SKU: 35328
Flagship Niagara is recognized in the United States and abroad as the premier sail training ship and as the most authentic early 19th century replica naval vessel. Since she first set sail in 1990, this reconstruction of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry’s victorious 1813 warship and flagship has served as a setting for education–and adventure.
The present Flagship Niagara is the fourth ship to bear that name. Earlier restorations and reconstructions, thwarted by funding shortfalls and the passage of time, failed to preserve the warship.
Early in the 1980s, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, an agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, combined efforts with a group of Erie citizens whose vision was that of building the Niagara as a working ship that would sail again. The ship and a new museum would be significant attractions for the revitalization of Erie’s bayfront.
In 1984, the state legislature authorized the building of Niagara, the cost of which, by the time of her launch in 1988, amounted to about four million dollars. Naval architect Melbourne Smith was chosen to lead reconstruction. Demolition of the old Niagara was completed in 1987. To preserve the spirit of the 1813 vessel, some conserved timbers were use in nonstructural parts of the new hull.
The keel was laid on May 7, 1988, at an Erie harbor construction site where work was done by the Pennsylvania Conservation Corps, a state organization reminiscent of the federal Civilian Conservation Corps. Work progressed quickly. On September 10, the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie, the hull was launched in Erie harbor. Information taken from Niagara website: http://www.eriemaritimemuseum.org/
