Roann

Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT

The Roann came to Mystic Seaport in 1997 after having fished the shores off the east coast of the United States for 50 years.  She was built in 1947 in Thomaston, ME, and represented quite an advance  from the sail powered fishing schooners that preceded her, in that the Roann was powered by a diesel engine.  She is one of the last examples left of an Eastern-rig dragger which used a conical net called an otter trawl dragged along the seabed to catch flounder and cod much more efficiently than earlier fishing schooners.  After extensive restoration at Mystic Seaport, the Roann will soon have another function, tending to the Charles Morgan, the last remaining wooden whale boat,  during the Morgan's 38th voyage to historic New England seaports next summer.