TWO-MASTED TALL SHIPS

Bluenose II (Canada) is a Canadian national symbol, depicted on stamps and her nation’s ten-cent coin. A replica of a legendarily fast Grand Banks fishing schooner, she is the tallest of the Buffalo fleet’s tall ships with a mainmast 130 feet high. Owned by the Province of Nova Scotia, the 181-foot two-masted wooden schooner sails from Lunenburg. She last visited Buffalo soon after her launching in 1963; rebuilt in 2012, she sails with a crew of 18. She will be berthed along the Riverwalk.

US Brig Niagara (U.S.) is a reconstruction of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry’s historic wooden flagship from the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812, the US Brig Niagara hails from nearby Erie, PA and is a frequent visitor to Buffalo. Now a 198- foot sailing training vessel, the two-masted square-rigger has a rig height of 120 feet and sets 11,600 square of sail. She sails for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with a crew of 18 and 22 trainees as young as 16, on voyages of experiential learning. She will be berthed at Canalside.

Pride of Baltimore II (U.S.) is a sailing ambassador for the State of Maryland, owned by a not-for-profit organization and supported by the Maryland Transportation Authority, which will be holding a reception aboard during her visit to Buffalo. A wood-hulled Baltimore clipper-style two-masted topsail schooner from the War of 1812 era, she is a 157-foot vessel with sharply-raked masts reaching 1107 feet high, and sails with a crew of 12 and up to 33 guests or trainees for historical education day sails. Launched in 1988 to replace the first Pride of Baltimore, she will be berthed at Canalside.

STV St. Lawrence II (Canada) is a 72-foot steel two-masted brigantine operated by a crew of teen-agers for youth sail training programs by Brigantine Inc. Square-rigged on her foremast, the vessel is based in Kingston, Ontario and sails with six crew members and 18 trainees. She was one of the Canadian “triplets,” sister brigantines, brought to this port by the Buffalo Lighthouse Association in the 1980s. She will be berthed in the Erie Basin Marina.

HMCS Oriole (Canada) is the oldest commissioned ship in the Royal Canadian Navy and also the longest serving commissioned ship. Now the sail training vessel of the Royal Canadian Navy, this sailing ketch is based at CFB Halifax in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was originally built in 1921 as the flag ship for the Royal Canadian Yacht Club in Toronto and commissioned into the RCN in 1952. At a length of 108 feet, this vessel has a complement of one officer and five enlisted along with capacity for 18 trainees.