Grand Nellie The schooner Grand Nellie, under full sail

The white 75-foot schooner, Grand Nellie, made her way up the Sheepscot River to the home of one of her two designers. The steel vessel, built in Merritt, N.C. was designed by Wiscasset resident Parker Marean III, a naval architect whose firm, Marean and Woodin, had offices in Wiscasset and Boothbay Harbor. Marean died in 1997 at the age of 57

His widow, Clary Marean, still lives in Wiscasset, and was the reason the ship's owner, Jeff Troeltzsch, wanted to pay a visit to the hometown of the designer.

She had received a phone call last week from Troeltzsch, who was on his way south after taking part in the Tall Ship Challenge 2004, which started in Miami and ended in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

"I told him I was 12 miles up the river," she said Tuesday morning. "He said that's fine.' "

Marean said when the tall ship came up the Sheepscot River under full sail Friday afternoon, "She looked like a million bucks." As a salute to her and her late husband, she said, the captain shot off the cannon.

Marean had just returned to Wiscasset Tuesday after sailing on board the ship to Gloucester, Mass., where the schooner will take part in the Gloucester Schooner race. She said they went off shore to get out of the bad weather, and found calm, moonlit seas all the way to Cape Ann. The ship can make 12 to 14 knots, she said.

"She can really cook," she said with a laugh. "It's a combination of the ship and a good captain.

Troeltzsch said Friday afternoon he wanted to visit Wiscasset to pay tribute to Parker Marean's extraordinary ability as a naval architect. He could not say enough about how beautifully designed the ship is, for both training young people, and for racing. Marean worked with the U.S. Coast Guard in developing regulations for passenger sailing vessels and on designs that would ensure safety and stability.

Another of the ship's captains, Doug Miller, was showing people around the ship while it was docked at the Wiscasset Yacht Club. It's clear by looking through the accommodations below deck that the vessel was built as a training ship, not a yacht. Although beautifully built with a good sized galley and lots of teak, there are no individual cabins. Sleeping quarters are built in bunks and hammocks.

Clary calls Troeltzsch, "a multi-talented guy, who did most of the teak work."

The American Sail Training Association, an educational, youth-oriented organization, describes the Grand Nellie as "a classic topsail schooner whose designers combined traditional schooner lines with modern technology to achieve maximum comfort and safety."

The ship takes boys, as young as age five, to age 15 on board to learn how to sail and for "personal growth," Miller said. Informal adult oriented sail training courses in coastal navigation, coastal and offshore cruising, and celestial navigation are also offered aboard the ship.

Miller said he first saw the ship when it came to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands where he had lived for 30 years. When the ship is not underway, she is docked in Jarret Bay, N.C.

One of the more well traveled of the U.S. tall ships, Grand Nellie has taken part in several of the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Races and sailed in OpSail 2000, which began in San Juan and included stops in Miami, Norfolk, Philadelphia, New York, and Portland, Maine.

For more information on the ship, including its availability for corporate and special events, email the captain at Captainjeff@grandnellie.com or phone 252-249-0290.