Wednesday, May 2, 2012

SHERMAN ZWICKER

The sailing and boating communities are making last minute preparation for the summer season in Maine.  The SHERMAN ZWICKER has been in BBH Shipyard for extensive deck repair and now is getting her last minute summer overhaul to prepare for a busy summer. 

The SHERMAN ZWICKER, is a 142’ Grand Banks wooden, auxiliary fishing schooner.  Built in 1948 at the Smith and Rhuland Shipyard, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, she was the largest Grand Banks schooner ever built.. The slightly modified traditional Banks schooner was among the last of her type to be built and may be the only one left floating and functional.  She is fitted with a large marine diesel engine as a prime mover.

Vessels of her type were used in the Grand Banks dory fisheries out of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia and other ports until the mid-sixties.  She could carry 200 tons of fish and was referred to as a 12-dory, which had 24 active fishermen with an overall crew of about 28 men.The SHERMAN ZWICKER made her last trip to the Banks in the early sixties.

In the summer, SHERMAN ZWICKER spends much of her time at the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, Maine.  As a museum, the schooner represents about 1000 of sister vessels which sailed to the Banks in the salt fish trade. You can see the "ZWICKER" in Boothbay on the BBH Shipyard dock during Windjammer Days, June 24-27.

Walk through SHERMAN ZWICKER here.

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