Last month we posted that the Sailing School Vessel Spirit of South Carolina was finally going to auction. For the last several years, the schooner been owned by TD Bank. Yesterday, the 140′ wooden schooner was sold at auction for $440,000 to two Charleston businessmen, Tommy Baker and Michael Bennett. In the short term, the new owners say that they will keep the schooner in Charleston, while they work out their longer term plans for the vessel. The schooner was constructed between 2001 and 2007 at a cost of $4 million dollars.
Old Salt Blog
a virtual port of call for all those who love the sea , hosted by nautical novelist Rick Spilman
As a long-time reader of oldsaltblog.com I am pleased to tell you that “The Spirit of South Carolina”, tall ship out of Charleston, South Carolina just finished sea trials and Coast Guard inspection in Newport, Rhode Island. The Spirit will leave for her home port of Charleston, SC in the next day or so. She is skippered by Christopher Trandell, recently the captain of Spirit of Bermuda. The Spirit is a two-masted, 140-foot-long wooden ship built in a field near Charleston harbor, modeled after a 19th century, Charleston-built pilot schooner. She was launched in 2007, running educational programs until financial diffulties stopped her from sailing. The Spirit was bought by local businessmen Tommy Baker and Michael Bennett to keep her in Charleston harbor. Plans for educational programs, recreational trips and dock tours are being considered, although “teaching children will still be our focus” according to Director Ashley Bridges.
Great news! Thanks for the update.