VICTORY CHIMES (Schooner)

About this property

The three-masted schooner Victory Chimes, previously known as Edwin and Maude and Domino Effect, was the last surviving Chesapeake Ram schooner and a National Historic Landmark in the United States. The schooner on the 2003 Maine State Quarter is meant to resemble Victory Chimes. The traditional "ram" rig was a standing jib, flying jib, staysail (also called a forestaysail), foresail, mainsail and spanker (or mizzen), which Victory Chimes carries today. The heads of the fore, main and mizzen sails are supported by gaffs and the feet are laced to booms ... The standing rigging is steel wire. Standing rigging was minimal on rams, to enable deck cargo to be stowed on uncluttered decks. Edwin and Maude was designed to carry general cargo in the Chesapeake Bay. She was built with a centerboard, and a shallow draft for work in the bay. According to her 1997 National Historic Landmark nomination, her centerboard, replaced in 1965, "draws 7 feet 6 inches [2.3 meters] with the centerboard up and 18 feet [5.5 meters] with the centerboard down." Edwin and Maude served in the cargo trade until 1945 carrying "sawn lumber, grain, soft coal and fertilizer," according to her 1997 National Historic Landmark nomination. She was converted to carry passengers in 1946. Just as when Victory Chimes was built, the schooner does not carry an engine. Maneuvering assistance is provided by a nineteen[-]foot 19 ft (5.8 m) wooden yawlboat which pushes against the stern. When not in use it is towed astern. The current yawl boat was built in 1991 ... to enable the vessel to compete with other vessels in the passenger schooner trade which have been modified to carry engines. The yawlboat is ..."probably a bit bigger than would have originally been used." It is powered by a 135[-]horsepower [101-kilowatt] Ford diesel engine. Three other boats are carried on davits. In 2010, the yawl boat of Victory Chimes, Enoch, was equipped with a 210 hp (157 kW) Cummins diesel engine. The donkey engine which retrieves the anchors and can be used to raise sail is a 6 hp (4.5 kW) single-cylinder Seeger manufactured by Olds and installed in 1904. Victory Chimes was sold at auction in May 2023 for $75,900. Her new owners, New York City-based restauranteurs Miles and Alex Pincus, also operate the historic ships-turned-floating restaurants Pilot (until her sinking) and Sherman Zwicker. Victory Chimes was relocated to New York City later that year, and remained docked at Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Unused as a restaurant, Victory Chimes was moved to the Henry Street Basin adjacent to the Red Hook Grain Terminal in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York in early 2026, alongside the historic schooner Pilot — which had served as a floating bar from 2017 to 2025 — when Pilot sank at her moorings sometime during the night of July 1–2, 2026. Victory Chimes then began to take on water at her moorings during a strong squall that hit the harbor on July 3, 2026, in the midst of New York City's Sail250 festivities. Victory Chimes was found on the harbor bottom on July 5, 2026, having sunk next to Pilot in the interim. According to press reports Victory Chimes was in bad condition when the squall hit.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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