Seacoast History Blog #66

Now that the cat is out of the bag, I guess it’s time to chat a little about the Privateer Lynx. She is a top-sail schooner built in the style of the fast maneuverable boats designed to harass the British merchant fleet in the War of 1812. If you recall, President Monroe declared war on the nation with the world’s largest navy when we had only a dozen ships of our own. Private armed vessels helped win that war. Lynx is not an exact historic replica of her predecessor, built at Fells Point in Baltimore. But she is inspired by that beautiful vessel with the raked back masts and the sleek silhouette. And maybe, just maybe, she could become a frequent visitor to Portsmouth, NH. (Click headline to continue)

The plan is still speculative. Lynx was built and launched at Rockport, Maine in 2001. She stopped here briefly in October of that year, just a few weeks after 9/11 when a pall hung over the whole nation. I visited her then and, like many, was surprised to see that owner Woodson K. Woods had registered his new $3 million dream ship in the state of New Hampshire. The name Portsmouth, NH is painted on her stern.

READ article on Lynx discussion here

But Woods lives in Hawaii, and Lynx has been operating out of Newport Beach in California ever since. There has long been a plan to return East for the bicentennial of the War of 1812, which begins in three years. That’s why I’m writing a book on Lynx, and that’s why WKW and his marketing director Ed Woodyard and my wife and I were up in Rockport last week. I got a chance to interview custom boat builder Taylor Allen and his crew at Rockport Marine. The week before that I interviewed Melbourne Smith, the designer, who lives in Annapolis. Smith, among the best known architects of historically accurate ships, also designed the Pride of Baltimore, the Niagara, the California, the Spirit of Massachusetts and others.

If you read Tom Cocchiaro’s article in the Portsmouth Herald, you are already a step ahead of the story. At the moment, the Lynx Foundation is considering coming East in 2010 to join a fleet of tall ships that will travel to the Great Lakes. The plan, still tentative, includes a stop in Florida before the Lynx works her way up the Atlantic Coast, giving tours, talking about the War of 1812, offering charters and sail training adventures for kids. Working with kids, most whom have never been aboard a sailing vessel, is WKW’s dream.

If Lynx makes the trip, she will certainly stop at Portsmouth, and ideally, she will visit here often. Some of us in town hope that the state of NH will want to officially adopt the Lynx as its representative for the official "bicentennial" in 2012-14. Celebrations are now being planned to commemorate the War of 1812. They will culminate in a regatta and fireworks extravaganza at Fort McHenry in Baltimore on the 200 anniversary of the failed British attack. That’s when Francis Scott Key wrote "The Star Spangled Banner" after seeing a gigantic Stars and Stripes still waiving following the shock and awe of the British bombardment .

I can’t think of a better plan than for Lynx, a ship designed to tell the story of the War of 1812, to represent the state of NH during that celebration. Portsmouth was a privateering town in both the Revolution and the "First Defense of Freedom" that followed in 1812. The New Hampshire state seal shows a ship being built at Portsmouth, but with the exception of our beloved little gundalow, the city has never been able to successfully build and launch its own tall ship. Lord knows we’ve tried, but the process was too costly.

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UPDATE: LYNX BOOK NOW AVAILABLE
click picture of cover for autographed copies

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The arrival of Lynx seems like the perfect solution to that problem. The ship is already built and paid for. It has our name on the back. It celebrates and interprets events for which Portsmouth is well known. It’s beautiful inside and out, built of sturdy Douglas Fir and imported Angelique. She is fitted out to carry passengers according to US Coast Guard standards. And she is owned and run by the Lynx Education Foundation, a successful nonprofit agency now in its eighth year of operation.

But this is far from a done deal. On his way up to Maine, Woodson Woods met with a group of Portsmouth citizens to kick around the possibility of bringing Lynx to town on a more frequent basis. She will always winter in a warmer clime, but could find a home here often over the coming years. You can imagine the huge economic impact that a long term tall ship visit will have on local restaurants, hotels, shops and more. We can certainly guess, based on short-term visits sponsored by the PMC, that visitors will spend millions of dollars over a number of years.

Bringing Lynx will require corporate sponsorship, and a good docking facility, and a lot of networking with other organizations. Right now, it’s all just in the talking phase, but from what I’ve heard, people are talking positively.

For now, that’s really all we know. WKW will be meeting with his board of directors in the next few days to talk about his recent visit to Florida and to New England. Sue Cobler, who knows a lot about maritime heritage and cultural tourism, has volunteered to coordinate a local committee to study the idea. I guess I’m on it. But mostly my job is to finish this book which is not quite half written. So if you’ll forgive me, I must get back to work.

Those interested in getting involved in Lynx can contact Sue by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it