Sea History

If you are near Cape Ann next Wednesday, check out the celebrations for Schooner ADVENTURE’s 100th birthday!

Adventure's 100th birthday is less than a week away... and we want to celebrate with YOU!

Join us next Wednesday, September 16, for The Party on the Pier from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM at the Harriet Webster Pier at Maritime Gloucester. This free, family-friendly celebration is open to everyone as we celebrate 100 years of Adventure with festivities throughout the day.

Eager to get out on the water? Our ticketed birthday sail aboard Adventure is sold out, but you can sail alongside her aboard Ardelle! From 4:00 - 6:30 PM on the 16th, join us as stewards of our National Historic Landmark on this very special anniversary sail, led by Captain Harold Burnham on Ardelle.

Whether you join us on the pier, on the water, or both, we can't wait to celebrate this incredible milestone with you.

Reserve your Ardelle sail tickets at the link in the comments below.

Maritime Gloucester

Check out the latest issue of SEA HISTORY. If you are an NMHS member, expect it in your mailbox any day now, if you haven't received it already. National Maritime Historical Society members can also view it online (non-members can view all past issues except the most recent ones) on our website at: https://seahistory.org/magazine/. Of course, we'd love for you to join NMHS. Not only can you get SEA HISTORY shipped right to your mailbox 4x a year, but you can help preserve our maritime history and heritage through supporting the work NMHS does all year round outside of the magazine. We can only keep doing what we are doing and build on that work through membership in the Society. Thanks very much and enjoy this issue.
https://seahistory.org/join-sea-history/

Join us this evening for a presentation by our friend Carl Herzog, the public historian at the USS USS Constitution Museum.

First Thursdays Seminar Series:Old Ironsides Circles the Globe with Carl HerzogThursday, 3 September 2026 First Thursdays Seminar Series: Old Ironsides Circles the Globe with Carl Herzog Join Carl Herzog, Public Historian at the USS Constitution Museum, on Thursday, 3 September at 7 PM ET for a virtual seminar on USS Constitution’s 1844–1846 World Cruise.

Grady White's legacy just expanded...

Sell the Company for $400 Million? He’s Giving It Away Instead. After his sole heir died, Eddie Smith, the owner of Grady-White Boats, looked for a way to pass on his legacy. He was inspired by Patagonia to pledge future profits to charity.

a few more posts with some highlights from SailBoston....
• Our hats off to the crew of the 1877 barque ELISSA, which sailed all the way from her homeport in Galveston, Texas, to participate in all five Sail250 ports. She carried squares all the way into the inner harbor, demonstrating the crew's stamina, skill, and enthusiasm. She is a beautiful and classy ship. Fair Winds to them on their return voyage back to Texas.
• The JUAN BAUTISTA CAMBIASO from the Dominican Republic gets the (unofficial) prize for having the most fun. They blasted local Dominican music (see the video clip in the photo gallery) all day as they sailed along. A few others ships also played music as they navigated the parade route. We even heard one of the Class A visiting ships playing Dire Straits!
• Massachusetts-built and/or -based historic ships had a fine showing: frigate USS CONSTITUTION; schooners ADVENTURE, ERNESTINA-MORRISSEY, AMERICAN EAGLE, HINDU, TABOR BOY, TYRONE, and WHEN AND IF; and MAYFLOWER II (before you get all hot-and-bothered about her being included in the historic vessel designation, she was built in 1956 and was added to the US National Register of Historic Places in 2020, making her a both a "replica" and historic vessel at the same time!). Traditional sailing ships in Massachusetts (built and/or based) schooners ARDELLE, ISABELLA, FAME, THOMAS LANNON, LEWIS H. STORY, LIBERTY CLIPPER, LYNX, and DENIS SULLIVAN, and the cutter BLOODHOUND also participated, sailing in fine fashion throughout. CONSTITUTION, EAGLE, ERNESTINA-MORRISSEY, ADVENTURE, MAYFLOWER led the parade past Castle Island, where a crowd cheered them on as CONSTITUTION fired off a gun salute. It was the first time I have been able to see MAYFLOWER under sail. Kudos to Captain Whit Perry and his able crew.
• Schooner BOWDOIN's crew of Maine Maritime Academy showed off their skills by sailing far off the wind over near where a TV news broadcast was going on and jibing with grace and efficiency.
• Maine vessels had a great showing: Ketch ANGELIQUE and schooner AMERICAN EAGLE of the Maine windjammer fleet made the trip from Penobscot Bay and wowed the spectators by simply doing what they do so well every day in the summer. Special shout-out to Maine's First Ship VIRGINIA, under the command of Capt. JB Smith (winner of last year's NMHS Distinguished Service award), for sailing the pinnace VIRGINIA (a.k.a. Maine’s First Ship) down from Bath, Maine, with an all-volunteer crew.
• PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II, as usual, looking great and entertaining the crowds ashore and afloat with some well-timed cannon fire.

Special thanks to photographer Cindy Russell (cindyrussellphoto.com).

Did we miss your ship or your favorite ship? If so, please post your pic(s) in the comments below.

But wait...there's more! A few noteworthy highlights from last weekend. We will be posting more pics from Boston, but first a pretty cool event took place between NYC and Boston when the four Gorch-Fock-class barques set sail in a 60nm race, the Five Sisters Cup, for the first time since the 1976 OpSail event. While we did not get to witness it because it mostly took place offshore, the Gorch Fock-class barques USCGC EAGLE; GORCH FOCK (II)—Germany; MIRCEA—Romania; and SAGRES—Portugal participated in the Five Sisters Cup. The 5th sister is GORCH FOCK (I), which was retired from seagoing duty in 2003 and now serves as a museum ship in Stralsund, Germany. Congratulations to the champion—GORCH FOCK! What an experience for the cadets and anyone able to participate in and/or see the race firsthand. The rest of us have to settle for photos...