1924 Alden schooner Bagheera comes home to Maine

The 72-foot vintage Alden arrived in Portland Harbor on May 26 to begin yet another career, this time in the service of the Portland Schooner Company. Twain Braden, former managing editor for Ocean Navigator magazine, and his partner Scott Reischmann plan to offer day sails for tourists as well as private charters from their berth on the Maine State Pier.

The partners purchased the vessel in San Francisco and had it trucked to the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where it was rigged before sailing to Portland.

Bagheera was built at Rice Brothers Shipyard in East Boothbay in 1924. Once owned by Newport, R.I., yachtsman and inventor Marion Eppley, Bagheera sailed in at least one Bermuda Race before being delivered to the Great Lakes. Her voyages have taken her across the Atlantic, and she has cruised the Pacific, including the Galapagos. In the 1980s, the schooner was fitted out for the passenger trade.

With tourism on the rise in southern Maine, the future looks bright for the new venture on Casco Bay.

By Ocean Navigator