COURTESY / SAM SIKKEMA
Sam Sikkema in 2018.
August 30, 2022
Storied Rockland schooner to end Maine operations
COURTESY / FRED LEBLANC
Victory Chimes, seen here under sail, will cease Maine operations in October.
The owner of a historic passenger schooner in Rockland said Monday he would end operations in October.
“After long and careful consideration we have come to the difficult decision that 2022 will be Victory Chimes’ last sailing season,” Sam Sikkema, captain of the 128-foot wooden schooner Victory Chimes, said in a news release.
He continued, “upcoming Coast Guard compliance, cost and availability of materials for upcoming maintenance, the lack of ability to haul the ship in Maine and the losses of the 2020 season have all become a hill too big to climb.”
Sikkema said he is working to find a new home for the vessel.
“I am optimistic that there will be a way for the ship to exist and continue to tell its story in a meaningful way for generations to come,” he said.
The ship has been operating for the 2022 season.
Sikkema, a seasoned seafarer, bought the Victory Chimes in 2018. It is one of the larger passenger vessels in the Rockland windjammer fleet.
Built in 1900, Victory Chimes has sailed the Maine coast since 1954 as a “windjammer” and is featured on the 2003 commemorative state quarter for Maine.
The ship was originally launched in Bethel, Del., as one of 4,000 such cargo ships. Then named Edwin & Maud, it hauled cargo in the Chesapeake Bay until 1946. It was then converted to the passenger trade.
Sikkema grew up in Michigan sailing dinghies with his father, eventually moving to larger boats.
His maritime career has taken him around the world, sailing on schooners, square-riggers, training ships, yachts, fishing vessels, commercial vessels and work with maritime museums and shipyards as a carpenter and a rigger.
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments