Built as a wooden two masted fishing schooner of the Fredonia type by Arthur D. Storey, Essex, Massachusetts, USA for himself 3/8 shares, the other shares holders were William H. Perkins (2/8), Frederick Howard (2/8) and Edgar Rondall (1/8) share.
22 March 1893 launched as the LETTIE G HOWARD, named after the daughter of Frederick Howard, Lettie because she celebrated her twenty-second birthday, during the month in which the keel was laid down.
Tonnage 59.74 gross, 56.76 net, dim. 74.6 x 21 x 8.4ft.
She was constructed of treenail-fastened pine planking over oak frames.
1893 Completed.
After completing she fished with dories on the Grand Banks until 1901.
1901 She went aground on Brown’s Island Shoal southwest of the United States Life-Saving Service station at Gurnet, Mass.
With the help of men of the station who brought an anchor out beyond the surf she was refloated.
1902 Sold to E.E. Saunders and Co, Pensacola, Florida, and he used her as a fishing schooner to catch res snapper on the Campeche Bank off Yucatan, Mexico.
1922 Was she bought by the company of Thomas Welles also from Pensacola, but when too frequent repairs made further service uneconomical she was laid up.
After a year out of service her documentation was surrendered and the LETTIE G HOWARD officially ceased to exist.
Thereafter was she rebuilt by the Oscar Henderson yard in Bayport, Florida, and she got a new registration.
She was renamed in MYSTIC C, and in May 1923 she joined again the Welles Company fleet.
1924 A 36 hp engine was fitted in and she got a new sternpost and rudder.
Dim. 75.4 x 20.8 x 8.5ft.
Subsequent alternations included the removal of topmasts and bowsprit and the addition of an enclosed wheelhouse aft.
1966 Sold to Historic Ships Associates of Gloucester, Mass. for use as a museum ship in Gloucester
Renamed in CAVIARE after a Gloucester schooner of that name built in 1891.
She got back her clipper bow and bowsprit and main topmast returned to the traditional Fredonia silhouette and some interior restoration was done.
But the museum failed and the CAVIARE was sold in August 1968 to the South Street Seaport Museum, New York.
In New York the restoration was completed and the schooner was renamed in LETTIE G HOWARD in 1972.
Her sail area is 466 square meters and she can carry 7 sails.
Powered by twin diesel engines each 84hp. most probably fitted in during her restoration in 1991.
Crew 7-9 including 2 instructors and 13 trainees.
1988 Declared a historic Landmark.
Between 1991 and 1993 she was completely restored to her original 1893 appearance by the museum.
1994 Certified as a Sailing School Vessel by the U.S Coast Guard.
Today (2009) used for educational programs and sail training courses along the Eastern waters of the American coast.
Comores Islands 2008 125Fc sg?, scott?
Source: info received from Mr. Erhard Jung. Great Sailing Ships of the World by Otmar Schäuffelen.
National Register of Historic Places.