Replica of Dana's Pilgrim Tall Ship Sinks

A replica of the sailing vessel Pilgrim that Richard Henry Dana Jr. wrote about in β€œTwo Years Before the Mast” has sunk at its dock in Dana Point, California, where it served as a classroom for marine science and maritime history programs.

The 130-foot-long (39.6-meter) tall ship keeled over in its slip on Sunday and is likely beyond repair, the Ocean Institute said in a social media post.

Work was underway Monday to refloat the Pilgrim and determine what caused it to sink.

The ship was a recreation of the original Pilgrim, the vessel that Dana sailed on from Boston in 1834, carrying New England goods to California for sale or trade and in return carry back a load of cattle hides obtained from Spanish colonial missions and ranchos.

The coastal bluff at Dana Point is where hides were hurled down to the beach below and loaded on ships.

The replica Pilgrim dated to 1945 as a three-masted schooner from Denmark.

In 1975, it was sailed to Portugal and converted into the replica Pilgrim. It reached Dana Point Harbor in 1981.

The institute said a survey of the vessel was conducted in 2016 and it had been scheduled to be hauled out and undergo repairs in January but the shipyard was overloaded.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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