North Star Port

ictory Chimes, the last surviving C h e s a p e a k e R a m schooner and a U. S. National Historic Landmark, sank in early July. The vessel had been tied to a mooring wall in Henry Street Basin, in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. The three-masted wooden ship, built in 1899-1900, took on water July 3 during a squall that swept New York Harbor amid the city's Sail250 festivities. As Jimmy Lovrien reported in the Duluth News Tribune, she sank beside the schooner Pilot, which went down at the adjacent berth two days earlier. Both ships, owned by the hospitality company Crew and awaiting r e s t o r a t i o n , h a d s h o w n visible signs of deterioration, according to The Maritime Executive. The owners told Maine's Midcoast Villager they hope to raise and restore both vessels. For Duluthians of a certain age, the loss conjures up memories. As the Duluth Seaway Port Authority magazine chronicled in 1986, the schooner sailed north for Duluth after leaving Florida that spring, her owner and a volunteer crew pausing at ports along the East Coast to earn money for continuing the trip. Progress was slow, in part because Victory Chimes was a true sailing ship with no engine. During stretches of calm wind, the 106-year-old tug Clara helped her along. She entered the St. Lawrence Seaway and eventually reached Lake Superior in August 1986, passing beneath Duluth's Aerial Lift Bridge on Aug. 29 and sailing into what her owner hoped would be a new future on the greatest of the Great Lakes. The fanfare matched the moment. Then-Duluth Mayor John Fedo named the schooner an honorary citizen and proclaimed Aug. 29, 1986, Jerry Jubie Day, honoring the Minnesota banker who brought her north: Jerry Jubie, president of Floodwood State Bank in Floodwood, Minnesota. Weeks later, Wisconsin Gov. Anthony Earl declared a Victory Chimes Day of his own. The plan, as reported by the Duluth News Tribune, was to berth her in the Minnesota Slip, where the retired ore carrier Logbook PORT 12 | NORTH STAR PORT | SUMMER 2026 PORT A Duluth icon sinks in Brooklyn Logbook The three-masted Victory Chimes arrived with much fanfare in 1986, gracing the cover of this publication, then known as Minnesota's World Port magazine. She left a lasting impression on Duluth.

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