History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name | Spirit of South Carolina |
Builder | Mark Bayne / Sea Island Shipwrights / South Carolina Maritime Foundation |
Laid down | 16 June 2001 |
Launched | 4 March 2007 |
Homeport | Charleston, South Carolina |
Identification |
|
Status | in active service |
General characteristics | |
Type | Schooner |
Displacement | 150 long tons (152 t) |
Length | |
Beam | 24 ft (7 m) |
Draft | 10 ft 4 in (3.15 m) |
Propulsion |
|
Crew | 30 students and crew |
Spirit of South Carolina is a "tall ship" built and home ported in Charleston, South Carolina. She was owned and operated by Tommy Baker and Michael Bennett till March 2016, when they donated it to the "Spirit of South Carolina Inc" a 501(c)(3) not for profit foundation. [1] The Spirit of South Carolina is a certificated Sail Training Vessel, providing experiential education programs for the youth of South Carolina. Interdisciplinary programs focus on math, science, history and literature of South Carolina, and our relationship to the water.
Academic focuses include, but are not limited to, Marine Biology, Maritime archaeology, Oceanography, History, Literature, Meteorology and Astronomy. In addition to educational duties, The Spirit of South Carolina serves as an ambassador of the people of South Carolina.
The Spirit of South Carolina is a pilot schooner reminiscent of the Frances Elizabeth, a vessel that was originally built by the Samuel J. Pregnall & Bros. Shipyard in Charleston, SC in 1879 and served pilots in the city's harbor for 25 years.
The pilot schooner Frances Elizabeth was of a design very similar to the yacht America, first winner of the America's Cup in 1851. The America was designed according to the specifications of the fastest pilot boat in New York harbor. Pilot boats had to be very fast because the first pilot to reach an incoming ship got the job of bringing the vessel in the harbor, and thus was the only vessel to receive the pilot's fee. Pilot boats had to be seaworthy and able to withstand almost any weather. The pilot schooners serving major shipping ports such as Charleston were exposed to the rigors of the open ocean.
The Frances Elizabeth was licensed as a pilot schooner in 1879 and sank in 1912 in the Cape Fear River in North Carolina. She had been outfitted with gasoline engines. A gasoline leak in the bilge resulted in a fire and explosion that destroyed the vessel.
Plans for the Frances Elizabeth were found at the Smithsonian Institution within that organization's extensive collection. Those original plans have been modified and redesigned by Peter Boudreau and Andrew Davis, proprietors of the preeminent tall ship design firm TriCoastal Marine. TriCoastal Marine has been involved with several notable vessels including the Amistad, Spirit of Massachusetts, Lady Maryland, Pride of Baltimore II, Schooner Virginia, and the USS Constellation.
The Spirit of South Carolina was built by The South Carolina Maritime Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization founded in August 2000 to explore and celebrate South Carolina's rich maritime heritage. The Spirit of South Carolina is fully certified as a sailing school vessel by the US Coast Guard. She is capable of carrying 30 students and crew.
Master Shipwright Mark Bayne directed the construction of Spirit of South Carolina. The construction crew consisted of skilled paid shipwrights and volunteers. She is built of several types of woods traditionally used in shipbuilding, including: Live Oak, Angelique, Longleaf Pine, Sapele, Purpleheart, and Douglas Fir. Every element of the vessel was constructed on site, including both masts and all necessary rigging. For safety, she is equipped with two Cummins Diesel engines and carries electronic communications and navigational equipment.
The Sailing School Vessel Spirit of South Carolina is United States Coast Guard certified and operates as a Sailing School Vessel (SSV) under Title 46, Subchapter R of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).
The keel was laid June 16, 2001. The Whiskey Plank (last plank to be installed) was fitted on July 15, 2006.
A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the latter part of the 19th century. In commercial use, they were gradually replaced by fore-and-aft rigged vessels such as schooners, as owners sought to reduce crew costs by having rigs that could be handled by fewer men. In Royal Navy use, brigs were retained for training use when the battle fleets consisted almost entirely of iron-hulled steamships.
The Bermuda sloop is a historical type of fore-and-aft rigged single-masted sailing vessel developed on the islands of Bermuda in the 17th century. Such vessels originally had gaff rigs with quadrilateral sails, but evolved to use the Bermuda rig with triangular sails. Although the Bermuda sloop is often described as a development of the narrower-beamed Jamaica sloop, which dates from the 1670s, the high, raked masts and triangular sails of the Bermuda rig are rooted in a tradition of Bermudian boat design dating from the earliest decades of the 17th century. It is distinguished from other vessels with the triangular Bermuda rig, which may have multiple masts or may not have evolved in hull form from the traditional designs.
The Pride of Baltimore was a reproduction of a typical early 19th-century "Baltimore clipper" topsail schooner, a style of vessel made famous by its success as a privateer commerce raider and small but nimble warship in the War of 1812 (1812–1815), against British merchant shipping and a vastly superior world-wide British Royal Navy. After the end of the war, Baltimore Clippers did not have sufficient cargo carrying capacity for normal merchant trade, so some were used in the illegal opium trade into China and vessels of the same type were used in the transatlantic slave trade from Africa.
America was a 19th-century racing yacht and first winner of the America's Cup international sailing trophy.
American Pride is a three-masted schooner built in 1941 by Muller Boatworks in Brooklyn, New York. It was administrated by the Children's Maritime Foundation (CMF), her home port is Long Beach, California. She is easily recognized by her bright ochre sails.
Lynx is a square topsail schooner based in Nantucket, Massachusetts. She is an interpretation of an American letter of marque vessel of the same name from 1812. The original Lynx completed one voyage, running the Royal Navy blockade; the British captured her in 1813 at the start of her second voyage and took her into service as HMS Mosquidobit.
Western Union is a historic schooner located in Key West, Florida, United States. She is berthed at the Key West Bight at 202 William Street. Western Union is the last surviving authentic working tall ship built in Florida. On May 16, 1984, Western Union was added to the US National Register of Historic Places. She is also the official flagship of the State of Florida and the flagship of the city of Key West.
The Sail and Life Training Society (SALTS), founded in 1974, is a non-profit Christian organization based in Victoria, British Columbia. SALTS provides sail training and life lessons for 1,700 young people each year on tall ships and provides a valued link to the area's maritime heritage. Currently, SALTS administrative offices are located on Herald Street in downtown Victoria, with a shop space located nearby in the Rock Bay area.
Lettie G. Howard, formerly Mystic C and Caviare, is a wooden Fredonia schooner built in 1893 in Essex, Massachusetts, USA. This type of craft was commonly used by American offshore fishermen, and is believed to be the last surviving example of its type. She was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989. She is now based at the South Street Seaport Museum in New York City.
Literally, the word pinisi refers to a type of rigging of Indonesian sailing vessels. A pinisi carries seven to eight sails on two masts, arranged like a gaff-ketch with what is called 'standing gaffs' — i.e., unlike most Western ships using such a rig, the two main sails are not opened by raising the spars they are attached to, but the sails are 'pulled out' like curtains along the gaffs which are fixed at around the centre of the masts.
Seamester is part of the Global Expeditions Group, an organization that offers academic, study abroad programs on board three sailing vessels, Ocean Star, Argo and Vela. Sea|mester began running programs in 1998 as an extension from its sister organization ActionQuest. A full semester's course load is offered on board including classes in Oceanography, Marine Biology, Professional Skipper Certification Training, Leadership, Basic Seamanship, and an Independent Research Project. Courses are accredited through the University of South Florida (USF).
Virginia is a wooden schooner that is a modern replica of an early twentieth century pilot vessel of the same name. She conducts educational programs and passenger trips along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States and Canada, and in the Caribbean.
SSV Oliver Hazard Perry is a tall ship operated by Oliver Hazard Perry Rhode Island (OHPRI) a grass-roots nonprofit based in Newport, Rhode Island. The ship is named after the American Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry (1785–1819), the hero of the naval Battle of Lake Erie (1813).
The pinas, sometimes called "pinis" as well, is a type of schooner of the east coast of the Malay peninsula, built in the Terengganu area. This kind of vessel was built of Chengal wood by the Malays since the 19th century and roamed the South China Sea and adjacent oceans as one of the two types of traditional sailing vessels the late Malay maritime culture has developed: The bedar and the pinas.
The Anthony B. Neilson was a 19th-century Sandy Hook pilot boat, built in 1854 by George Steers for a company of New York Sandy Hook pilots. She was considered to be the fastest boat in the piloting business. She helped transport New York City maritime pilots between inbound or outbound ships coming into the New York Harbor. She survived the Great Blizzard of 1888. In 1859, the Neilson was sold to a group of New Orleans pilots. The New York pilots then replaced the Neilson, with a new pilot boat, the John D. Jones.
The Coquette was a 19th-century yacht and pilot boat, built in 1845 by Louis Winde, at the Winde & Clinkard shipyard in Chelsea, Massachusetts for yachtsmen James A. Perkins. Her design was based on a model by shipbuilder Dennison J. Lawlor. The Coquette was a good example of an early American yacht with a clipper bow. As a yacht, she won the attention for outsailing the larger New York yacht Maria at the second New York Yacht Club regatta in 1846. Perkins sold the Coquette to the Boston Pilots' Association for pilot service in 1848. She continued as a pilot boat until 1867 when she was sold as a Blackbirder to be used on the African coast.
Favorite or Favorita, was a 19th-century New York Sandy Hook pilot boat built in the early 1820s. She helped transport New York City maritime pilots between inbound or outbound ships coming into the New York Harbor. Favorite collided with a United States steamer and sank in 1865 near Barnegat Lighthouse.
The Thomas F. Bayard was a 19th-century Delaware River pilot schooner built by C. & R. Poillon shipyard in 1880. She spent sixteen years as a pilot boat before being sold during the Yukon Gold Rush in 1897. She was sold again in 1906 for Seal hunting, then purchased by the Department of Marine & Fisheries where she guided freighters into New Westminster, British Columbia for 43 years. She was then acquired by the Vancouver Maritime Museum in 1978. When she sank at her mooring in 2002, the International Yacht Restoration School, Mystic Seaport and the Vancouver Maritime Museum, removed the vessel in pieces for the archeological teams to study and document the remains of her hull. The Thomas F. Bayard Collection, at the Vancouver Maritime Museum, contains the documents, history and preservation efforts.
The William Starkey was a 19th-century pilot boat built in 1854, by Benjamin F. Delano at the Thatcher Magoun shipyard for W. W. Goddard, of Boston. Starkey helped transport Boston maritime pilots between inbound or outbound ships coming into the Boston Harbor. She was named for Captain William Starkey, one of the founders of the Boston Marine Society. The Virginia Pilots' Association purchased the Boston schooner William Starkey in 1865, where she became a pioneer of the associations' fleet and the oldest pilot boat on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. In the age steam, she was sold in 1899 to Thomas Darling of Hampton, Virginia.
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