elder.

"Pride of Baltimore II" moored along the Portsmouth, Virginia seawall. Photo by Joe Elder

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The mast of the "Pride of Baltimore II" against an early morning sky. Photo by Joe Elder

Stern shot of the privateer "Lynx" moored at Portsmouth, Virginia's seawall for Schooner Days. Photo by Joe Elder.

Visit the "Mystic Whaler and the "Sultana" During Schooner Days

The "Mystic Whaler" from Providence, Rhode Island

The Mystic Whaler is a reproduction of a late 19th century coastal cargo schooner that was designed for the passenger trade by Chubb Crockett of Camden, Maine.  She was built in 1967 in Tarpon Springs, Florida and was rebuilt in 1993 in Providence, Rhode Island.

The schooner meets or exceeds all Coast Guard standards for safety with an auxiliary diesel engine and generator and a full array of navigational equipment.

    * Weight: 107 tons
    * Length overall: 83 feet.  Sparred length: 110 feet
    * Draft: 7 ½ feet.  With centerboard down: 13 feet
    * Sail area: 3,000 square feet
    * Rig: schooner
    * Hull: steel
    * Decks: Clear, vertical grain Douglas Fir
    * Beam: 25 feet
    * Power: Detroit Diesel 6-71, 175 horsepower. Transmission: Twin Disc 508
    * Generator: Northern Lights, 30 kilowatt
    * Passenger capacity: 65 day, 34 overnight
    * Water capacity: 900 gallons
    * Fuel capacity: 850 gallons

The Schooner "Sultana" from Chestertown, Maryland.

The Schooner Sultana is a replica of a Boston-built merchant vessel that served for four years as the smallest schooner ever in the British Royal Navy. Using the British Admiralty’s meticulous documentation of the original Sultana, she has been recreated with outstanding detail and offers all who sail aboard her a terrific glimpse of 18th century seafaring life. Launched in 2001, and based in the historic port of Chestertown, Maryland, Sultana now sails as the “Schoolship of the Chesapeake,” providing unique educational programs for more than 5,000 students each year.

Specifications:
Rig: Topsail Schooner
Homeport: Chestertown, Maryland
Sparred Length: 97'
Length on Deck: 51' 3"
Draft: 8
Beam: 16'  8"
Rig Height: 70'
Gross Tonnage: 43 GRT
Builder: John Swain Swain Boatbuilders, LLC

Schooner Days: Set sail - Captain Jack style

The tall ship "Lynx" as she enters the Baltimore harbor. Photo by Allen B. Graves

The Virginian-Pilot
© October 14, 2010

By Carrie White
Correspondent
The boat that served as training grounds for Capt. Jack Sparrow and his crew is coming to Portsmouth.
The 122-foot square-topsail schooner Lynx hosted cast members from "Pirates of the Caribbean" for training before the movie. The Lynx and about 40 other tall ships will sail into Portsmouth as they conclude the 21st annual 127-nautical-mile Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race from Baltimore.
The first race was in 1990, several years after Norfolk's Capt. Lane Briggs and his Tugantine Norfolk Rebel, the world's only schooner-rigged tugboat, challenged the 1812-era topsail-schooner replica Pride of Baltimore II to a race from Baltimore to Norfolk.

Capt. Lane Briggs Tugantine Norfolk Rebel, the world's only schooner-rigged tugboat.

 "The winner got a case of beer," laughed Jamie Trost, captain of the Lynx and co-captain of the Pride of Baltimore II.
The race moved from Norfolk to Portsmouth about seven years ago. Several days of festivities precede the race's start today in Baltimore. It will end anywhere from 11 to 44 hours later with Portsmouth's Schooner Days festival. (The race officially ends at 10 Saturday morning off Hampton's Thimble Shoal.)
Proceeds from the event go to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Portsmouth will celebrate with bands, exhibits, demonstrations and historical tours.
The Lynx was built in 2001 to be a traveling, living museum. The original Lynx sailed one mission during the War of 1812 before it was captured at anchor while waiting to begin its second. It was a privateer, a term that came from the U.S. government's endorsement of privately owned boats to take booty from foreign ships.

Color engraving of the Privateer "Lynx", circa 1813.

 Today the wooden "tops'l schooner" is crafted from Douglas fir, Southern pine and various tropical hardwoods. The cast of "Pirates" spent about a week aboard the Lynx to learn the ropes, Trost said.
On Sunday, the Lynx and the Pride of Baltimore II will host an "adventure sail," with room for about 40 people aboard each ship.

FANTASY MATCH UP
The Lynx won't battle Jack Sparrow's Black Pearl, but we wondered how they would match up.
Size
The Lynx is a two-masted, square-topsail schooner. It is 78 feet long on deck, 72 feet on the water line and 122 feet wide over the spars, and it has a draft of just under 9 feet.
The Black Pearl doesn't have specific dimensions - the original was basically a steel barge fashioned to look like a three-masted boat. For the next three "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies, a ship was built on the hull of another ship.

The"Black Pearl" created for Disney's film "Pirates of the Caribbean"

 Crew
The Lynx can be sailed with nine crew members, although during its heyday it would have carried 60 to 70 crew members "to work the guns, to board enemy ships and just because of attrition," Trost said. Some crew members likely would have died.
The Black Pearl would need about "twice the size of our crew - 120, maybe, although it's hard to say," Trost guessed of the larger vessel.
Sails
The Lynx White, rigged parallel to the ship fore and aft for speed and maneuverability.
The Black Pearl Black, rigged perpendicular to the body or "square-rigged": better for "long journeys on the open ocean," Trost said.
Speed
The Black Pearl is called "nigh uncatchable," but Trost was confident in the Lynx's ability to outrun and outmaneuver the pirate ship.
Hull
The Lynx Black, deadrise hull that shoots straight up (instead of jutting out at almost a 90-degree angle) and was built for speed.
The Black Pearl The jutting "full-bilged" hull, also black, was designed for storing treasure and booty and would be an extreme handicap in a race with the Lynx.
Weapons
The Lynx 6-pound carronades, or smooth-bore, cast-iron cannons.
The Black Pearl 12-pound cannons. "They've got more guns and people, so we'd just run away," Trost said.
Other differences
The Lynx "We can't flip upside down and go into the other realm" like the Black Pearl did in "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," Trost said. But then, the Lynx doesn't spend much time in the world of the dead.
Seaworthiness
The Black Pearl Leaky
The Lynx Not
Time in Davy Jones' locker
The Black Pearl Yes
The Lynx No
Captains' (moral) compass:
The Lynx Trost will not barter anyone's soul to captain the boat or win the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race.
The Black Pearl Sparrow bartered his soul to captain the Pearl.

Carrie White, caramine@aol.com

The Colonial Seaport Foundation Exhibiting Our Maritime Heritage at Schooner Days

Schooner Days is a celebration of the world’s largest gathering of schooners along the waterfront of Olde Towne Portsmouth, Virginia. It's held this year in conjunction with the 21st Annual Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race from Baltimore to Portsmouth- racing to save the bay!

Schooners gathered in Olde Towne Portsmouth, Virginia for Schooner Days

This three day celebration offers numerous maritime-related activities, many are free to the general public.

The Portsmouth waterfront from North Landing to beyond the High Street Landing will showcase  around 40 schooners from local and distant ports and is considered the largest gathering of schooners in the world.

2010 Schooner Days at Portsmouth, Virginia

Schooner Days was created to commemorate Portsmouth Virginia's rich maritime history with a variety of scheduled historical recreation events including demonstrations by shipwright artisans, maritime related musicians, costumed actors and even a hands-on building of skiffs! Other exhibits will be on hand to bring awareness for the need to preserve and improve the natural resources of the Chesapeake Bay.

The Colonial Seaport Foundation will be on hand Saturday, October 16 at Portsmouth Virginia's Schooner Days.

The Colonial Seaport Foundation will be on hand Saturday, October 16 with a tented display to help educate the public about not only the Chesapeake Bay itself but the important role the bay and rivers in the area played in colonial America's maritime past. The CSF will have on display a selection of maritime sailing specialties including navigation, seamanship, shipbuilding, knot tying and more. Of course they were also more than happy to discuss the Luna project and collect donations and new foundation members. Of course they were also more than happy to discuss the Luna project and collect donations and new foundation members.

Maritime exhibits at the Colonial Seaport Foundation tent.

Members of the Colonial Seaport Foundation. Come and meet them during Schooner Days.

The Colonial Seaport Foundation (CSF) is a maritime educational organization. The purpose of the CSF is to preserve facets of America's colonial (17th-18th Century) maritime heritage by providing historically accurate information and education to the public including, but not limited to life in coastal and maritime communities, life aboard a vessel of the period, common trades within the maritime community, and coastal transportation along the Atlantic Seaboard. Working either alone or in cooperation with other organizations or local communities, the CSF intends to display and demonstrate the operation of vessel(s), equipment, tools, procedures, skills and lifestyles used or experienced within the maritime community. Depending on the type of event conducted or supported, historically authentic equipment, dress and speech will be used as much as possible.

The education will take place on shore and aboard a replica of an early 18th Century coastal trading sloop, which the CSF is currently rebuilding from a bare hull. A curriculum will be established to provide pierside education, classroom lectures and possibly underway field trips for students and interested citizens or organizations. Parts of the curriculum will cover selected topics from the Standards of Learning published by the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Model of Colonial Seaport Foundation's 'LUNA'.

From a geographic perspective, the primary focus of the CSF's efforts will normally be within the Middle Atlantic States.

Members of the organization are volunteers who have self-funded their efforts to date. You can read more about the Colonial Seaport Foundation by visiting their website @ http://www.colonialseaport.org