Schooner FAME of Salem

Schooner FAME of Salem FAME is a re-creation of a War of 1812 privateer that sails from Salem, MA. FAME is a re-creation of a privateer from the War of 1812.
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It has been honored with the coveted "Best of the Best" award as one of the top 1% of attractions worldwide by Tripadvisor. She sails daily from May-October out of her historic home port of Salem, MA. For more info, visit SchoonerFame.com.

THROWIN' IT BACK TO... 2013! Fame sailing in the fog.
01/02/2025

THROWIN' IT BACK TO... 2013! Fame sailing in the fog.

Marine Society Outings on the FAME are designed for local children ages 8-14. Each outing is five hours on the water, 9:...
12/31/2024

Marine Society Outings on the FAME are designed for local children ages 8-14. Each outing is five hours on the water, 9:00-2:00, usually with a stop at the islands to swim off the boat (swimming is optional). Participants raise and trim the sails, learn knots, steer the boat, and play silly camp games.

This summer's sessions will be June 25, July 9 and 23, August 6 and 20 (all Tuesdays). We accept 16 kids per session. Cost is $80. For Salem residents the cost is just $50, thanks to the Marine Society! In the event of bad weather, Outings may be postponed to the next day, or cancelled.

Note: payments are nonrefundable. This is because some parents were taking advantage of the low cost by booking multiple sessions and then cancelling at the last minute as other plans popped up. You can sign your child up for multiple sessions, but if you cancel, there is no refund without a note from your pediatrician. If WE have to cancel due to weather, you do get a refund.

For a reservation form, e-mail [email protected]

Never too soon to think about watching the July 4 fireworks from FAME! We have the best seat in the house :)
12/30/2024

Never too soon to think about watching the July 4 fireworks from FAME! We have the best seat in the house :)

"Best tour in Salem"⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐"Best tour in Salem, bar none. Captain and crew is awesome and friendly. Experience dealing wit...
12/28/2024

"Best tour in Salem"

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"Best tour in Salem, bar none. Captain and crew is awesome and friendly. Experience dealing with some history of the coast. You get to host the sails, transporting you back in time, and even sail this beautiful scooner. Boat is magnificent."

— Tripadvisor review, October 2024

THROWIN' IT BACK TO... 2022! Captain Justin brought a drone to the Gloucester Schooner Festival and got some pix of FAME...
12/26/2024

THROWIN' IT BACK TO... 2022! Captain Justin brought a drone to the Gloucester Schooner Festival and got some pix of FAME and the many other schooners participating. Join us on Labor Day weekend 2025 as we make our annual pilgrimage to le Beau Port!

One FAQ at our ticket booth is "Will we see whales or sharks?" Actually, Salem Sound is relatively shallow and not a pop...
12/25/2024

One FAQ at our ticket booth is "Will we see whales or sharks?" Actually, Salem Sound is relatively shallow and not a popular hangout for either one. We do sometimes see harbor seals and porpoises, and every now and then a sunfish! Once in a blue moon a juvenile humpback might follow a school of bait fish into the Sound. And yes, a couple summers back, a Great White swam into Marblehead Harbor.

"Picaroon" is a derogatory term for a small privateer. Loyalists sneered at privateers and privateering during the War o...
12/24/2024

"Picaroon" is a derogatory term for a small privateer. Loyalists sneered at privateers and privateering during the War of the Revolution; Federalists did the same during the War of 1812. But Americans didn't need a large vessel to go privateering when the war was raging right along their coast; small schooners and other craft were frequently used, and occasionally took valuable prizes. Rum label by Racket Shreve of Salem :)

A Perfect Venue for Family & Business Gatherings! Is someone graduating soon?Looking for a Salem venue for your rehearsa...
12/22/2024

A Perfect Venue for Family & Business Gatherings!
Is someone graduating soon?
Looking for a Salem venue for your rehearsal dinner?
How about something unique for your company party this summer?

Call (978)-729-7600 to discuss all your options for an amazing private sail on FAME!

“Endurance” has a new meaning. An 18+ kit.
12/21/2024

“Endurance” has a new meaning. An 18+ kit.

James W. Cheever (1791-1857) was an owner of Fame and the captain of America, one of the most successful and famous priv...
12/21/2024

James W. Cheever (1791-1857) was an owner of Fame and the captain of America, one of the most successful and famous privateers of the war. Cheever, who had served aboard America as a boy, was given command of her when he was just 22. Ralph Paine, in Ships and Sailors of Old Salem, claims America “was the fastest Yankee ship afloat during the War of 1812” and destroyed “at least two million dollars of English shipping.” This photograph was taken later in life, when Cheever had become a successful merchant and shipowner.

THROWIN' IT BACK TO... 2021! Fame with a full moon rising, by Sharon Catalano.
12/19/2024

THROWIN' IT BACK TO... 2021! Fame with a full moon rising, by Sharon Catalano.

Wonderful data showing why privateers tended to do their hunting in certain specific areas where they could 1) find plen...
12/18/2024

Wonderful data showing why privateers tended to do their hunting in certain specific areas where they could 1) find plenty of potential prizes, but also 2) set up their undermanned prize vessels for an easy passage to a safe port, where they could be adjudicated and sold. Capturing a vessel at sea was only half the battle! If the prize didn't arrive in port, nobody got paid. Roughly a quarter of the prizes taken by Salem privateers during the War of 1812 were recaptured by the British.

Salem is full of reminders of the original FAME and its crew. Ebenezer Hathorne was born in 1789. His father, Colonel Jo...
12/17/2024

Salem is full of reminders of the original FAME and its crew. Ebenezer Hathorne was born in 1789. His father, Colonel John Hathorne, and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s father Nathaniel were first cousins. Ebenezer is credited in the family genealogy with “telling family lore” to his younger cousin Nathaniel (who later added an "w" to his surname). Col. John, Ebenezer, and Ebenezer’s older brother John Jr. were all Republicans and active investors in privateers.

As a young man, Ebenezer served in the US Navy aboard USS Chesapeake and USS Argus. During a furlough from the Navy, Hathorne made a voyage to Spain under future Fame captain Jacob Endicott. Ebenezer eventually gave up the service due to chronic seasickness.

This did not prevent him, when the War of 1812 broke out, from volunteering aboard the Helen privateer, and later shipping as the surgeon aboard the Cossack. The Cossack was captured in 1813, but Hathorne was quickly paroled, as surgeons generally were. He and his brother are both named among the owners of Fame during her cruises in the fall of 1813 and on her final voyage in 1814.

Ebenezer died in 1858 at the age of 69. He and his wife Catherine are buried in Salem’s Charter Street Burial Ground.

FAME is a re-creation of a War of 1812 privateer that sails from Salem, MA. It has been honored with the coveted "Best o...
12/16/2024

FAME is a re-creation of a War of 1812 privateer that sails from Salem, MA. It has been honored with the coveted "Best of the Best" award as one of the top 1% of attractions worldwide by Tripadvisor.

Salem is full of reminders of the original FAME and its crew. The Mannings arrived in Salem in the 1600s; Richard Mannin...
12/14/2024

Salem is full of reminders of the original FAME and its crew. The Mannings arrived in Salem in the 1600s; Richard Manning, a blacksmith, founded the Boston & Salem Stage Company in 1801. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s mother Elizabeth was a Manning.

Enoch Manning was the grandson of the blacksmith, Richard. He was baptized in 1782 and must have gone to sea, since he was one of the 25 shipmasters who owned and manned Fame on her first privateering cruise. He was serving as the ship’s clerk aboard the privateer Swordfish in December 1812 when she was captured. Imprisoned in England, he was exchanged by summer and returned to the US in July of 1813 and joined the US Army.

In November of 1813, a recruiting notice signed by Lt. Enoch Manning appears in the Salem Register, and in 1814 there are two different reports of troops under Manning’s command beating off landings by the British in Maine. He was promoted to captain, and survived the war only to die in Peru in 1822. It is likely that he had become involved in Peru’s war for independence from Spain.

THROWIN' IT BACK TO... 2017! An ESE breeze nudged the July 4 fireworks toward Pickering Wharf and by the finale, they we...
12/12/2024

THROWIN' IT BACK TO... 2017! An ESE breeze nudged the July 4 fireworks toward Pickering Wharf and by the finale, they were exploding right over the boats. The view and the noise were stupendous; the whole schooner was shaking. An amazing experience! The next day some cinders were found to have landed on some of the boats in the marina, and for the next few years, the fireworks were launched from a barge on the other side of Derby Wharf. They've moved back to the Wharf, however, in recent years :)

Salem is full of reminders of the original FAME and its crew. John Endicott was one of the founders of Salem, and the fi...
12/11/2024

Salem is full of reminders of the original FAME and its crew. John Endicott was one of the founders of Salem, and the first governor of the colony of Massachusetts Bay. His descendants included Jacob Endicott, one of many Salem shipmasters who had suffered at the hands of the British before the war. Endicott was a passionate Republican who threw himself into privateering. At the beginning of the war, he commanded the cruiser Dolphin, which made two profitable cruises before being captured. Exchanged, Endicott continued to command and invest in privateers throughout the war.

Endicott was captain of Fame during the summer of 1813, when she patrolled Massachusetts Bay with another Salem privateer, the Castigator, searching incoming vessels for evidence that they had been trading with the enemy and were thus valid prizes. In August, the two vessels claimed the American brig Dispatch, setting off a firefight in Boston harbor. After a sensational trial, the Dispatch was awarded to the privateers.

We hope this person made a full recovery! Despite the angle of the footage, we were not all that close, and were complet...
12/10/2024

We hope this person made a full recovery! Despite the angle of the footage, we were not all that close, and were completely unaware of this incident. The foreshortening of the camera lens and the caption do give the impression that this person was ejected FROM THE FAME, which was definitely not the case! Zero ejections in our 22 seasons!

Address

86 Wharf Street
Salem, MA
01970

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 7pm
Tuesday 9am - 7pm
Wednesday 9am - 7pm
Thursday 9am - 7pm
Friday 9am - 7pm
Saturday 9am - 7pm
Sunday 9am - 7pm

Telephone

(978) 729-7600

Website

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Pix from our fabuous 2024 sesson. Thanks, everyone! See you in May 2025! #destsalem #visitnorthofboston #familyfriendlysalem #salemma #salemmass #salemmassachusetts #thingstodoinsalem #thingstodoinsalemma #northshore #schooner #schooners

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FAME is a replica of a privateer from the War of 1812. She sails daily from May-October out of her historic home port of Salem, MA. For more info, visit SchoonerFame.com.

#1 ranked boat in Salem, #1 ranked tour in Salem, #1 ranked outdoor activity in Salem according to TripAdvisor (October 2018)