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Sparred length - 115' Length on deck - 85' Draft - 6' Beam - 22'3" Rig height 70' Freeboard 4' Sail area - 3562 Sq Ft Gross Tonnage - 57 tons |
The A.J. Meerwald is a traditional Delaware Bay oyster-dredging schooner. She was commissioned by the Meerwald family, a prominent local family that who owned deveral other oyster boats. She was built in 1928 at Charles H. Stowman and Sons Shipyard in Dorcester, NJ, on the banks of the Maurice River. She is typical of the last and most highly refined type of sailing oyster vessel, designed specifically for the Delaware Bay and built at the height of the Bay's once-prosperous oyster trade.
She is built of oak planks over oak frames. Her deck is cedar and her spars (masts, booms, and gaffs) are of Douglas fir. Her sails are of the traditional cotton canvas and her lines are of Manila hemp, rather than the synthetic plastic materials used on most modern sailing vessels.
The A. J. Meerwald was added to the National Historic Register in 1995.
The A.J. Meerwald worked in the Delaware Bay oyster trade until 1942, when she was commandeered by the COast Guard for use as a fireboat on the Delaware River. At that time, her sailing rig was removed. In 1947, she was bought by, and named after, Clyde A. Phillips. When the oyster industry collapsed in the late 1950s, she was converted for surf clamming in the lower bay and ocean. By 1979, she was idle. After changing hands several more times, she was donated to the Delaware Bay Schooner Project by Capt. John Gandy in 1989. She was hauled out of the water, fully restored by the Schooner Project, and relaunched in September, 1995. In April, 1996, she began her new career as a sailing classroom on the Delaware Estuary.
©1998 robert d. owens