Maine Windjammer Cruises is Maine’s oldest continually operating sailing vacation company, reflecting the vision and custodianship of just four owners.
A windjammer is a commercial sailing ship with multiple masts that may be square rigged, fore-and-aft rigged, or a combination of the two. These ships, sometimes referred to as “coasties,” were specifically designed to carry cargo along the coasts. The informal term “windjammer” arose during the transition from the Age of Sail to the Age of Steam during the 19th century.
Windjammers were built as shallow draft cargo ships propelled by sail, but in the late 19th century they soon faced competition with the advent of steam ships and the growing use of railroads to haul large loads. The schooners were able to survive Down East in the early 20th century, where building and operating sailing vessels was still possible. Cargo vessels continued to be built and operated during World War I and the Depression, but operational costs made it difficult for them to endure.
Maine Windjammer Cruises continues a proud 90-year history. In 1930 a New Yorker named Frank Swift started summering in Maine, after training at the Merchant Marine Academy in King’s Point NY. He soon began to charter schooners for annual sailing trips with local campers. It was the highlight of their vacations, and by 1935 Frank relocated permanently to Maine with the idea of carrying passengers instead of cargo on a schooner.
Swift contacted the owner of a small schooner named Mabel and arranged to charter her for one year. He retrofitted the interior and started taking out ads for “Vacations under Sail” in city newspapers. His first season operated at a loss, but he was convinced that his dream could work. Frank’s big break came near the end of that season, when a travel writer featured him in the Boston Sunday Herald, describing his cruises as “gateways to pure enchantment.”
By 1938, Frank had three vessels, and additional feature articles appeared in leading East Coast newspapers and journals, along with a cover story in Life magazine. Bu 1940, Swift owned five schooners and Camden became known as the “Windjammer Capital of the World.”
After the United States entered World War II, Swift offered his fleet for war service. Mattie became the first training vessel for the Maine Maritime Academy. He purchased more schooners as they retired from cargo service, and by war’s end Frank owned nine vessels. He continued to get news coverage and passengers from all walks of life from around the country.
They loved being able to help with deck chores and share a sailing experience previously only available to wealthy yachtsmen. Frank’s fleet had come to be known as “Maine Windjammer Cruises,” differentiating it from similar businesses in the Caribbean and elsewhere. In 1949 Swift went into partnership with Captain Jim Nisbet, calling their new company “Vacations Under Sail.”
By 1951, many of Swift’s vessels needed extensive repairs and a hurricane late that year caused more damage. Many of his ships had already served for over a half-century. He worked on some and sold others. By 1957, Frank’s fleet had been reduced to just two vessels, his largest: The Mattie and the Mercantile. He sailed them proudly for four more years, having created a new tourism industry and re-purposed many venerable boats. During his 25 years at the helm of Maine Windjammer Cruises, Frank Swift had operated 13 vessels!
In 1961, Swift sold his business to his former Vacations Under Sail partner Jim Nisbet, who continued operating the Mattie and Mercantile for most of the decade, acquiring a new smaller schooner along the way. Mistress combined the tradition of a schooner with the lines of a private yacht, and she became the princess of the fleet.
Throughout most of that decade, Nisbet operated his fleet of three, simultaneously conducting another sailing business in Florida. By 1969 he sold Maine Windjammer Cruises to a couple who had visited Camden and fell in love with it and the schooners. Les and Ann Bex took up the company’s helm, operating Maine Windjammer Cruises for the next 17 years.
In 1982, a young couple living in St. Croix learned about Camden and the windjammers while reading an old issue of Wooden Boat Magazine. Ann Williamson taught school and Ray Williamson captained a local charter fleet. They were captivated by Camden’s coastal charm and its historic vessels.
Soon thereafter, they moved to Camden and Captain Bex hired Ray on as a deckhand on the Mattie. He studied the business operation, learned the waters of Penobscot Bay and the workings of the schooners. For the second season, Ray was signed on as Captain of the Mistress. The following summer, he was offered the helm of the Mercantile. Now Ray and Ann had become totally commit- ted to this new enterprise and way of life. In 1985, Ray offered to purchase the Mercantile.
Captain Bex was only interested in selling his entire fleet, so Ray and Ann began lining up financing while doing fleet repairs that winter. Early in 1986, Maine Windjammer Cruises had new owners!
During their early years, the Williamsons sailed and worked as a family, with their young children also learning the ropes. Ray leased an abandoned shipyard in Rockland so that work on his small fleet could proceed during the winter months. He soon found experienced tradesmen to join his maintenance team. Mattie and Mercantile both required extensive repairs, but during the course of that work, Ray and his team discovered many of the original features and wood used when the boats were first constructed. He vowed to take no shortcuts and use the same materials and methods of construction on the boats’ restoration as had been originally used.
During the course of Ray’s restoration work, he was contacted by the National Park Service’s chief maritime historian, James Delgado. He later wrote that the Mattie and Mercantile were “some of the finest ship restorations I’ve ever seen.” Shortly afterward, Ray’s two schooners were among the first to be designated as National Historic Landmarks.
Captain Ray and Ann Williamson have been operating Maine Windjammer Cruises now for forty years. Looking ahead to their eventual retirement, in 2021 they purchased another small vessel they had long observed and admired as she sailed around Penobscot Bay. Now called Swift, after the company’s founder, this new boat had been designed by a well-known naval architect for use as a private yacht.
Ray and Ann began fitting her out as a six-passenger luxury schooner. Her first sailing season under Captain Ray’s command was in 2023. They are looking forward to “Keeping the Tradition Alive” for many more seasons, and to welcoming a new generation of passengers as well as those who return year after year.
The coastal schooner Mabel, launched at Milbridge ME in 1881, was the first in Capt. Frank Swift’s windjammer fleet.
Mattie was built as the Grace Bailey in 1882 in Patchogue NY Sold in December 2021
Mercantile was built in 1916 in Little Deer Isle ME Sold in March 2024
Mistress was built in 1960 in Deer Isle ME Sold in April 2023
Swift was built in 1983 in East Boothbay ME from a Murray Peterson 1937 design. Originally intended as a private yacht, she was refurbished in 1921-23 as a six-person luxury vessel, and is the new flagship of Maine Windjammer Cruises.
Epilogue
When I originally wrote Keeping the Tradition Alive it was to celebrate the 75th anniversary of our company. Little did I know we would come to celebrate 90 years of continuity in the windjammer industry.
As part of the history of Maine Windjammer Cruises, we have been owners for forty years. The past 15 years have seen some changes for us. In anticipation of retirement, we purchased yet another windjammer in 2020. It happened all of a sudden, when I found out a vessel I had long admired was in need of a new home.
It was late November, the Friday before Thanksgiving when Ann and I first stepped aboard. The engine wouldn’t start, and there was some damage to the port rail from a storm but we fell in love immediately. The decks were broad and spacious. The proud square rig was all there; in fact she still had all ten sails on.
We discussed it over the weekend and on Monday morning made our offer. I didn’t even make it home from the broker’s office when he called to say we now owned a Brigantine. Well here we were again taking on yet another project when we still owned three big wooden schooners.
The thought of selling the schooners had been on our minds for some time; however I couldn’t imagine not having that connection to the sea. This chance to repurpose a very special vessel for the windjammer business gave me the ambition to take it on, and with Ann’s blessing we were on to another adventure.
Our new vessel was designed in 1937 by the famous Maine naval architect Murray Peterson. His models were greatly influenced by the coasters. Built in 1983, she was relatively new compared to the century- plus old Grace Bailey and Mercantile which were repurposed from the cargo trade.
In terms of size at 39 tons she is somewhat smaller than the Grace Bailey (59 tons) and the Mercantile (47 tons) but much bigger than the Mistress (13 tons).
With winter fast approaching, we had to move quickly. On Tuesday we moved the Mistress from her berth at Camden dock and tied her to the hip of the Mercantile. On Wednesday I spent the day with the mechanic who was rebuilding the engine on Mercantile’s yawlboat. He assured me that it would be ready to go Friday morning and we began making arrangements to transport our pushboat to East Boothbay.
On Thursday, Thanksgiving morning, I again went to East Boothbay to see what type of arrangement could be made to launch the yawlboat. What I found was a very useful launching ramp but because of the holiday the wide load marine trailer was restricted so we had to hire a car hauler ramp truck to do the job. This presented a problem because the ramp truck unlike the boat hauler could not go into the water.
On Friday we loaded up the pickup truck with an assortment of pipes and rollers, chains and comealongs. Low tide was about 4PM so we arrived about an hour before that. Using the implements we brought, we were able to roll the yawl on its cradle off the truck and down to the water’s edge just at low tide. Now all we had to do was wait for the coming tide to float the yawl.
Shortly after dark, we boarded our new vessel. We brought a space heater and plenty of food, bedding and other provisions so we were quite comfortable. That night dreaming of our future plans I knew that she would have a new name. In honor of the founder of our company and the windjammer trade, Captain Frank Swift, she would be known simply as Swift.
Saturday morning we were up before the sun. After making another attempt to start the engine, to no avail, we got underway with the assist of our trusted yawlboat. With little to no wind we motored all day. Just before sunset we anchored off Owl’s Head only a couple of hours from Camden.
Sunday morning brought warm sunshine and a nice steady breeze from the northwest. We sailed off the anchor and before you knew it we had all ten sails flying. The thrill was too grand to head straight for Camden so we sailed about for a few hours before heading home.
Once we were secured to the dock we removed all of the sails and brought them to the shop where they were stored until needed. The following days required the removal of the yards, topmasts and other spars and rigging. Next we had to make a cover which would allow us to work through the winter.
Our attention was immediately given to two projects, the removal of the ancient 471 GMC marine engine and gutting the interior. Having been used as a private yacht, Swift was totally unsuitable for the windjammer trade. One of the appeals of the new vessel was the Spartan accommodations and minimal joinery work. This allowed us to tear everything out right back to the hull without destroying important work.
That winter we installed a new 110 horsepower Yanmar diesel engine and ripped out all of the plumbing and wiring. First on paper, then on board I began to develop the new interior layout. We moved the galley from below to the after deck house and converted the space to a dining salon. The only head on board was enlarged to incorporate a comfortable hot water shower.
In spite of her size she would only carry six passengers on overnight cruises making her very commodious. A skylight on the foredeck was removed and on the same opening a hatch was built to access the new accommodations.
There were some interesting challenges, but the results were exactly what I imagined: three private cabins. Given the volume of the Swift the cabins are much more spacious than on your typical windjammer. Two cabins amidships are mirror images with an oversized double bed, ample storage and each has its own enclosed head and sink. Multiple lighting options, charging ports and electric fans add to the comfort. The forward cabin, which we call the family cabin, has three single bunks and also has a private head.
During the summer of 2021 we were busy operating our other vessels, so not much progress was made. In the fall we hauled out to do some hull repairs. At that time we pulled the mainmast to replace the crosstrees and added more through hulls to accommodate the additional heads.
We continued to operate our three schooners through the 2022 season while progress continued on the Swift. In December 2022 we sold the Grace Bailey and in April of 2023 we sold the Mistress. This left us with the Mercantile and the Swift operating for the 2023 season. Mercantile sold in March of 2024 leaving us with just the six-passenger Swift.
After decades operating a fleet, we are happy to settle into what we are calling semi-retirement. Things have worked out just fine. We have passed on the responsibility of our national treasures to others and continue our connection to the sea aboard the only true square rigged windjammer available for charter in Maine.
We look forward to sharing this magnificent vessel with you!
Captain Ray and Ann Williamson