Grace Bailey (schooner)

Grace Bailey, also known for many years as Mattie, is a two-masted schooner whose home port is Camden Harbor, Camden, Maine. Built in 1882 in Patchogue, New York, she is one of four surviving two-masted wooden-hulled schooners, once the most common vessel in the American coasting trade.[3] She was one of the first ships in the fleet of historic vessels known as "Maine windjammers", which offer cruises in Penobscot Bay and the Maine coast, entering that service in 1939. She last underwent major restoration in 1989–90.[4] She was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1992.[2]

History
NameGrace Bailey
Launched1882
General characteristics
Tonnage58 (gross)
Length118 ft (36 m) LOA
Beam23 ft 5 in (7.14 m) breadth
Grace Bailey
Grace Bailey (schooner) is located in Maine
Grace Bailey (schooner)
Grace Bailey (schooner) is located in the United States
Grace Bailey (schooner)
LocationCamden, Maine
Coordinates44°12′36″N 69°3′50″W
ArchitectOliver Perry Smith
NRHP reference No.90001466
Significant dates
Added to NRHP1 October 1990[1]
Designated NHL4 December 1992[2]

Description and history

Grace Bailey is a two-master schooner with an 80-foot (24 m) deck and an overall length of 118 feet (36 m). Her rigging consists of a mainsail, foresail, and two headsails. She has no engines, normally sailing with a small boat that is powered by an internal diesel engine. Her wooden hull is framed and planked in oak, with pine decking. When built, it was originally fastened with wooden treenails, but these were replaced by galvanized ship spikes during restoration. Below decks she is now outfitted with cabins for carrying passengers and crew.[3]

Grace Bailey was built in 1882 in Patchogue, New York by Gilbert Smith[5] for owner Edwin Bailey, who named her after his daughter who was born in that year. She was rebuilt in 1906, at which time she was renamed Mattie, a name she sailed under until her restoration in 1989–90. She served in the coasting trade until 1939, the last twenty of those years on the Maine coastline. Relatively small ships like this were the workhorse of the coasting fleet, carrying goods and supplies to areas where road access at the time was difficult or impossible.[3]

In 1939 she was chartered by Frank Swift, who had just two years earlier seized on the idea of using schooners for passenger excursions, since they had become financially unviable in the coasting freight trade. Meeting with financial success, he purchased her outright the following year. She has since then served in the "windjammer" fleet, providing sailing cruises to paying customers.[3]

On October 9, 2023, her main mast snapped while under sail just outside the breakwater in Rockland, Maine. Initial reports were that one passenger was deceased and three were injured. https://www.penbaypilot.com/article/mast-breaks-schooner-grace-bailey-while-under-sail-one-dead/179326

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. "Grace Bailey (schooner)". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on September 23, 2010. Retrieved May 17, 2008.
  3. Dean, Nicholas; Mohney, Kirk F. (October 1990). Delgado, James P (ed.). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Grace Bailey / Two-masted Schooner Grace Bailey". National Park Service. and
    "Accompanying four photos, exterior and interior, from 1989, 1990, and undated". Retrieved September 1, 2012.
  4. "Grace Bailey". Maine Windjammers. Retrieved January 26, 2015.
  5. National Historic Landmark nomination documents

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