Pride of Baltimore II in Portsmouth
From today's pilotonline.com: "When the tall wooden sailing ship the Pride of Baltimore II needs its annual spring maintenance, the boat leaves home and travels the length of the Chesapeake Bay to this city on the Elizabeth River. The reason: Not everybody can haul a boat this size out of the water.
"There's a lot of marinas up there, but there are not many that can handle the draft," Pride Capt. Jan Miles said Thursday.
The Pride's draft - the distance between the waterline and the bottom of the keel - is 12-1/2 feet. Ocean Marine Yacht Center has a submersible lift that plunges more than 18 feet under the water. Ships are floated onto a cradle and lifted out. A marine railway system moves ships into the yard, freeing the lift for the next job. The Pride, a replica of an 1812-era schooner, on Thursday rested its thick lead keel on large wooden blocks stacked on the shipyard cradle system. Its hull is 100 feet long and the tallest of its distinguishing raked, or angled, masts rises 110 feet. It weighs 208 tons..." Read the full story here.
Pride of Baltimore II photo above by Mark Talbott
