A Glimpse of Friendship

We miss our tall ship! We really do, and it pains us to know that she will be away from port through October. National Park Service has been great about keeping us in the loop, and this morning park historian Emily Murphy sent me a link to pictures and information about the Friendship, which has been hauled out for work in Boothbay Harbor, Maine.

The drama of the missing tall ship began in May this year, when Friendship traveled to Boothbay Harbor, Maine, for her haul-out and required US Coast Guard certification inspection. Unfortunately, during the inspection a considerable amount of rot was discovered in the ship's stem. (Like a plant, if the stem is compromised, a boat doesn't have much holding it up.) It's important to remember that Friendship is a wooden vessel, and she sits in water 24 hours a day. Rot is not unusual, and it is something that needs to be taken care of to ensure the Friendship will return and be here for many years into the future.

I suppose the difference between the original Friendship's Salem of 1797 and today's Salem is that the boatyards were all here in Salem. She would have been hauled out locally, and the local gossips and town criers would have kept us all abreast of Friendship's status. Today she is far away, and we wish her well for speedy repairs and a safe return.

You can see pictures of the ongoing work on Friendship on nps.gov/sama. I've pulled two of my favorites into the blog.

I'll let you know when Friendship is scheduled to return to her berth on Derby Wharf.