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A REPLICA of the War of 1812 privateer Fame sailed from Salem, Mass., and arrived Friday in Bath. The vessel docked at the Maine Maritime Museum and opened to museum visitors on Saturday and Sunday. Captain and owner Michael Rutstein said Fame is a fully functioning sailing tour boat that can sleep 11 crew members and can hold as many as 40 passengers for sailing tours. The trip from Salem to Bath took about 24 hours, according to Rutstein. “During the War of 1812, more than 500 privately owned vessels were commissioned by the U.S. government to arm themselves and to seek out and capture British merchant ships and cargo intended for Britain,” a museum release states. “The move was made to help counterbalance the overwhelming odds the British Navy held over the fledgling U.S. Navy — over 1,000 ships of the line for Britain as opposed to a mere 20 ships for the U.S.” The original Fame was a fast Chebacco fishing schooner before she was converted for her wartime role in the summer of 1812. Fame made at least 20 captures before being wrecked in the Bay of Fundy in 1814.
A REPLICA of the War of 1812 privateer Fame sailed from Salem, Mass., and arrived Friday in Bath. The vessel docked at the Maine Maritime Museum and opened to museum visitors on Saturday and Sunday. Captain and owner Michael Rutstein said Fame is a fully functioning sailing tour boat that can sleep 11 crew members and can hold as many as 40 passengers for sailing tours. The trip from Salem to Bath took about 24 hours, according to Rutstein. “During the War of 1812, more than 500 privately owned vessels were commissioned by the U.S. government to arm themselves and to seek out and capture British merchant ships and cargo intended for Britain,” a museum release states. “The move was made to help counterbalance the overwhelming odds the British Navy held over the fledgling U.S. Navy — over 1,000 ships of the line for Britain as opposed to a mere 20 ships for the U.S.” The original Fame was a fast Chebacco fishing schooner before she was converted for her wartime role in the summer of 1812. Fame made at least 20 captures before being wrecked in the Bay of Fundy in 1814.
THE KENNEBEC RIVER opens to Fame, a full-scale replica of a War of 1812 privateer, in Bath on Friday.
THE KENNEBEC RIVER opens to Fame, a full-scale replica of a War of 1812 privateer, in Bath on Friday.

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