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Appledore IV
Appledore IV: Sea Stories
The Appledore IV is a two-masted schooner with a steel hull and features designed to support comfortable, extended travel for her crew and passengers. As the name suggests, the Appledore IV is part of a series of ships, all of which are known as “Appledores.” The Appledore IV has seen it all—it carried her original owners on family travels, has been used as a charter ship, and is used today as a floating classroom. Originally commissioned and built by Herb and Doris Smith, a globe-trotting couple, the Appledore IV has left her home ports in the United States for exotic voyages around the world. The “Appledore” name is a reference to the island where the couple first saw each other. Doris lived on Appledore Island, Maine, and unknowingly waved at her future husband as he sailed by.
For the Smiths, sailing was (and is) a family experience, and they brought their children along with them on their many voyages. Herb and Doris Smith would later sell their ships and exchange life at sea for a new adventure—running a dairy farm.
The Smiths sold Appledore IV to Baybreeze Charters, where she was briefly a charter ship. BaySail, a nonprofit organization, purchased the Appledore IV in 1997. Using the Appledore IV and her sister ship, Appledore V, BaySail teaches sailing, offers environmental education programs and provides charter ship services. Short classes, taught onboard the Appledore IV, educate students about science, weather, aquatic environments and environmental history.
Ship Details
- Year Built: 1989
- Type of Ship: Two-masted schooner
- Country Built: USA
- Homeport: Bay City, Michigan
- Overall length: 85 feet
- Beam (width at widest point): 18 feet
- Maximum Mast Height: 76 feet
- Armament: None
- Crew: 4
Construction
Treworgy Yachts constructed the Appledore IV’s hull out of steel and used a modern ship design created by Bud McIntosh. As a schooner, her design is a tribute to classic shipbuilding and she shares a similar appearance with many of the great charter and freight ships of old. Like most contemporary sailing vessels, the ship features a diesel engine that provides additional propulsion for long, global travels. She shares her Appledore name with other ships commissioned by Herb and Doris Smith, although her dimensions and some of her feature characteristics differ from ships in the same series. She can carry as many as 52 passengers and crew members and offers sleeping quarters for up to 14 people below deck.
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