Ardelle's safe return

Related Photos

Allegra Boverman/Gloucester Daily Times. Harold Burnham of Essex. far right, returned to Cape Ann on Tuesday afternoon with his crew on the Ardelle after sailing on Sept. 22 to Washington, D.C. to accept an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. He is with some of his crew, including, from left: Davis Griffith, Fred Ebinger and George Sibley.
Allegra Boverman/Gloucester Daily Times Harold Burnham of Essex, far right, returned to Gloucester on the schooner Ardelle on Tuesday from his 1,393 mile round trip to and from Washington, D.C. where he accepted an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. With him, at left, is Henry Szostek and in back, his father, Charles Burnham. Allegra Boverman/Gloucester Daily Times
Harold Burnham of Essex, third from right, returned on Tuesday from his 1,393 mile roundtrip on the schooner Ardelle to and from Washington, D.C. to accept an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Some of the crew is with him. From left are: George Sibley, Henry Szostek, Pierre Erhardt, Davis Griffith, Burnham's mother Maria, Fred Ebinger, and Burnham's dad, Charles.

Discussion

PLEASE NOTE CHANGES IN POLICY: Commenters are required to have a username with a valid and verified email address. Gloucestertimes.com reserves the right to ban the IP address of any commenter (person) found using multiple aliases under multiple e-mail addresses in a deceptive manner. Posts that do not meet site standards, which can be found here, will be removed.

If you are experiencing problems logging in or posting comments, please contact Disqus' help center by clicking here.

comments powered by Disqus

October 17, 2012

Ardelle's safe return

By Marjorie Nesin and Allegra Boverman Staff Writers Gloucester Daily Times The Gloucester Daily Times Wed Oct 17, 2012, 12:00 AM EDT

The schooner Ardelle docked back in Gloucester Tuesday, as Harold Burnham returned from a trip to Washington D.C., where he collected his National Endowment of the Arts award for shipbuilding.

Burnham and crew left Gloucester on Sept. 22 for the 1,393 mile round-trip voyage. A rotating staff of about ten crew members joined Burnham in sailing the schooner at different points along the trip.

The Essex Shipbuilding Museum tracked the schooner’s travel, and volunteers at the Essex Shipbuilding Museum said the site had 10,000 viewers, giving several “armchair skippers” the chance to lend a hand as they followed along.

Burnham said the journey to D.C. was the first time the boat had been on such a lengthy trip, and the vessel seemed to have behaved “predictably.” There were a few glitches here and there, which Burnham repaired by hand, he said.

The boat stopped along the way at various points, including Mystic, Conn., and Baltimore. But Burnham was most worried and anxious during the sail through New York Harbor’s congested shipping lanes.

The Ardelle finished the last leg, leaving Sandwich around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday and arriving in Gloucester about 3 p.m., welcomed in by family and friends.

“What a trip,” Burnham said as he docked Tuesday. “I knew we’d make it back, but wasn’t sure if it would be in February or March.”

Marjorie Nesin can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3451, or mnesin@gloucestertimes.com.

Allegra Boverman can be reached at 978028307000, x3448, or at aboverman@gloucestertimes.com.