View source for Lewis R. French (schooner)

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=Lewis R. French NHL.jpg
|Ship caption=
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United States|civil}}
|Ship name=''Lewis R. French''
|Ship owner=
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=French Brothers
|Ship original cost=
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched=1871
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=
|Ship decommissioned=
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship renamed=
|Ship struck=
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship honours=
|Ship honors=
|Ship captured=
|Ship fate=
|Ship status=In service as of 2023
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class=
|Ship tonnage={{GRT|50|disp=long}}
|Ship length=*{{convert|64.7|ft|abbr=on}} ([[Length overall|LOA]])
*{{convert|56.6|ft|abbr=on}} ([[Waterline length|LWL]]){{sfn|Dean|Delgado|1990|p=3}}
|Ship beam={{convert|18.8|ft|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught=
|Ship draft={{convert|7.5|ft|abbr=on}}
|Ship hold depth={{convert|5.4|ft|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion=Yawl Boat 85 HP
|Ship sail plan=Main, Fore, Forestaysail, Jib, Main Gaff Topsail, Jib Topsail
|Ship complement=4 crew and 21 Overnight Guests
|Ship armament=
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox NRHP
|embed=yes
|name=''Lewis R. French'' (Schooner)
|nrhp_type=nhl
|image=
|caption=
|location=Camden Harbor, [[Camden, Maine]]
|coordinates = {{coord|44|12|38|N|69|03|46|W|display=inline,title}}
|locmapin=Maine#USA
|map_width=300
|area=
|built=1871
|architect=French Bros.
|architecture=coasting schooner
|designated_nrhp_type=4 December 1992<ref name="nhlsum">
 {{cite web
 |url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1855&ResourceType=Structure 
 |title=Lewis R. French (schooner) 
 |access-date=2008-06-25 
 |website=[[National Park Service]] 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100923160547/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1855&ResourceType=Structure 
 |archive-date=2010-09-23 
}}</ref>
|added=4 December 1991<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2007a}}</ref>
|refnum=82005263
}}
|}
'''''Lewis R. French''''' is a [[gaff rig|gaff-rigged]] [[topsail]] [[schooner]] sailing out of [[Camden, Maine]] as a "Maine windjammer" offering 3 to 6 night cruises to tourists.  Built in 1871, she is the oldest known two-masted schooner in the United States, and one of a small number of this once-common form of vessel in active service.  The ship was designated a US [[National Historic Landmark]] in 1992.

==Description and history==
''Lewis R. French'' was launched in 1871 in Christmas Cove<ref name=French>{{cite web |url=http://schoonerfrench.com/nfhistory.htm |title=A Little History |website=Schooner Lewis R. French |access-date=4 October 2014}}</ref> in the town of [[South Bristol, Maine]]. The ship is 101&nbsp;ft long, has {{convert|64.7|ft}} of deck, a {{convert|18.8|ft|adj=on}} beam, and draws {{convert|7.5|ft}} with a full keel.  Sail is her only means of power.  Her frame is of double-sawn oak and [[hackmatack]] and her planking is white oak.  Fastenings were originally [[treenail]]s, but were replaced during restoration by spiking.<ref name=NHL>{{cite web
|url=http://npgallery.nps.gov/nrhp/GetAsset?assetID=72df3c6f-b350-4abb-98f3-c39cc7ae20f7 |title=Maritime Heritage of the United States NHL Theme Study—Large Vessels / Lewis R. French (schooner)
|format=pdf
|last1=Dean 
|first1=Nicholas
|last2=Delgado
|first2=James P.
|author-link2=James P. Delgado
|website=[[National Park Service]]
|date=5 October 1990
|access-date=2016-07-31

}}</ref>

According to the current owners' website and to researcher and author Virginia L. Thorndike, the schooner was built by the sons of Maine storekeeper Lewis R. French and named for their father.  In Thorndike's book ''Windjammer Watching on the Coast of Maine'', the author writes that the three sons had an agreement with their father that he would finance the building of the vessel, and yet he never did.  They then retaliated, in a way, by naming the schooner after him, thus forcing the elder Mr. French to honor a maritime tradition which decreed that any living person with a vessel named for them must supply her with a set of flags.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K6RjBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT69 |title=Windjammer Watching on the Coast of Maine |last=Thorndike |first=Virginia L. |publisher=[[Down East Books]] |date=2002 |isbn=978-1-4617-4476-4|access-date=2016-07-31 |edition=Third }}</ref>

Joseph W. French was her first master.  At first used in the [[coasting trade]], she was operated as a fishing vessel between 1877 and 1888 before again returning to coasting.  In 1928 her masts were removed and she was converted to engine power, with a pilot house on her [[quarterdeck]].  The ship remained in the coasting trade, carrying all manner of cargo, until 1973, when she was purchased by John Foss.  He spent three years restoring the vessel to her original sailing condition and outfitting her hold for passengers. ''Lewis R. French'' was among the first schooners sailing out of the North End Shipyard, owned by Foss, in [[Rockland, Maine]] as part of the "Maine Windjammer Fleet."<ref name=NHL/>

In 1986, Foss sold the schooner to his brother-in-law Dan Pease,<ref name=NHL/> who sailed and captained the Lewis R. French out of Rockland and then Camden until 2003.  That year, she was purchased from Pease by Garth Wells and now sails out of Camden.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://schoonerfrench.com/Danscruise.htm |title=Captain Dan Pease |website=Schooner Lewis R. French |access-date=December 8, 2017}}</ref> Garth Wells and his wife Jenny Tobin operated the schooner until April 2022,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://schoonerfrench.com/nfcaptain.htm |title=About Your Hosts |website=Schooner Lewis R. French |access-date=December 8, 2017}}</ref> when they sold the business to Captain Becky Wright and Nathan Sigouin. Wright and Sigouin carry on windjamming with the ''French'' still in Camden.  Continuously since 1976, she has been in the tourist trade along the Maine coast.<ref name=NHL/>

''Lewis R. French'' was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1991,<ref name=NHL/> and was designated a [[National Historic Landmark]] in 1992.<ref name="nhlsum"/>  She is the oldest two-masted schooner in the United States (slightly older than [[Stephen Taber (schooner)|''Stephen Taber'']], also built in 1871), and is one of only two that has a full [[keel]] (the other, the [[Governor Stone (schooner)|''Governor Stone'']], is also a National Historic Landmark).  She is the oldest sailing ship built in Maine, and the only known surviving Maine-built schooner that has always been home-ported in Maine.<ref name=NHL/><ref name=French/>

==See also==
{{commons category|Lewis R. French (ship, 1871)}}
* [[List of National Historic Landmarks in Maine]]
* [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Knox County, Maine]]
* [[List of schooners]]
* [[List of oldest surviving ships]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://schoonerfrench.com/ Schooner Lewis R. French official site]
*[http://www.sailmainecoast.com/ Maine Windjammer Association official site]

{{National Register of Historic Places}}
{{Oldest surviving ships (pre-1919)}}

[[Category:Ships on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine]]
[[Category:National Historic Landmarks in Maine]]
[[Category:Camden, Maine]]
[[Category:Transportation buildings and structures in Knox County, Maine]]
[[Category:Schooners of the United States]]
[[Category:Tall ships of the United States]]
[[Category:Windjammers]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Knox County, Maine]]
[[Category:1871 ships]]