On the preceding Naval and Maritime Continuation Page 1:

    On this Naval and Maritime Continuation Page 2:

Tall Ships

Glen Cove had acquired Greenport's old "tall" ship, the "Regina Maris" and berths the "Phoenix" (an environmental training ship) [as well as the "Thomas Jefferson" (an hydraulically-operated working side-wheeler)]!  Nearby Oyster Bay houses the oyster sloop "Christeen" {sic}, under restoration.

 
[Thumbnail images; click on pictures for larger images.]
(Feb 99 Photos by and © 1999 - S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)

Uh, oh!  The Regina Maris "down" in Glen Cove Creek!  How about the Regina Submaris?  It's the 100th anniversary of the Holland submarine and the Regina Maris got carried away with herself and very successfully emulated the South's Hunley (except that no one went down with our Queen of the Sea):

(06 Jun 00 Photo by and © 2000 - S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)

Plans were to put a plastic diaper under her and pump her out (again!), but she's GONE!  NEWSDAY for 05 Feb 02 (page A17) reported that she was too far gone for any possible economic salvage and has been cut up and her masts set in concrete on the esplanade along the water's edge; her wheel, portions of her oak decking, and her 94-year-old figurehead are to be displayed alongside.  Here is all I could see on 07 Feb 02 but the waterfont park is under construction and posted and I'm no trespasser, so here is all I could see, her masts and yards, complete with shrouds, ratlines, and rigging [but look at that poor fore top-gallant yard (unless it's the upper fore-topsail yard)!]:

(07 Feb 02 Photo by and © 2002 - S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)

[For the record, thanks to Pierre Manigault, of Charleston, SC, who sailed to Greenland in Regina Maris in 1983 (an experience that led to his serving in two other big square-riggers over the next five years) {only slightly edited}:]

"Regina was launched as a three-masted fore-and-aft rigged schooner in 1908 at the famous Ring-Anderson shipyard in Svendborg, Denmark.  She carried general cargo in the Baltic until the end of WWII when, with cargoes for schooners drying up, she became a cod fisherman off the Grand Banks and Iceland.  In 1960, she resumed carrying cargo in the Baltic and, in 1963, she caught fire off the island of Bornholm.  She was abandoned by her crew before a Russian trawler came along, put out the fire and towed her into the port of Ystad.  She was badly damaged.  By all rights she should have ended her sailing career then ... and an impressive career it would have been.  Through 50 years and two wars she had already outlived most of her kind.  Fate is strange, however.  The fire that should have killed her proved to be the catalyst for her rebirth.  The two Norwegian brothers Wilson were romanced by her charm; they rebuilt her, rerigged her as a barkentine, and launched her on her second and significantly more exciting life.  Through the course of two circumnavigations with the Wilsons she became the first wooden sailing ship to round Cape Horn in 60 years, she was dismasted in the Atlantic, survived a typhoon in the Indian Ocean, and had her crew mutiny their captain.  The voyage created much excitement and a movie was made that a whole generation of Norwegians was raised on.  After seven years with the Wilsons, she was sold to an American syndicate that put her in the Pacific charter trade.  On one cruise, she was caught in a hurricane off the Mexican coast with 56 people crammed aboard.  A sea flooded the engine room early on, leaving the ship's company no choice but to bail with buckets.  Five days later she was abandoned (for the second time in her career).  She was salvaged and put back on the market.  In 1975 she starred in a movie about Joseph Conrad.  After filming, she was left in Piraeus, Greece.  In 1976, fortune shone on her again when Dr. George Nichols of the Ocean Research and Education Society in Gloucester, MA, bought her and began the final chapter of her sailing life.  Between April 1976 and October 1985, when she was retired, Regina Maris sailed more than 100,000 miles in waters from Alaska to the Caribbean to Greenland.  She had more than 1,000 different people pass through her whale research programs and launched many of them into marine conservation careers.  A 1988 count indicated that at least a third of the members of the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Association had sailed on Regina.  Much of the data gathered on Regina's voyages contributed to the International Whaling Commission's 1985 moratorium on commercial whaling."

"After the fire much of her was replaced. But even that was superficial ... she still had the same strong oak frames, the same heavy stem ... but, yes, a new deck, new deck houses, and a new rig.  She went on to have a second life that was infinitly more exciting than most ships (or people for that matter).  Was she worth saving?"  "She was a beautiful ship with a rich history and a profound influence on the people who sailed in her.  She was one of the last two wooden barkentines still afloat (the only one now is Gazella Of Philadelphia).  Perhaps Regina wasn't worth saving, but if she wasn't, what ship is?" {emphases mine - SB,III}.

On 22 and 24 Oct 03, I heard from Chuck van der Linden, who sailed sailed on her in 1979 off the coast of Alaska; "one of those things you remember all your life".  He discovered my page while trying to find out what had happened to her (he'd heard all sorts of things, including her being deliberately sunk to weather out a hurricane).  Chuck put me on to this image of the Regina Maris in drydock at the Gloucester Marine Railway in October of 1980:

(Photo by Richard Stanley, courtesy of G. A. Chase - all rights reserved)
[Thumbnail image - click on picture for larger image.]

(1984 photo courtesy of P. Hinkle - all rights reserved)

They state that "Regina Maris" was converted in 1990 to a threemast schooner and had very spacious deck areas. Even though not luxurious, they say she showed very well, had space for up to 80 day guests, and was a very nice traditional sailing ship even for longer cruises.  They give these dimensions:

I was sort of wondering above if the top yard was the topgallant or another; Chuck assures me that it's another.  At the time he sailed on her, she was rigged with five square sails and (if his 20-year-old memory is not faulty) they were Main, Lower Top, Upper Top, Topgallant, and Royal.  Chuck says (very slightly edited), "I console myself with the knowledge that she outlived all but one of her kind.  She cheated 'death' (from a ship's perspective) more times than most square riggers have masts.  She had great adventures, especially for a ship born as a simple Baltic freighter carrying timber and 'nitrates' (a kind word for fertilizer).  She touched more lives than nearly all of her kind (with the exception of ships like Eagle) and parts of her (albeit not original parts) live on yet, even if they are on dry land and will never sail again.  Not the end one would hope, but a better end than most of her peers."

Chuck wishes the rigging could be restored to the "original' (barkentine) five yard- arms; he thinks it looks so strange to see her with only three yards.  "It's just not right; that's not the ship I knew...".  I will pass his comments along to the powers-that-be in Glen Cove.

Driving down (southbound) from Connecticut on the afternoon of 29 Mar 01, along the lower reaches of the Hutchinson "River" on the parkway of that name, under lowering skies, I was astonished to see a square-rigger tied up across the creek from the gas station just north of the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge; I doubled back and around again and stopped and here's what I saw (looking NW, W, and SW, respectively, in reverse order of how I saw her and how the pictures were taken with my trusty digital that just happened to be in the car):

(Photos by SB,III 29 Mar 01 missing!)

That's just about the same spot where a large Chinese junk used to be moored ca. 1960 or so; she had been sailed across the Pacific by her owner after the Korean "police action" (as I recall)!

Uh, oh!  She's gone (like the pictures)!  Does anyone know where she went?  However, happily, Pete Turecek of Brooklyn also took a fancy to Lisa and also took a photo of her which he is kind enough to share with us:

(Photo by and courtesy of P. Turecek - all rights reserved)

Nope and yes!  But it's NOT a PC after all; on 20 Oct 03, I heard from a NYC- area boater who believes that it was the hull of a late 1970's or early 1980's Hatteras double cabin motor yacht called "Blue Eyes".  If he remembers correctly, that boat was on the Mianus River in Cos Cob, Connecticut, for a while; the owner took her away after a couple of years, and he never saw her again until she turned up in the Bronx ... with her topsides burned away.  Maybe not as interesting as being a sub chaser ... but he does believe that's what I saw there.  He did, however, find a very nice example of what was some sort of sub chaser or something like it moored off of City Island a few years back .... she had beautiful lines and he'll try to snap some photos if he sees it again.

Now, back to the Lisa; on 21 Apr 04, I heard from Erik C. Abranson out in Washington state that the brig "Lisa" is now known as the "Poincaré" and, starting last summer (2003), mostly operates harbor trips in Boston harbor, in tandem with her erstwhile sistership Formidable (now fitted with a brigantine sail plan):

(Drawing from Formidable site - all rights reserved)

04/21/04
Extract from Sailing Vessel Database
"Poincare.ezf"
tallships@yahoo.com

                                   POINCARE
                                     Brig
                                     steel
                                      USA

NAME:             POINCARE
Meaning of name:  Named after French President Raymond Poincaré
                  (1860-1934)
Bow decoration:   Beakhead
Previous names:   "Lisa" of Wlimington, DE (?-2002)
Call Sign:
Sail No.:
Rig:              Brig
Type:
Model:            Hard chine hull
Livery:           Black with white checkerboard
Flag:             USA
Port of Registry: Gloucester, MA
Homeport:         Boston
Built:            ~1992
 Keel laid:       in 1986 or later
 Launched:        ~1992
 Commissioned:    ~1993-94
Converted:        No
Architect:        Thomas E Colvin (USA)
                  and James D. Rosborough (Canada) [1]
Builder:          John Leibolt (as Boldt Shipbuilding Ltd), City
                  Island, NY
Construction:     Steel
Deck:             Steel
Superstructures:  Raised fo'c'sle and poop
Major refits:     2002-3
Current Owner:    Willow Farm Inc. (Keating Willcox) (since fall
2002)
Operator:         Owner
Previous owners*: John Leibolt
                  Mrs Leibolt and Son
Length Extreme:   21.9 m [72 ft]
Length Hull:      16.8 m [55 ft]
Length on Deck:
Length BP:
Length Waterline: 14.80 m [49 ft]
Beam:             5.5 m [18 ft]
Depth in hold:
Draught:          2.13 m [7 ft]
Tonnages:         40 grt
Displacement:
Rig Height:       16.8 m [55 ft]
Masting:          Steel (masts in 3 sections, fidded)
Rigging:
Spars:
Sails:            14 (3 headsails, 3 square sails on fore mast; 4 main
                  mast staysails; 3 square sails on main mast and gaff
                  brig sail)
Sail cloth:       White Dacron
Sail area:
Best speed u/sail
Speed u/power:
Engine:           140 hp Yanmar?
Armament:
Complement:       Crew + 6 passengers
Who sails?:       Paying passengers
Accommodation:
Special amenities
Present use:      Day trips (head and charter); festivals
Former uses*:     Originally intended for a school-at-sea programme
Usual Waters:     Harbour tours, Boston, MA
IRTSV Class:      A2
TSR Class:
Certification:    USCG uninspected vessel

REMARKS
* From original to most recent
[1] The original plans for wooden construction were designed by James
    D Rosborough and were modified for steel construction with hard
    chines by Thomas E Colvin.
[2] Has a sistership, the "Formidable", now with modified sail plan
    (brigantine) and under the same current ownership:

Then there's always HMS Bounty (a replica):

From Mark (sabre_fan)

Rogue Wave(?) - my folks honeymooned in Europe (Mom was Hungarian) and went over on the Bremen in mid-December 1932 and returned on the Conte di Savoia in late January 1933.  While they were coming home, the ship hit a huge wave (whether it was a rogue wave or not is almost immaterial) and I grew up thinking Dad took these shots, one of which is dated 30 Jan 1933, from the bridge:   (01 Jan 07)

(From the collection of and © 2007 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
[Thumbnailed images, click on pictures for larger images]

Now, who can tell me what "T/N" means?  The "N" almost certainly means "Navire" or "Navale" and the "T" might have to do with "Transatlantico" or "Turbina".

The Jumbo ship Stellamare capsized in the port of Albany, NY, on 09 Dec 2003, while loading a 308-ton GE generator; some coverage of this is on my Big Crane page 1.   (02 Aug 07)

Small Die-cast Ship Models - in addition to the large collection of Comet AUTHENTICAST 1:1200 U.S. WWII ship models and 1:108 U.S. WWII tanks listed elsewhere, the same collection included many ship models by other makers, namely Wiking 1:1250, Tri-ang 1:1200, Hansa 1:1250, Mignot 1:1200, Mercury, Anguplas 1:1200, and Europa Linea; the whole ship collection has been sold.

THUMBS UP!

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S. Berliner, III

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