The Rose Dorothea

The Rose Dorothea Walking Tour

A brochure of the Rose Dorothea Walking Tour can be found at the circulation deck and on the second floor, near the schooner model. Or download an interactive PDF!:

The Rose Dorothea Schooner Model

One of the famed “Indian Head” schooners, the original Rose Dorothea was designed by Thomas McManus and built at the Tarr & James Shipyard in Essex, MA in 1905. She was 108.7 feet long, weighed 108 tons and had a crew of 26 men. Her rounded bow enabled her to sail closer into the wind, which made her faster than other schooners of the era.

During Boston’s Old Home Week Celebration in August 1907, a cup was offered by Sir Thomas Lipton for a Fishermen’s Race in Massachusetts Bay. Two of the competing schooners were from Provincetown: the Rose Dorothea and the Jessie Costa. The race was a 42-mile course, laid from Thieves Ledge off Boston Light, to Davis Ledge off Minot’s Light, to Eastern Point, Gloucester and back to Boston.

Despite losing her fore-topmast in the final leg of the race, the Rose Dorothea, captained by Marion Perry and skippered for the race by John Watson, won the Lipton Cup and a $650 cash prize.

The Rose Dorothea brought the Lipton Cup back to Provincetown on August 1, 1907 to great fanfare; a broom symbolically tied to her mast indicated a “clean sweep.” No other race was ever sailed to place the Lipton Cup in contention.

The men known to be crew members at the time of the race were: Antone Amaral, Isadore Jesse Fratus, Joseph R. Holmes, Willie Jason, Joseph Leal, Manuel Marshall, Thomas O’Donnell, Manuel Perry, Antone Prada, Eduardo Salvador, John Pavon Santos, William Silva, Manuel Souza, Joseph “Iron Horse” Viera, and John Wilson. The other crew members are not known.

In 1977, as a tribute to the great fishing schooner, construction began in the Heritage Museum, now the Provincetown Public Library. A half-scale replica of the Rose Dorothea was dedicated on June 25, 1988. The completed model spans a 66’6″ length and a 12’6″ beam.

Provincetown gratefully acknowledges Francis A. “Flyer” Santos and the team of volunteers who created this grand tribute to the fishermen of Provincetown and to New England’s shipbuilding tradition.