John Faunce Leavitt - Fate of The Schooner John F. Leavitt

Fate of The Schooner John F. Leavitt

During the early 1970s a fan of the coasting schooners of New England, Ned Ackerman, became empassioned with a dream to build such a vessel, and to prove that commercial sail could still work. He had read all the books and talked with as many authorities as he could find. Among these was the master, John F. Leavitt. At the inaugural Schooner History Symposium held at the Bath Marine Museum in the summer of 1972, Mr. Leavitt and Mr. Ackerman were present. There were many living in Maine at the time who were tremendous experts in the history of the wooden schooners, and also there were many who owned these boats and were rebuilding them for use in the sail passenger trade. It was the perfect place to nurture an interest in the old working boats.

Ackerman had commissioned a design for the vessel from the renowned naval architect, Pete Culler, the author of Skiffs and Schooners. R. D. "Pete" Culler had designed several schooners of note for the Concordia Company in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts. He was also the designer of the sail training vessel R. Tucker Thompson of New Zealand.

Ackerman engaged to have this vessel built at Newbert & Wallace Shipyard in Thomaston, Maine. The keel was laid in 1976 of the 97-foot two-masted, centreboard schooner John F. Leavitt, named in honor of the author of Wake of the Coasters (1970). When finished she was painted white with a distinctive red waist, and her figurehead depicted a fox with feathers gripped in his mouth. The schooner was launched in late summer, 1979 and almost immediately began to encounter difficulties, running aground in the Saint George River and having to sit out a tide on her launching day. She made her maiden voyage down the coast to Quincy, Massachusetts in November. It was late in the season for a North Atlantic voyage, but here again she had to wait for her cargo. One of her best crew was injured climbing a fence and could not sail with her. Leaving Quincy heavily laden, she sank a few days later following a heavy winter three-day North Atlantic gale near the Gulf Stream. Her crew were taken off the vessel by the Air National Guard, by rescue helicopter.

The building and the eventual sinking of the John F. Leavitt was the subject of a film dubbed Coaster, some six years in the making. Critics gave the film glowing reviews, and it won the Best Adventure Film Feature at the American Film Festival. "A thrilling story", said The Boston Phoenix. "Endowed with the beauty of an heroic epic", raved The Washington Post. The schooner, carrying a cargo to Haiti on her maiden voyage, foundered in a gale off Delaware, an event captured on film.

Many in the schooner community, however, felt that throughout the sinking Ackerman was more concerned with saving face than saving his vessel. This view lead to a persistent joke at the time: (told with a Maine accent) "Called that boat the John F. Leave-It... and that's just what they did!."

The 83-ton schooner with 6,441 feet of sail, built by enthusiast Ned Ackerman and carrying a cargo of lumber, was seen to founder in heavy seas. Adding to the drama was the fact that the John F. Leavitt was the first sailing cargo ship built for more than 40 years in the United States and went to her grave on her maiden voyage.

The ship was financed by a single enthusiast owner who was eager to demonstrate that wind power still had a place in the modern world. The topsail schooner was built to demonstrate that a modern wooden schooner under sail could carry cargo and compete with the engine-driven ships of the twentieth century.