Wiscasset's Schooners

In 1932, two four-masted schooners came to Wiscasset, Maine and became tourist attractions in the muck, and future emblems of a lovely coastal town.

They were the Hesper and the Luther Little, and as they sat moored and aground through the decades, they seemed to symbolize all that was daring and noble about the days of the sailing ships, and what is sometimes romantic about obsolescence. This photo was taken in the mid-1990s when there wasn’t much left of the ships. A few years later, in 1998, they were finally demolished. They might have been preserved had action been taken sooner, but it seemed that these ships were destined to play another role, just as they were, right where they were.

They were built in 1918 and 1917, respectively. For a detailed history of the exploits of these ships, please see this website.