 (photo date: July 4, 1895.) |
 (photo date: Aug. 3, 1895.) |
 Photo date: July 22, 1896 |
Bob Birmingham writes us:
"I found the following listed in the 1896 List of Merchant Vessels of the United States: There are three schooners and three sloops named Ramona. Two schooners are possibilities based on length. The first was a schooner yacht built in 1871 at City Island, NY and originally named the Resolute. Her official number was 110130, call letters KJMQ, 127.04 gross tons, 120.69 net tons, 117.0 feet in length, 25 feet in beam, 8.5 feet in depth of hold, wooden hull, with a home port at New York, NY.
"The second was a schooner built in 1892 at Essex, Ma. Her official number was 111002, 88.23 gross tons, 83.82 net tons, 86 feet in length, 23.2 feet in beam, 9.2 feet in depth of hold, wooden hull, with a home port at Gloucester, Ma.
"All three sloops listed could be possibilities based on length, but the first is more likely. The first was a sloop yacht built in 1886 at Monument Beach, Ma. Her official number was 110938, 13.36 gross tons, 12.70 net tons, 32.0 feet in length, 13.9 feet in beam, 5.3 feet in depth of hold, wooden hull, with a home port at Boston, Ma.
"The second was a sloop built in 1892 at East Boothbay, Me. Her official number was 110977, 10.35 gross tons, 9.83 net tons, 33.3 feet in length, 12.5 feet in beam, 5.3 feet in depth of hold, wooden hull, with a home port at Boothbay, Me.
"The third was a sloop built in 1892 at Sedgewick, Me. Her official number was 110982, 6.36 gross tons, 6.05 net tons, 31.0 feet in length, 10.3 feet in beam, 4.5 feet in depth of hold, wooden hull, with a home port at Deer Isle, Me."
Tom Nye writes: "Ramona was Resolute rebuilt."
A. Toby writes us:"I looked at the picture of the schooner RAMONA. I believe she is the first one listed in the Merchant Vessel Register, although I would suggest looking her up in the Lloyd’s Yacht Register for confirmation, since many US yachts were so listed. My reasons for identifying her as the first vessel listed, the New York-built vessel from 1871, ex-RESOLUTE, are as follows:
1. The picture shows her carrying a balloon jib and gollywobbler of the type shown on the painting of the 1871 America’s Cup.
2. The picture shows her clearly racing; the schooner in the background, her opponent, has recognizable Herreshoff lines typical of the 1890’s. This would fit the date of the photo as reported on the caption.
3. Essex, Mass, schooners were normally commercial fishing schooners in the period cited for the second RAMONA. The home port of Gloucester is also a giveaway. A fishing schooner would have a different rig, without the balloon jib and with a smaller 4-sided “fisherman staysail” in this period. Most fishing schooners also had larger mainmasts than the one pictured; I think this was to facilitate sailing around the fishing grounds shorthanded under foresail and “jumbo” (the boomed fore staysail) when most of the crew was out in the dories. These rigs can be seen in “American Fishing Schooners” by Howard I. Chapelle; I own an original edition from the 1970’s. Finally, the RAMONA pictured lacks the unique “great beam” and slightly raised afterdeck characteristic of a fishing schooner, although she does have what appears to be a small boat on deck near the mainmast, in the position where fishing schooners usually carried their stacks of dories.
While none of these arguments are totally conclusive, they present strong circumstantial evidence favoring the 1871 vessel."