1962 Classic Coasting Schooner

The Mary Day is a 90-foot wooden schooner built in 1962 at Harvey Gamage Shipyard in Maine, designed by Havilah Hawkins for service as a coasting schooner. She is the first Maine schooner purpose-built for passenger windjammer operations and remains one of the few vessels of her type still operating under sail. Her design balances traditional aesthetics with practical passenger service, and she carries a full suit of canvas including main and fore topsails and a flying jib—a distinctive rig among contemporary Maine schooners. With a beam of 22 feet and shallow draft of 7.5 feet (board up), she can access shallow harbors while maintaining strong windward performance when the centerboard is deployed.

Below decks, the Mary Day sleeps 28 overnight guests with seven crew. Cabins feature windows and skylights, headroom, freshwater sinks, and central heating. The fo'c'sle is a private four-bunk compartment. The main salon, lit by a large skylight and accented with antique oil lamps, a fireplace, and a parlor organ, serves as the gathering space. The open galley centers around a traditional wood cookstove supported by ample working surfaces and a robust refrigeration system.

The deck layout is open and uncluttered, with a hydraulic-manual cast-iron anchor windlass and rigging and sails by Oceanus (2019 and newer). On deck are a varnished yawl boat, spare yawl boat, two Jimmy Steel peapods, a Joel White Catspaw with sailing rig, a 12-foot Achilles inflatable, two Chesapeake Light Craft sea kayaks, and two stand-up paddleboards—all included with the vessel.

A major reconstruction was completed at North End Shipyard in 1999–2000, involving approximately 10,600 labor hours and 10,000 board feet of new planking. The deck planking is pine over mahogany plywood, epoxy-bonded for a traditional appearance with reliable waterproofing. The hull has heavy outer planking over double-sawn oak frames with no inner ceiling, allowing good ventilation and structural access. The vessel is Coast Guard–inspected and regularly maintained; masts were pulled for a ten-year Coast Guard inspection in 2024, and a comprehensive survey was completed during a haul-out in April 2026.