Alice S. Wentworth

Type

Schooner

Period

19th Century

Nation

United States

Overview: Alice S. Wentworth was a two-masted, gaff-rigged wooden coasting schooner best known as the last working schooner in America's coastwise trade, made famous under the command of Martha's Vineyard captain Zebulon "Zeb" Tilton. She began life under a different name and was later rebuilt and renamed, becoming an enduring symbol of the age of sail commerce along the New England coast. Specifications: She was built in South Norwalk, Connecticut in 1863 as the two-masted, gaff-rigged schooner Lizzie A. Tolles, a 72-foot vessel. In 1904-1905 she was hauled out, extensively rebuilt, re-registered, and renamed Alice S. Wentworth after the favorite niece of her owners, the Stevens brothers of Wells, Maine. Service History: As Lizzie A. Tolles and later as Alice S. Wentworth, the vessel spent over a century plying New England and New York waters, hauling cargo such as lumber, coal, bricks, gypsum, salt, and oysters that was too heavy for horse-drawn transport. Captain Zeb Tilton bought her in 1921 and sailed her until his retirement in 1943, the period widely regarded as the prime of the ship's working life; after Tilton went ashore she continued as a Maine windjammer cruise vessel into the early 1960s. Notable Facts: After her sailing career ended she was sold in 1965 to become a dockside tourist attraction at Anthony's Pier 4 Restaurant in Boston, sank more than once, was kept afloat with styrofoam, and finally broke apart in a winter storm in 1974, ending a 111-year existence. Ship modeler Tom Lauria built a museum-quality scale model of her based on handwritten measurement notebooks kept by Charles S. Sayle Sr., who served as mate aboard the schooner in the 1930s, and later authored a book on the vessel and her model.