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Mystic Sailing out of Newport 2014
| The Mystic, a 170-foot,
three-masted square-topsail schooner combines the elegance of the great Age of
Sail with modern engineering and safety standards. Launched in 2007, she was
designed as a working passenger vessel. She was based in Newport, summer 2014,
for crew training while the SSV Oliver Hazard Perry was being
renovated. These images were from a weekend sail that ventured half-way to Block Island and back to overnight at anchor in Dutch Harbor on the west side of Jamestown during a strong orange sunset. The return trip traveled under the Jamestown Bridge into Narraganset Bay. We turned south just shy of Half-Way Rock and then back past Gould Island and the Newport Navy Base before passing under the Newport Bridge to the State Dock at Ft. Adams. Beneath her graceful lines is a welded steel hull, but above the deck she presents the timeless appearance of a classic nineteenth-century merchant schooner. With three towering masts, fifteen sails, and nearly 8,500 square feet of canvas, Mystic is an impressive sight under sail. She measures 170 feet overall, carries a 32-foot beam, and is powered when necessary by a 500-horsepower auxiliary diesel engine. Certified for ocean service, she accommodates 150 passengers on day cruises or 34 overnight guests in cabins. Although modern in construction, Mystic captures the spirit of the great schooners that once carried cargo along the Atlantic coast. . |