FROM DREAM…TO REALITY
"Looking for Fredonia…"
Not the title of a new film or TV series but a reflection of what "Fredonia" was and where she came from.
It is certainly no secret that once this beautiful schooner captures you under her charm, it is difficult to get away from it. However, it will be interesting to see where her ancestry lies and how these elements came together to produce "Fredonia".
2003 is America's Cup year and if ever a vessel owed her lineage to this prestigious yachting event, it is "Fredonia".
Her designer, Edward 'Ned' Burgess, had already produced three America's Cup winners ("Puritan" – 1885, "Mayflower" – 1886, "Volunteer" – 1887) before arriving at "Fredonia" and a look at the hull lines of "Volunteer" will confirm the direction in which Burgess was going.
Recent research by our friend and historical advisor, marine historian and model maker Erik A.R. Ronnberg, Jr., while building a model of the schooner yacht "America" as she was after her extensive refit in 1886 under the auspices of Edward Burgess, has shown that the work done on "America" almost certainly influenced the design of "Fredonia" and her sister, "Nellie Dixon", particularly the hull above the waterline.
J. Malcolm Forbes of Boston, the first owner of "Fredonia", was already well aware of the design skills of Burgess due to "Puritan", the 1885 America's Cup winner and owned by Forbes, General Charles J. Paine and syndicate.
It is interesting to speculate that "Nellie Dixon" and "Fredonia" represented an amalgam of advances in both yacht and fishing schooner design and taking the latter, Burgess' first foray into the world of fishing schooner design was the highly successful plumb-stemmer, "Carrie E. Phillips" (1887). We can also note that the "Phillips" inherited the coveted title of "Queen of the Fleet" by winning the Fisherman's race in 1888, even though she was originally banned due to her outstanding performance.
Following the success of the "Carrie E. Phillips", Tom McManus of Boston commissioned a new fishing schooner design from Edward Burgess and this was the "Nellie Dixon", to be shortly followed thereafter by "Fredonia" (built by Moses Adams in Essex).
There has been an ongoing dispute as to which vessel is the rightful owner of Ned Burgess' watershed design – the "Dixon" or "Fredonia" – but as is often the case, it is the vessel in the public eye that gets the attention. (One could cite the "Olympic" and the "Titanic", where the former was the first to be launched and served an illustrious career as 'Old Reliable' but it is the ill-fated "Titanic" that is foremost in public memory)
"Nellie Dixon" went straight to the fishing grounds to start her working career whereas "Fredonia" was bought by J. Malcolm Forbes to be used as his private yacht for a year, before being sold to her skipper and going to the Grand Banks to earn her keep.
The event that put "Fredonia" in the spotlight was the race against the Lawlor-designed pilot schooner "Hesper" and this gave rise to the coining of the phrase "Fredonia-type" for the fishing schooners that followed on and were influenced by her design.
As a yacht, "Fredonia" must have been a splendid sight and it is no wonder that she attracted the attention of the media following her race against "Hesper". It is in this version that "Fredonia II" will be built.
There was also a romantic side to her career as a yacht that is worthy of a novel: she was used by Forbes to sail to the Azores to woo the daughter of the American consul, Rose Dabney, and to return to Boston with his bride. The family history does not say which of the two had the most effect on winning the lady's heart!
1890 saw "Fredonia" joining her sisters of the fishing fleet on the Grand Banks until her untimely end in December 1896, when she was lost in heavy seas. Fortunately, 21 out of her 23 man crew were taken off by a steamer and saved.
"Fredonia II" will recreate "Fredonia" as she was in her first year as a yacht and provide an air of 19th. century gentility for media and corporate events, while also providing an opportunity to sail a classic schooner with skill and muscle power (power winches will be the bare minimum!)
Should you wish to be a part of this maritime adventure, please go to the section marked "Subscribe" for further details.
Thank you for your interest and we look forward to welcoming you aboard!
Fredonia II Committee