Replica schooner departs New London

November 08, 2021 11:00 pm • Last Updated: November 09, 2021 7:08 pm

By Sean D. Elliot
Director of Photography

Dave Crocker, at left, watches as the schooner Columbia departs City Pier in New London on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021, after an extended layover at the end of the summer sailing season. Crocker came over from his marina to help handle the dock lines for the crew. The schooner is bound for St. Martin, via Bermuda, for the winter season. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day)
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New London — Following an extended layover, the schooner Columbia departed City Pier on Tuesday, bound for St. Martin, via Bermuda, for the winter season.

Columbia is a steel-hulled replica of the original Gloucester fishing schooner of the same name, which went down in heavy seas with all hands on Aug. 24, 1927, near Sable Island in the north Atlantic.

Columbia's rebirth was the dream of Brian D'Isernia of Eastern Shipbuilding of Panama City, Fla.

The original Columbia was a 141-foot classic Gloucester fishing schooner built at the historic A.D. Story shipyard of Essex, Mass., and designed by William Starling Burgess as both a fishing schooner and to compete in the annual International Fisherman's Cup races between the fishing fleets of Gloucester, Mass., and Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The schooner Columbia departs City Pier in New London on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021, after an extended layover in town at the end of the summer sailing season. The schooner is bound for St. Martin, via Bermuda, for the winter season. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day)
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The schooner Columbia enters the channel in the Thames River on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021, after departing City Pier in New London. The schooner is bound for St. Martin, via Bermuda, for the winter season. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day)
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