Tall Ship UNICORN Due

Tall Ship UNICORN, one of the vessels due in September for Tall Ships Erie, the first tall ships event in Erie in seven years, is expected in Erie sometime tomorrow after noontime for a stopover. Also expected is LYNX. They will not be open for tours but will be docked behind the Erie Maritime Museum and can be seen with purchase of a ticket. They will depart Wednesday for Port Colborne.

Tall Ships Erie Ships Announced

As I first reported on the Erie Shipping News in March, the vessels scheduled to visit for Tall Ships Erie in September are the LYNX, BOUNTY, ROALD AMUNDSEN, UNICORN, PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II, PATHFINDER, and PLAYFAIR.

This is the first tall ships event in Erie since 2003, not 2000 as the promotion says.

Tall Ships Erie Informational Event Held; ESB 112 and 113, along with three former Erie-built barges, renamed

Tall Ships Erie held an informational event at the Erie Maritime Museum this evening seeking sponsors, vendors and volunteers for their event to be held from September 9 through September 12 of this year. For more information on the event, visit their website. Ships for the event were announced at the event, however, at this time the group is not allowing their names to be released publicly.

Also note that this is NOT the first tall ships event in Erie in a decade; the last one was in 2003.

ESB 112 and ESB 113 have been renamed WITTE 1407 and WITTE 1406, respectively. These barges will likely be towed out of Erie to the east coast sometime in May. I will update when I learn more about this.

Also, Erie Shipbuilding-built barges PAV 101, PAV 102 and PAV 103 have been renamed WITTE 1404, WITTE 1408 and WITTE 1409, respectively.

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Tall Ships Erie chairman Brian Scott speaks at the event on Thursday evening.


WITTE 1407 and WITTE 1406 at dock this evening.


PAV 101 in Erie, October 21, 2007.


PAV 102 in Erie on October 26, 2007.


CROW and PAV 103 secured above Lock 7 of the Welland Canal on the morning of November 11, 2007, awaiting dowbound transit.

Historical: Tall Ships in Erie, 2003

Over the Fourth of July weekend in 2003, Erie hosted a follow-up event to its Big Boats on the Bay held in 2000. This event was entitled "Big Boats on the Bay II: Ships at Rest in the Port of Erie" and was scheduled to feature six vessels: the U.S. Brig NIAGARA, PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II, TARANGINI, SERENDIPITY, NEIS KAH and LARINDA. NEIS KAH and LARINDA were both no-shows for this event.

Those weren't the only tall ships to visit Erie in 2003: the AMISTAD visited Erie on June 10 that year and the HMS BOUNTY, used in Marlon Brando's movie Mutiny on the Bounty visited June 27.

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AMISTAD and NIAGARA on June 10.


BOUNTY departing on the morning of June 28.


In the channel.


TARANGINI at Dobbin's Landing on July 6.


Side view.


Stern view.


PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II and NIAGARA at dock that day.