(soft upbeat piano) - When I was young.

I became a sailing addict.

I stole my father's little skiff One time up in Dredge Harbor, the Northern part of a Delaware river that he had built this little skiff and he was quite proud of it.

And I borrowed one of my mother's bedsheets and I took a broom handle out of the closet.

And I rigged this thing in my father's little skiff and I sailed a across Dredge Harbor to the other side.

I got to the other side and I landed on the beach over t And I realized I had to row all the way back.

I thought, gee the sailing business must be out of their minds.

I've got to find a different way to do this but I became more and more of a And I realized eventually how I could sail back again.

And that opened up a whole new a of experimentation for me after my father had passed away and trying to support my mother, that I was going to get into the sailing game.

I had a 44 foot yawl that 200 of my friends and I had bought together down in the Chesapeake.

And I decided I'd take it to The Bahamas and get in the charter business.

So I was down there for three years trying to make a living in the charter business and working on other boats in order to do so, just try and earn enough money to keep alive.

And a man came walking down the dock while I was working on somebody else's boat, doing some varnishing.

And he got to talking to me and we discussed the fact that he had a couple of schooners in Maine.

Of course, that perked me right Well, what would tell me about these schooners?

Well, these were two old commercial schooners that were part of the old Swift fleet Back in those days, they were the only two surviving out of the 18 vessels that Frank Swift had back in those days.

Well, it was the Mattie and the Mercantile back in those days, the Mattie, now there's a new name that Grace Bailey because she's been all rebuilt, but in those days it was the Mattie and the Mercantile.

Two old schooners.

Well, he's looking around for captains for these boats cause his captains were getting old.

So I said, boy, this seems like right in my line we laid my vessel up for the summer and I came to Maine.

(whimsical guitar) Windjammers is a term for these great big schooners is a term that has been adulterated down through the age It was a derogatory term, and the great big square riggers would come back from Australia and China and they would be coming up the English channel.

And the steamers always had to give way to the sailing vessels, clearly on vessels had the right of way under international law.

Well, the steamers are trying to maintain a schedule back and forth and here comes this great big windjammer full sail come making knots.

They make 15, 18 knots coming up the English channel and they would have to stop the steamer and let the sailing vessel go by And the captain of the steamer would say, oh God here comes another one of these damned old Windjammers.

So that's where the term came from.

Down through the ages, big vessels, eventually small vessels anything under sail was called a Windjammer.

We like to think of the Windjammers as being the old coasters the old sailing vessels without engines that are here in this unique business here on the coast of Maine.

And it is a very unique business nowhere else in the world can you go and find vessels without engines doing things jus like granddaddy did back in the late 19th century.

(soft piano) Now back in the old days, there weren't any roads.

Of course the roads were all cow paths.

There was no way to move, move cargo, except by water.

It was very easy to move by water.

You can take a vessel load 'er up with all kinds of cargo and whether she could in next week or the week after it didn't really matter.

So there wasn't any kind of a schedule that you had to maintain with any great verence.

Instead, a sailing vessel would be a lot of fun to take her out on the water and make knots and move your cargo quite swiftly from one port to another - The golden age of sail with the deep sea vessels was 1840s to about 1900's.

And then the schooner age was on either ends the coasting scho - And they were ubiquitous there were sailing vessels every You can't imagine how many sailing vessels there were back in those days, the late 1800's 1891, 1892, 1893 Rockland was the fourth largest in the United States.

That's Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and Rockland Maine.

Why?

Because there was no other transportation worthwhile.

You couldn't get to Maine any ot And this whole new England coast was populated.

And U.S. 1 ran from lighthouse to lighthouse all the way up and down, Down East to Eastport up to Boston.

They say Down East, because that was the prevailing wind back in those days, Southwestern the vessels all ran before the wind come along the coast of Maine which is mostly East and West.

That's why they called it Down East.

- In the heyday in the 19th century.

You'd see all sorts of small schooners in the ports of Bath and Wiscasset and Portland.

We have a lot images that just show these ports teaming with these everyday schooners moving goods around.

They really were the predominant vessel that you would see in these ports.

- When you see an 18 Wheeler on the turnpike today that was a formatted schooner doing the same thing carrying cargo up and down here, you see a UPS truck UPS trucks are everywhere.

Well, that was a little too mastered scooter going in and out of these little seaports, all along the villages, all along the coast of New England.

They were delivering cargo.

(seagulls chirping) - Maine extracted resources to send elsewhere.

So granites, lime, lumber, all the building blocks of American cities and then fish, of course, we're still known for our fish and then natural ice.

We could cut ice and send it around the world.

(whimsical piano) - Vessels all the way up to three and 400 feet long 2, 3, 4 or five mastered schooners took a whole forest of wood for those boats.

I had to have good, solid white oak for their keel.

They would have to have good solid white oak planking.

They would have to be very sturdily built and huge frames enormous framing in these vessels of course carrying cargo, very heavy cargo.

They'd had to be quite strong to withstand the kind of weather they had to go through summer and winter and so on.

Even the spars, the mast were made of western fir sometimes pine and spruce, but mostly western fir much better for a mast.

And they had to come from the west coast, the white Oak.

We didn't have any white oak in Maine, that would have to come from Virginia and Massachusetts and other places.

It was shipped into a Rockland by the millions of board feet to build these vessels lay there keel build up plank and they had gangs that would go from shipyard to shipyard.

Every inch of Rockland Harbor was taken up with either a shipyard, a lime kiln.

The granite works a fish plant back in the heyday the late 1800's.

It was a powerhouse of economic activity.

1920 in Rockland.

They stopped building sailing vessels because they got railroads and they got trucks and they got roads.

- It can be easier to put things on a truck and go as opposed to load them on a boat.

And so when you're competing with the land-based forms of transportation.

In those conditions, schooners died.

(melancholic music) (upbeat music) Captain Swift was originally a boys camp counselor over in Sandy Point, which is just a around the bend here on the bay.

And he would take the boys out on week long sailing voyages on these old coasting schooners and then the depression hit.

And he's trying to figure out how to support his family.

And he says, well, it worked for the summer camp boys.

I wonder if there'd be passengers.

- When Frank Swift started this business in 1936.

He was looking for a romantic name for his business and he called it Windjammer cruises, and the name caught on.

- (Cipperly) And it's been going ever since.

- I'm Roderick Swift.

I usually go by Rod and I'm one of the sons of captain Frank Swift.

I think that if it hadn't been for this business going through the late part of the depression and world war II it would have failed.

By 1950 other people were coming into the business.

Simply the crux was over, but it during the depression and the war years that the vessels had nothing to do.

A lot of the people would go aboard in those days.

They were always one week trips.

They didn't do shorter ones.

And a lot of people went for two weeks.

There was one vessel that only did two week trips.

And we sailed earlier and farther.

We'd leave Camden on Monday morning, around 10.

My father used to try to get out a little beforehand before the, what was called the green front store opened.

And we would sail from Camden to Northeast Harbor on Mount Desert Island on Monday.

We went so many more places.

The places that I liked best or hardly ever visited anymore.

(upbeat musical chimes) - (Clipperly) And it wasn't expensive.

You brought your own bedding.

They did provide you food, but it was schooner fare.

People from Boston, he would advertise in the Boston newspapers and the other city newspapers of here's something different.

You've got a vacation time, come up to the coast of Maine.

If you don't have to rent a house by yourself.

You've got a bed and food come enjoy yourself.

- In those days, it was quite spartan.

Nowadays of course, everybody has water down below in their cabins and they have their heads down below.

They're all pretty commodious they'd go to their cabin.

The cabin was about the size of your bathroom at home.

And then it's shared with four other people.

That's what it was early Windjammin' days.

Then they start to brush their teeth.

Well, you know, we'd have a line of people on the rail there.

The guy next to you might be a Wall Street executive the next guy, a truck driver, the guy after that or it might be a day laborer and a teacher and the nurse, from all walks of life.

And here we're all in the same boat and they're brushing their teeth and they're spitting overboard.

Well, they're laughing about it and making jokes about it.

Pretty soon, they have a contest who can spit the furthest you know, that was the way it was.

And everybody made their own fun, passengers without radios.

And without telephones.

We didn't have any of that kind of thing.

Of course, they would make their own fun.

(lively upbeat music) Well, getting that sail up, was no easy task for a small crew, but we had passengers.

And of course that was the way we did it.

Back in those days, we encourage the passengers to go to work and set those sails.

You're going to go sailing.

And I said, come on, grab this line over here, grab that heave let sail up just like your granddaddy did in the old days.

Heave that sail up and we'll go for a sail across the bay.

Well, they all lined up.

They grabbed the hold of this all from New York and Boston down the cities, all along the coast.

- Haul away together!

- He grabbed ahold of this line and they started pulling on the Gee, this was really trying to find it was real easy.

The sales started up, you know and when it got halfway up, they had to start digging their heels in and started to really pull.

♪ Heave away you rolling kings.

- And then we'd sing them a little halyard shanty, you know, ♪ way haul away we'll haul ♪ all for better weather way haul ♪ they get into the spirit of the rhythm of it.

And then they'd be pulling away there we get the sail up three quarters of the way and it really started to get hard.

Almost mastheaded and I would say, okay, stop you guys all stop.

Now 1, 2, 3 Heave!

1, 2, 3.

We do that three or four times and the vessel would be mastheaded then.

Make it off on the pin there.

And then I turned to em' and say, okay guys now we have four more to do.

So lineup on the foresail, we'd do that one.

They'd go up there and they'd line up on the foresail.

The more they did on the vessel, the more attached they'd become to that vessel.

And the more spirit they would have more loyalty they would have for that vessel.

(exciting music) Most of the windjammers were small vessels.

They were a hundred, a hundred-fifty feet.

They were mostly two-masted vessels.

They were easy to handle.

They would pick up crew anywhere they could.

Somebody to help load the cargo, somebody to help move the vessel from one place to another.

They were rigged so that with blocks and take also that they were easy enough to, for a small crew to handle.

A vessel of 150 feet in size could be easily run by four men.

- Today on a windjammer, you maybe have two deck hands one or two deck hands to handle the sails, drop anchor.

Same thing back then you have the captain who navigates who knows where you're going is trying to get to the port in-time.

and then you might have a first mate, just because the captain on long voyages, can't be awake 24/7.

So you have a mate that is taking on that role.

And then you need the cook.

Some schooners would have a dedicated cook others it was one of the deck hands maybe.

And so back then one or two number of deck hands was enough to raise those sails.

(upbeat wistful music) - (Captain Jim) The little coasters.

The little two-masted vessels, they were individually owned.

They were entrepreneurs and they had very few crew and did everything themselves.

(slow lively music) - I'd always spent my childhood kind of going around boatyards kicking keels, looking for the perfect liveaboard with my dad.

And he found it in the schooner Mabel, which was the boat that Frank Swift started this company with.

Maine Windjammer Cruises.

And so they sold our 13-year-old house.

And we all moved aboard as a family.

And we lived over at PG Willy's Wharf back when it was the low rent district.

and the Grace Bailey and Mercantile where my neighbors.

So I've been around these boats for a long time.

It's so hard to put into words because it's walking into another world.

None of your familiar touch points are there.

If you're open to that.

So many other things are out there.

You begin to see things.

You begin to smell things.

You begin to feel things.

- The most beautiful thing about Penobscot bay is the the views are constantly changing.

You get islands and trees, mountains, beaches, and shoals.

- Well, it's one of the most pristine areas in the country.

It's not like Long Island or Chesapeake sound or any of these other places where it's, chockablock full.

A lot of times you're out there and you're the only one out there.

Or you might see another schooner sailing by.

Have a great sail!

- That's more interesting to me along the coast as opposed to be an open ocean where there's less to pay attent - Okay, lower away.

- If you're here and you're the actual sailor you have to pay attention to other landforms and islands and harbors where you might go with the weather changed.

- (man on radio) Tonight.

Winds going to 10 to 15 knots with gusts up to 25 - But if you're out in the ocean then you don't have those choices and you're attentive to some things that are more engaging.

- (First Mate) And 2, 6.

- (everyone) Heave!

- (First mate) 2, 6.

- (everyone) Heave!

- When a passenger comes on board and gets into the spirit of it and helps to raise the sails and listens to the anchor, being clanked up with the chain.

The more they get into that, the further they get away from the world where they constantly have to be in touch constantly have to be on.

And it allows them to go into themselves as well as out to their fellow passengers.

(women laughing) (bell tolling) (people clamoring) - So the participatory experience is also interpersonal with the tactile, the feeling of the Manila lines natural fiber lines, the ship heeling over the sound of the running water.

Standing back at the helm, maybe taking a turn at the helm to steer the ship.

- (First mate) Hoist away the sails!

- (Captain Christopher) Tacking the boat hearing all the rigging, back, back and forth.

People getting to know each other.

Perfect strangers shut up on a boat at sea.

and it always works.

- Today you wake up, you have coffee on deck.

You're a little, bleary-eyed you look around you get to know a few of your friends and you become a little more comfortable and you spend the day.

And pretty soon, you're having a good time.

- I came here by myself.

So it's a little different.

Most people come with another person, but it's been great.

I've loved meeting all the different people.

We get to do different things together.

Like we'll wash all the dishes together.

(Scrubbin' on that ol' dish machine!)

I just helped hoist up the anchor yesterday and tie up some lines today.

So it's been great being able to work with other people.

♪ Happy Birthday dear Phil ♪ Happy Birthday to you (Cha Cha Chaa!)

- Thank you everybody.

- (woman) Yay Phil!

- I love sailing.

I love the contemplative nature of it, but I also like that some part of your mind has to be attentive.

Another part of your mind seems to be relaxed.

So you pay attention to the set of the sail.

You pay attention to the direction of the boat is traveling.

You pay attention to the direction of the wind and the waves.

And then the rest of your mind is free to wander, to go into repose.

- People get used to the vessel and they understand the boat.

And then they yearn for more and that brings them back next year.

That's the Windjammer business.

- I treasure them.

I treasure them for their history.

I treasure them for their part in my past.

And I treasure them for the future that I hope they'll have for so many years to come.

- I want to show them an experience that they can't get anywhere else.

♪ Leave her Johnny ♪ Leave her ♪ Oh leave her Johnny ♪ Leave her ♪ For the voyage is long ♪ And the winds don't blow ♪ And its time for us to leave her ♪ ♪ Oh the times was hard ♪ And the wages low ♪ Leave her Johnny ♪ Leave her ♪ But now once more Ashore we'll go ♪ ♪ And its time for us ♪ To leave her ♪ Leave her Johnny ♪ Leave her ♪ Oh leave her Johnny ♪ Leave her ♪ For the voyage is long ♪ And the winds don't blow ♪ And its time for ♪ Us to leave her ♪ I thought I heard ♪ The old man say ♪ Leave her Johnny ♪ Leave her ♪ And tomorrow ye shall ♪ Get your pay ♪ And it's time for us to leave her ♪ ♪ Leave her Johnny ♪ Leave her ♪ Oh leave her Johnny ♪ leave her ♪ For the voyage is long ♪ And the winds don't blow ♪ And its time for us to leave her ♪ ♪ Oh the wind was foul ♪ And the sea ran high ♪ Leave her Johnny ♪ Leave her ♪ She shipped it green ♪ And none went by ♪ And it's time for us to leave ♪ Leave her Johnny ♪ Leave her ♪ Oh leave her Johnny ♪ Leave her ♪ For the voyage is long ♪ And the winds don't blow ♪ And it's time for us to leave ♪ We swear by rote for ♪ A want of more ♪ Leave her Johnny ♪ Leave her ♪ But now were through ♪ So I'll go on shore ♪ And its time for us to leave her ♪ ♪ Leave her Johnny ♪ ♪ Leave her ♪ Oh leave her Johnny ♪ Leave her ♪ For the voyage is long ♪ And the winds don't blow ♪ And it's time for us ♪ To leave her (chuckles) ♪ Come gather round me sailors ♪ And listen to my song ♪ Things that happened to me ♪ When I come home from ♪ Hong Kong ♪ To me way hey Santy ♪ My dear Annie ♪ Oh you New York girls ♪ Can't you dance the polka ♪ One day down in Chatham town ♪ The fair maid I did meet ♪ She asked me please see her home ♪ ♪ She lived on Bleaker Street ♪ To me way hey Santy ♪ My dear Annie ♪ Oh you New York girls ♪ Can't you dance the Polka ♪ She said if you will ♪ Come with me you can have a treat ♪ ♪ You can have a glass of brandy ♪ And something nice to eat ♪ To me way hey Santy ♪ My dear Annie ♪ Oh you New York girls ♪ Can't you dance the polka