Majestic tall ship's season harkened back to her maiden voygage.
This year, Maryland’s iconic tall ship, Pride of Baltimore II, celebrated her 35th sailing season. Keeping with her legacy, in 2023 she sailed more than 10,000 nautical miles and welcomed more than 40,000 visitors across her deck.
First launched on April 30, 1988, and commissioned that following October, the 157-foot reproduction of a 19th-century Baltimore Clipper topsail schooner has sailed 275,000 nautical miles. Her mission: to carry on the legacy of the first Pride as the goodwill ambassador of the city of Baltimore and the state of Maryland.
Her 35th anniversary season retraced some of the footsteps from her maiden voyage in the fall of 1988 that took the ship more than 8000 miles from home and included a visit to Galveston, FL. Patrick Smith, Pride II program coordinator, reports, “It was truly a great season, I can’t think of a better way for the ship to spend her 35th birthday than to do what she does best: to sail."
The season kicked off in March, sailing south to participate in Tall Ships Challenge Gulf Coast, and included port stops in St. Petersburg, Galveston, and Pensacola, FL. Pride II returned home and competed in the 50th Anniversary Governor’s Cup Yacht Race in August and the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race in October.
The organization continued its partnership with the National Park Service's Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail, which allowed it to welcome hundreds of people aboard for free sailing experiences. Pride II also participated in the 400th anniversary celebrations in Gloucester, MA, the Annapolis Sailboat Show, and Sultana’s Downrigging Weekend. Learn more at pride2.org.
