April 2002
Dedicated to the Preservation of the Maritime History of the Hudson River Valley
One Rondout Landing, Kingston, NY 12401 - 845-338-0071, FAX 845-338-0583
www.hrmm.org
The Schooner Mystic Whaler
Will be at the Hudson River Maritime Museum dock
during the Kingston Shad Festival - May 4 and 5
The Mystic Whaler will be docked at the Museum during the Kingston shad festival and available for on-board tours and sails. Sails for the
public on the Mystic Whaler are available on both days of the Shad
Festival at the Museum's dock at 3 PM. These sails will be offered by the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater. Reservations may be made by calling the Clearwater Sail Coordinator at (845) 454-7673. If tickets remain available at the time of each sail, they may also be purchased at the dock at that time.
 Mystic Whaler |
1 PM to 3 PM Open for on-board visitsThe Mystic Whaler is a tribute to the coastal trading schooners that plied New England's waters a century ago. Built in 1967 and rebuilt in 1993, the Mystic Whaler measures 83 feet on deck, with an extreme length of 110 feet. Displacing 100 tons, she carries 3000 square feet of sail. The Mystic Whaler can accommodate up to 65 people on day sails and lobster dinner cruises, and there are overnight accommodations for 34 passengers on 2, 3 and 5 day trips.
3 PM to 5 PM Afternoon sail
The sloop was the forerunner of the vast 19th century commerce on the Hudson which was exceeded by few, if any, rivers in the world. The sloop played an important role in the development and growth of the State of New York, particularly in connection with the Erie Canal, resulting in the city of New York becoming the chief city of the United States.
The sloop proved so useful that it was able to compete successfully for almost a hundred years with the Hudson River steamboats. Sloops often made better time between Albany and New York when the wind was fair than the early steamboats. The sloop died not directly because of the Clermont and her successors,—those giant steam passenger boats that traveled between New York and Albany,—but she succumbed, with the schooner, to the great steam drawn “Tows” that moved slowly and silently up and down the river bearing on their barges, scows and canal boats of vast tonnage.
The two-masted schooners began to be a favorite rig on the river in the late 1860's, and in some instances, sloops were altered into schooners. The North River schooner differed greatly from the “Down East” schooner that formerly sailed up the river for coal as far as Newburgh, or Rondout where the Delaware and Hudson canal reached the river. These vessels, especially when light, were clumsy looking craft with their blunt bows and bowsprits pointed high. The North River schooner was built on somewhat the same plan as the sloop, having a center board, and her bowsprit carried out almost horizontal, and one head-sail, the single jib, attached to a jib-boom, as with the sloop.
The Kingston Shad Festival will be held at the Hudson River Maritime Museum on the weekend of May 4 and 5, 11 AM to 5 PM. The Schooner Mystic Whaler will be docked at the Museum during the shad festival and available for on-board tours and sails.
Admission to the Museum: Adults, $3.00; Children 6 to 12, $1.00; Children 5 and under, free; Boat rides to the historic Rondout Lighthouse, $4.00; Shad Dinners $8.00
For more information:
Kingston Shad Festival
May 4-5, at the MuseumSloops of the Hudson River
By William E. Verplanck and Moses W. Collyer
The book that inspired Pete Seeger to build the Sloop Clearwater
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