''Pilgrim'' was an early 19th century American sailing brig. She was immortalized by one of her sailors

Richard Henry Dana Jr. Richard Henry Dana Jr. (August 1, 1815 – January 6, 1882) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts, a descendant of a colonial family, who gained renown as the author of the classic American memoir ''Two Years Before the Mast'' a ...

, who wrote the classic account '' Two Years Before the Mast'' about a 1834–1835 voyage between Massachusetts and California to trade for hides. ''Pilgrim'' caught fire and sank at sea in 1856.

Construction and trading

''Pilgrim'' was a brig-rigged sailing vessel built in 1825 by Sprague & James at Medford, Massachusetts for Joshua Blake, Francis Stanton and George Hallett, and later sold to Bryant & Sturgis of

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. She measured 180.5 tons burthen, had a length of and a beam of .

, a

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

undergraduate suffering from the effects of

measles Measles (probably from Middle Dutch or Middle High German ''masel(e)'', meaning "blemish, blood blister") is a highly contagious, Vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccine-preventable infectious disease caused by Measles morbillivirus, measles v ...

, joined the crew in 1834 as an ordinary

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. While the term ''sailor'' ...

for a voyage from

, Massachusetts via

Cape Horn Cape Horn (, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which is Águila Islet), Cape Horn marks the nor ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

to trade for hides from the ranches around the Franciscan missions. That voyage is covered in the first part of his classic memoire '' Two Years Before the Mast''. ''Pilgrim'' sank off the North Carolina coast after a fire at sea in 1856.

Crew

As described by Dana, in addition to six to eight common sailors, the ship's complement included three officers: the

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

, the First Mate and the Second Mate. The second mate commanded the starboard

watch A watch is a timepiece carried or worn by a person. It is designed to maintain a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is worn around the wrist, attached by a watch strap or another type of ...

but while an officer was socially isolated, being neither truly an officer or a crewman. This was probably due to the size of the ship; on larger vessels with more crew, the Second Mate was clearly an officer, but on the ''Pilgrim'', the Captain and First Mate ate together and the Second Mate had to make do with their leftovers. Besides the captain, there were four specialist crewmembers who were not part of any watch: the steward, cook, carpenter and sailmaker.

Replica

A replica of the vessel was based in Dana Point, California, the site of some of Dana's adventures. This replica began as a 3-masted

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

(also called a "tern" schooner in North America) built in 1945 for the Baltic trade in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. In 1975, ''Pilgrim'' was converted to a

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the l ...

Setúbal Setúbal ( , , ; ), officially the City of Setúbal (), is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the entire municipality in 2014 was 118,166, occupying an area of . The city itself had 89,303 inhabitants in 2001. It lies withi ...

, Portugal. She was used as a floating classroom with the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, California, and she set sail every summer on a tour of

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

with a volunteer crew. The ship was used in '' Amistad'', a film directed by

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

. ''Pilgrim'' also played the notorious "Ghost Galleon" in '' Power Rangers: Turbo''. On March 29, 2020, the ''

Orange County Register ''The Orange County Register'' is a paid daily List of newspapers in California, newspaper published in California. The ''Register'', published in Orange County, California, is owned by the private equity firm Alden Global Capital via its Digit ...

'' reported that the ship had sunk. The ship began to heel starboard in its dock on March 29, and the decision was made to demolish it.

References

{{reflist

External links

model of 1825 ''Pilgrim''
Replica ships Individual sailing vessels Sail training ships Tall ships of the United States Museum ships in California Museums in Orange County, California Brigs Age of Sail merchant ships of the United States 1825 ships 1945 ships Ships built in Medford, Massachusetts Ships built in Denmark Shipwrecks of the Carolina coast

Construction and trading

Crew

Replica

See also

References

External links