'It was kind of hard to refuse a Grand Banks schooner,' says former owner who brought boat to Nova Scotia
Although Lunenburg is well-known for its sailing past, a recent Facebook Marketplace ad for a floating American icon still catches the eye.
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For sale: Roseway, a 136-foot Grand Banks schooner.
“Looking for a new owner. Engine and generator run. Fresh off a 500 nautical mile voyage,” reads part of the advertisement. “She needs work. Free to the right person.”
The Roseway is no mere boat. Her lines raise not only her sails but the curtains of American maritime history, ranging from her time fishing the North Atlantic to working as a U.S. Coast Guard vessel during the Second World War.
After the war, states the website of World Ocean School, which owned the schooner until recently, the Roseway worked as a harbour pilot in Boston. She eventually was retired as the last pilot schooner in 1973 and received National Historic Landmark status in 1997.
But the vessel has been anchoring in Lunenburg Harbour for weeks, with people on both sides of the border concerned about her future.
Wooden vessels are expensive to maintain and the Roseway is no different.
After more than two decades serving as a teaching tool for World Ocean School, the schooner was brought to Mystic Seaport, Conn., in need of major repairs costing millions of dollars.
“It was kind of hard to refuse a Grand Banks schooner that’s 136 feet long, and I have a background in restoring vessels,” Bott, who splits his time between Vancouver, B.C., and Australia, told The Chronicle Herald over the phone.
He said he decided to hire a crew and to sail her to Lunenburg for repairs this summer, a journey of some 500 nautical miles.
“It was majestic,” he said of the transit.
However, once arriving in Lunenburg, Bott said, he decided to change tack for a variety of reasons. Nearly 80 years old, he said he found it physically difficult to navigate the vessel. There were also difficulties organizing anchorage and repairs, meaning the Roseway has been sitting at her mooring for weeks.
Bott said there were several qualified people who reached out and were interested in the Roseway after he decided to move on. Some, after realizing the work needed to restore the vessel, walked away.
But Bott argues the ship is structurally sound despite needing work. Weeks of having the Roseway anchored in harbour and the general state of the ship, however, have garnered the interest of Transport Canada, not to mention locals concerned about the schooner’s future.