We like to get out and personally greet all the tall ships entering Portsmouth Harbor, but we missed the August 2004 arrival of the Friendship out of Salem, MA. The fog was so thick that the boatl parade had to be canceled It was, after all, Friday the 13^th.

Luckily Shelly Britton was on the scene. A veterinarian technician and now a trained photographer, Shelly had planed to be on the Portsmouth Harbor Cruise ship as the Friendship appeared in port. Instead, she captured the arrival of the ship by land, first as it came out of the fog near Peirce Island, then as the ghostly vessel moved under the Memorial Bridge towards its berth at the state pier.

Even when docked, the Friendship appeared to hang in separate dimension, a historic ship just out of time and place. Friendship is a brand new reconstruction of a 1797 East Indian ship that made 15 trips around the globe in search of exotic spices, coffee and sugar. When in its home port Friendship is open to visitors in Salem. The visit was sponsored by the Portsmouth Maritime Commission (PMC) in an ongoing effort to celebrate the Piscataqua heritage of wooden ship building. :Like its sister port at Salem, this region was famous for its locally-made ships in the Age of Sail, starting as early as 1690. Unlike Salem, however, Portsmouth, currently, has no reconstructed vessel to call its own.

SEE MORE tall ship visits in THE SHIPYARD
VISIT: Friendship web page

Digital images copyright (c) 2004 by Shelly Britton.