Courtesy of World Ocean SchoolThe 112′ LOD schooner ROSEWAY of 1925 will be broken up in 2026 if World Ocean School cannot find a new owner.
When ROSEWAY slid down the ways in Essex, Massachusetts, on November 21, 1925, she was a yacht built for swordfishing. In 1941, she went to work for the Boston Pilots Association and served them well for more than 30 years, which included wartime duty as CGR 812 patrolling the coast for German submarines. In 1972, when the Boston Pilots retired her, she underwent a swift but only partial conversion under new ownership on her way to becoming a passenger-carrying schooner. Those owners never made a go of it, but by 1976 subsequent owners Jim Sharp and Orville Young had completed the job and put her in the cruising trade as a windjammer sailing out of Camden, Maine.
In that role, she came to be noted for her red sails, sweet sheerline, and handsome hull shape. She was also one of the few of her type with auxiliary power.
But her 25-year stint carrying passengers ended when U.S. Coast Guard inspectors withdrew her certificate of inspection after having determined that her wooden hull had deteriorated to the point where it required extensive rebuilding—a project her then-owner considered too vast to undertake. With no business and no means to make the upgrades, she was repossessed by the bank that held her mortgage. While attempts were made to sell her at auction in 2003, there were no bids that the bank considered viable, so she sat idle.
Then, along came the directors of a new nonprofit called World Ocean School. They needed a boat, and ROSEWAY was the right fit. They convinced the bank to donate her to them. After towing the schooner to Sample’s Shipyard in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, they set out to raise $1.5 million for the rebuild. After 18 months of some very fine workmanship and fundraising to match, ROSEWAY was relaunched as the primary classroom for World Ocean School, a role she fulfilled year-round over the next couple of decades. Sailing from her home port of Boston, she went as far west as Duluth, Minnesota, east to Bermuda, south to the Virgin Islands, and north to Nova Scotia.
She worked hard and served thousands of students until 2022, but the years took a toll. A U.S. Coast Guard inspection made it clear that another rebuild was needed; this time, the estimated cost had risen to somewhere between $3 million and $4 million. While the school sought to raise funds, ROSEWAY was laid up at Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut. To keep operating its programs, World Ocean School purchased the three-masted Great Lakes schooner DENIS SULLIVAN. Sadly, the ROSEWAY campaign failed to raise the necessary funds and the organization decided it was time to find her a new home.
Particulars:
- LOA: 137′
- LOD: 112′
- LWL: 89′
- Beam: 25′
- Draft: 13′
- Sail area: 5,600 sq ft
- Power: 400-hp turbocharged Caterpillar diesel
- Official No.: 225756
- Designed by John James
- Built by: J.F. James Shipyard Essex, Massachusetts, 1925
ROSEWAY is still an exceptionally handsome schooner, and a World Ocean School shipkeeper continues to care for her—but not for much longer. If a new owner and a new life don’t materialize by this spring, she will be decommissioned and demolished—a sad ending for this beautiful and rugged sailing schooner with such a remarkable history!
There’s hope that she could return to the windjammer trade, or else become a new school ship, a museum ship, a private yacht, or even a dockside attraction. Who knows what the future might hold for this century-old vessel. Let’s hope her next 100 years won’t find her buried at the bottom of the sea.
ROSEWAY now lies at Schooner Wharf near downtown Mystic. For more information, see www.worldoceanschool.org/tall-ship-roseway. For purchasing information, reach out to World Ocean School at info@worldoceanschool.com or 617–816–9247. 
Maynard Bray is WoodenBoat’s technical editor. Abby Kidder is a past president of World Ocean School, and was one of its founders.