The three-masted schooner Victory Chimes, based in Rockland, Maine, will soon be sold at public auction. The 128-foot schooner will be auctioned through online bidding that begins at 9 a.m. on April 23 and continues until 1 p.m. on May 8, according to Keenan Auction Company of Portland.
The schooner has been a fixture of the Maine windjammer fleet for almost 70 years. Built in Bethel, Delaware in 1900, for the first 45 years of her career, she carried general cargo in the Chesapeake Bay until she was converted for the passenger trade in 1946 and moved to Maine in 1954.
The Victory Chimes is the last surviving Chesapeake Ram schooner. She is a US National Historic Landmark and is represented on the Maine State Quarter, originally minted in 2003.
Owner and captain, Sam Sikkema, acquired the venerable schooner in 2018. He announced in August that the ship’s long sailing career in Maine would end in October of this year, unless a buyer came forward. Failing to find a buyer, the schooner will be sold at auction.
“After long and careful consideration we have come to the difficult decision that 2022 will be Victory Chimes’ last sailing season,” he said last year. “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.”
According to SuperYachts.com, Victory Chimes was for sale last year for $650,000.
“There are many good years left in her service, and the marketing, historical, educational, and repurposing opportunities that she can provide are great,” Keenan Auction states on its website.
The Victory Chimes has 21 cabins and can accommodate 43 passengers. The posting on the Keenan Auction website notes “the current U.S. Coast Guard certification has expired and the extensive work and expense that will be required in order for her to be able to return to passenger service is forcing the owner and the lender to sell the vessel at a Secured Party’s Sale at Public Auction.”
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Saw her years ago and St Michael’s Maryland. She’s a ram schooner. Usta be Edwin and Maude. Hope she’s well
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