A tall ship will sail up the Penobscot River again this week for just the second time in about four decades.
The 131-foot schooner Harvey Gamage is set to tie up in Bucksport on Thursday with public events planned through Aug. 2 as part of a celebration around Penobscot Bay and the lower river marking the country’s 250th anniversary.
“The Penobscot River was the interstate for generations, where all the commerce came up and down,” said Dick Campbell of the Penobscot Maritime Heritage Association, which promotes the 4PortLoop events. “Boatbuilding, forest products … it just has so much history that people just driving across the Interstate 395 bridge [between Bangor and Brewer] don’t know anything about.”
The week highlighting the area’s maritime past comes five years after the last tall ship visit, originally planned to celebrate Maine’s 200th statehood anniversary, which brought some controversy for including a replica of a ship sailed by Christopher Columbus. This year is focused on education, with chances remaining for the public to get involved, according to Campbell.
The Harvey Gamage may be the most visible of them when it ties up at Bucksport’s town dock on Thursday evening.
It was launched from the South Bristol shipyard of the same name in 1973, the last of five reproduction cargo ships built for tourism in Penobscot Bay, according to its owner, Phin Sprague.
“When you look at this [ship] through the eyes of history, what you should be seeing is that this was the 18-wheeler of its day that was carrying the cargo and the goods up and down the coast,” he said.
Sprague is also the current leader of the Marine Learning Project, a nonprofit in its second year running the ship that aims to get high school and college students sailing and expose them to the “immense” opportunities for work in Maine’s marine industries. While training vessels have typically been for private school students, he said, the project focuses on those who wouldn’t normally have access to sailing.
It’s hard to explain the effect of working on a ship to non-sailors, Spague said. But the teamwork it takes to sail evens the playing field and shows kids that their competence is what matters, that they have a place and can fit into it while developing other “soft skills” for success in adult life.
Sprague wants to expose high school and college age students to work on the water and show them they have choices to stay in the state as adults with whatever skills they want to pursue — from fishing to boatyards to research labs — aiming to reverse trends of young people leaving Maine to find work.
Sprague hopes this week’s trips will also attract interested teachers or other potential partners.
“If it works out, it should be sustainable for a long time and really change the future of a lot of kids,” he said.
Public trips will sail along the Penobscot River on Friday, with narration from Penobscot Marine Museum historians and a reenactor recounting the Penobscot Expedition, an Revolutionary War battle that historians call the country’s worst naval loss until Pearl Harbor.
Passengers will also learn about the river’s industrial past on the trips, which run from Bucksport to Bangor on Friday morning and Bangor back that afternoon.
The Gamage will be open for tours in Bucksport from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
On Monday morning, it sails from Bucksport to Castine, a one-way trip open to passengers, before other trips to Stonington, North Haven and then Rockland. High school students can board for an educational voyage, Aug. 2-7.
Back on the river, a more modern celebration follows over the weekend, when more than 300 lighted drones — the area’s first such show, according to Campbell — will be flown at 8:45 p.m. in Bucksport on Saturday and Bangor/Brewer on Sunday.
Numerous other events run through Aug. 3, focused on the ports of Bucksport, Castine, Searsport and Bangor/Brewer.
Among them are rowing races of 32-foot “gig boats” in Bangor and Brewer. Campbell said organizers are still seeking teams of six to compete.
Other vessels in the area throughout the week include Maine Maritime Academy’s new high-tech training ship, yachts from Monaco and a boat 3D printed at the University of Maine. A full schedule of events is available on the Penobscot Maritime Heritage Association’s website.
