Congratulations to Captain Becky Wright and Nathan Sigouin who have taken over the helm and the stewardship of the historic Maine schooner Lewis R. French. Launched in April 1871, the French is a National Historic Landmark and the oldest commercial sailing vessel in the U.S.  

From the schooner’s website:

Captain Becky Wright and Nathan Sigouin take great pride in owning a vessel as wonderful as the Lewis R. French.

Captain Becky

Becky grew up in the woods of New Hampshire, taking trips to visit family on the Maine Coast. Starting as a young teenager she began reading every bit of material on traditional sailing she could get her hands on, from Chapman’s Piloting and Small Boat Handling to the writings of Patrick O’Brian and C.S. Forester.

When she was 15, an older friend got a job sailing the Manitou on the Great Lakes. Becky had no idea that a career in traditional sailing was and still is a viable choice. With the revelation that sailing tall ships was an option, she began researching and applying to schooners in Maine using an out-of-date ASTA (American Sail Training Association, now known as Tall Ships America) catalog.

At 17 she found work in Camden on the Grace Bailey and Mercantile, finishing high school online which allowed her to work through fit-out starting in April, 2011. Since then, her passion has not waned. Starting 2011, she has worked on windjammers nearly every year. The three years not spent windjamming she worked on two different yachts, sailing to the Caribbean in the winter for the charter season, and back to Maine for the summer sailing season. In 2016 she earned her Yachtmaster, issued by the Royal Yachting Association in Antigua. A year later, she was issued a USCG Captain’s License. With three years of experience captaining the Mistress, of Camden, Captain Becky knows the cruising grounds around Camden pretty well.

Nathan wasn’t born to sailing, but he got here as fast as he could. After high school he pursued a place where he could hone his skills as a craftsman. Getting hired at a small shop in Wells ME that builds trolleys he gained a large array of skills in tinsmithing, painting, welding, and more over the eight years he was there.

Nathan Sigouin

In 2020 he happened to meet a very special lady named Becky Wright. Her passion for sailing was both contagious and informative. After a small stint at Bath Iron Works his world was forever changed on May 27th, when he took his first trip out on to Penobscot Bay. It was life altering! FIrst he got a job on a daysailer out of Camden, and by the end of the season he was working on the French as a messmate/deckhand. Now the sea is his workplace. He has jumped into the sailors life ready to apply himself to a much older, more traditional set of skills. Enthusiastic to explore, and ready to get the heck out on the water!

Lewis R. French is a gaff-rigged topsail schooner sailing out of Camden, Maine offering weeklong cruises from Memorial Day through mid-October.

Thanks to Linda Collison for contributing to this post.