The Stanley Norman one of the 35 surviving traditional Chesapeake Bay skipjacks and a member of the last commercial sailing fleet in the United States. Out of a fleet of hundreds of skipjacks that worked Bay waters in the early years of the 20th century, today only this small number remain to carry on the tradition of working sail. STANLEY NORMAN is of interest as being one of the older skipjacks still dredging in the Chesapeake fleet. She was built in 1902 in Salisbury, Maryland, following traditional Bay-area design and construction methods. The vessel is one of the 19 surviving working skipjacks to have been built previous to 1912 and, like most of the skipjacks, has been extensively rebuilt, a process that extended over four years from 1976-1980, and was well documented by the owner and restorer, Ed Farley of Bozman, Maryland. The vessel is particularly finely finished and is used for summer charters as well as for winter dredging. She is an example of how an older vessel, near abandonment, can be restored to useful working life–a process common to wooden vessels of all eras, but particularly well documented in this case. STANLEY NORMAN was sold to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in 1990, and moved to Annapolis as a teaching vessel. Although damaged by fire on December 9, 2003, the fire was contained in the cabin and the vessel did not sustain major damage. – adapted from The Maryland Historical Trust –
Location: Onboard Sérénité, Back Creek, Annapolis MD, United States North America
Altitude: 0.1 m