Berthed at the Maine State Pier in Portland, Maine, is Bagheera, formerly Beacon Rock, a historic schooner. She is a two-masted auxiliary-rigged schooner, built in 1924 by the noted naval architect John G. Alden and celebrated for racing success on the Great Lakes. Today she sails as part of the Portland Schooner Company fleet, offering Casco Bay tours alongside the Wendameen, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.
As you look, notice her wooden hull painted black and her graceful two masts with gaff rigging similar to the original. She measures 72 feet overall with a 55-foot deck, a 14-foot-2-inch beam and a 7-foot-6-inch draft. Her structure is built of white oak framing with pine planking, mahogany rails, and sitka spruce bowsprit and spars.
The deck is now fiberglass laid on oak beams, a replacement for the original teak, and auxiliary power comes from an circa-2000 82-horsepower Westerbeke diesel. Notice the seamanship and racing history in her varnished wood and spars, then follow the black hull up the masts to the waterfront.