Essex-Built Schooners Take Center Stage at Sail Boston 250

When dozens of tall ships and historic sailing vessels converging on Boston Harbor earlier this week for Sail Boston 250, the Essex Historical Society & Shipbuilding Museum reported that Essex was represented in a way few communities can match.

Seven schooners with ties to the Essex River shipbuilding tradition participated in the July 11-16 celebration marking America's 250th anniversary, according to the museum.  Out of roughly 60 participating vessels, more than 10 percent were built in Essex, a remarkable testament to the town's centuries-old reputation as one of America's premier wooden shipbuilding centers.

The Essex-built vessels include Ernestina Morrissey, Adventure, Thomas E. Lannon, Lewis H. Story, FAME, Isabella, and Ardelle.

Five of those schooners — Thomas E. Lannon, Lewis H. Story, FAME, Isabella, and Ardelle — were built by Essex master shipwright Harold Burnham, whose work has helped extend the town's wooden boatbuilding tradition into the 21st century.  Rather than simply recreating historic vessels, Burnham has demonstrated that traditional wooden schooners remain a living craft on the Essex waterfront.

The museum said the event recognizes generations of Essex shipbuilders whose work helped shape the iconic American schooner.  Designers such as W. Starling Burgess built upon techniques refined by local craftsmen, producing vessels renowned for both their beauty and their performance.

The celebration comes with a reminder that preserving wooden vessels is an ongoing challenge.  In fact, as the museum reported, earlier this month, the 1924 Essex-built pilot schooner Pilot sank at its berth in Brooklyn, NY.  Officials described the loss as heartbreaking while expressing hope that Pilot can eventually be raised and restored.

Designed by W. Starling Burgess and built by John F. James & Son in Essex, Pilot spent nearly five decades guiding oceangoing vessels safely into Boston Harbor before embarking on an extraordinary second career as a sail training vessel and movie relic, appearing in the 1977 film Captains Courageous.  Most recently it operated as a floating oyster bar in Brooklyn.

The museum noted that wooden vessels require constant maintenance and regular use to remain healthy.  That philosophy explains the museum's protection of the Evelina M. Goulart, the 1927 Essex fishing schooner displayed in the museum yard and featured in Kory Curcuru’s Timeline Cape Ann documentary film series for 1623 Studios, Cape Ann’s public access television station. 

Rather than returning the vessel to the water after it was salvaged following Hurricane Gloria, the museum has preserved it as one of the most complete surviving examples of traditional Essex shipbuilding.  

As Sail Boston fills the harbor this week with vessels from around the world, the museum says Essex's contribution represents generations of shipbuilding craftsmanship continues.