Schooner Fame

There are bigger sailboats cruising around Boston, but a full-scale replica of the tough Salem privateer that took British booty in the War of 1812 has a hard-to-beat heritage.

The 70-foot schooner Fame sails from Pickering Wharf in downtown Salem three times daily to cruise historic Salem Sound. The trip takes almost two hours and is available through Halloween.

“Salem Sound is beautiful,” said owner Michael Rutstein. “And sailing Fame is an amazing experience.”
“I’ve always loved sailing and this was a great opportunity to recreate a part of Salem history that had nothing to do with witchcraft. We show people what it was like in the 18th century. It put Salem and all New England on the map.”

Passengers learn about the fishermen, pirates, privateers, traders and men of war who shaped the North Shore and the fishing trade that prompted Cape Ann's first European settlements.

During the sail, there are tales of the little schooners of George Washington's fleet, the East India trade that made Salem rich and the privateers of the Revolution and the War of 1812.

The original Fame began as a fast wooden Chebacco fishing schooner strengthened, armed and converted to a privateer in 1812. The coming of war had halted American coastal fishing. 

Fame was arguably the first American privateer to bring home a prize, and she made more than 20 captures and made millions before being wrecked in Canada’s Bay of Fundy in 1814.

Rutstein, 46, had the new Fame was built in 2003 in nearby Essex, where craftsmen have built boats since the 1630s. She is framed and planked, like the original, of white oak trunel-fastened in the traditional manner. Local spruce became masts, gaffs, booms, and bowsprit. Much of the work was done at Burnham Boatyard, across a small inlet from the Essex Shipbuilding Museum.

The American navy was small when the federal government, under President Thomas Jefferson, authorized some private vessels to destroy British trade and, if possible, warships. They became government-approved pirates against English ships.

With impending war and hard times, a group of mariners and merchants bought a schooner built in Annisquam on Cape Ann, with a broad bow and a pointed stern. The width added stability. She could carry a crew of up to 30 with two small cannon.

HelloBoston Tip: Things were rough in 1812, but  now you can buy on-board beer, wine and soft drinks. There is a restroom below decks, accessed by a short ladder. Tickets available at a booth outside Victoria Station restaurant on the wharf.

- by Dan Sheridan, Boston Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)