A 123-year-old historic schooner could become a floating restaurant after it was sold at auction to New York investors who already own two restaurants aboard decommissioned ships.
The Victory Chimes was sold at auction this week for $75,900, according to The Courier-Gazette. Although Keenan Auction Company did not disclose the buyer, owner and captain Sam Sikkema told the Knox County newspaper the vessel had been sold to Miles and Alex Pincus.
The Pincus brothers own The Pilot and Grand Banks, former vessels that were transformed into floating restaurant experiences and are operated by the company Crewny.
The Victory Chimes, a three-masted schooner that’s on the National Register of Historic Places, was put up for sale by Sikkema in August 2022. Built in 1900, it’s the last surviving Chesapeake Ram schooner, and was featured on Maine’s 2003 commemorative state quarter.
Though it’s well known in Maine, where it has carried passengers since the 1950s, the 131-foot vessel was built in Delaware as the cargo carrier Edwin and Maude. It was later fitted with passenger cabins. Currently, it has 21 cabins and can accommodate 43 passengers.
The Victory Chimes was decommissioned as a passenger vessel in August 2022 because it needed repairs to be considered seaworthy.
