The schooner Lewis R. French was launched in South Bristol in 1871. The year 2021 marks her 150th birthday and to celebrate, the schooner spent a few nights moored in Christmas Cove, offering visitors a chance to step aboard. In addition, Captain Garth Wells was on hand for a special Q&A following this South Bristol Historical Society presentation about local 19th century shipbuilding and the A&M Gamage Company.
Schooner LR French is the oldest working two-masted schooner in the country and designated a National Historic Landmark.
Part 1 – Speaker David Andrews, an historian and founding member of the SB Historical Society in 1998, talks about the LR French and local shipbuilding.
Part 2 – LR French Captain Garth Wells answers questions from the audience about his time owning and sailing the oldest commercial vessel in America.
Recorded June 27, 2021 in Christmas Cove, Maine at the Christmas Cove Improvement Association