A Beloved Tall Ship Sinks in Its Berth

The Pilgrim, an icon at California’s Ocean Institute, sank at its berth in Dana Point Harbor after it began listing to starboard over the weekend.

The vessel, a full-scale replica of the ship immortalized by Richard Henry Dana in his classic book Two Years Before the Mast, served as a fieldtrip classroom to hundreds of thousands of students since it arrived in California in 1981.

The cause of the sinking was unclear, but the Institute’s staff had been battling a slow leak with a pump. The vessel was scheduled to be hauled in January, but the job was delayed due to overload at the shipyard.

The Pilgrim started life in Denmark in 1945 as a three-masted schooner. In 1975 she was taken to Portugal where she was rerigged as a brig. She is valued at $6 million, and officials have begun salvage efforts, although some believe she will be beyond repair.

You can read more in the Orange County Register.