Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

NEWPORT -- The hull of the Oliver Hazard Perry, which will serve as Rhode Island's own sail training tall ship, arrived around 10 a.m. at its new -- though temporary -- home, Newport's Bowen's Wharf.

It arrived at the Castle Hill area around 8 a.m., wandered past Goat Island, before reaching its final destination, where it will be berthed.

Once design work on the sail training tall ship is completed, the hull will be hauled to Blount Boats in Warren, where a deck will be installed and interior work completed. The vessel will return to Newport for its spars, rigging and hardware.

The goal is to have the Oliver Hazard Perry sailing by 2010.

The 132-foot hull was towed from Ontario to Narragansett Bay, a 800-mile journey.

The nonprofit Tall Ships Rhode Island bought the steel hull in September and intends to build it into a 207-foot, three-masted, square-rigged 19th-century warship replica named after Rhode Island's naval war hero, Oliver Hazard Perry.

Perry, who was born in Rhode Island and lived in Newport, was a Navy commodore who led the U.S. fleet to a key victory on Lake Erie during the War of 1812. During the battle, he captured the HMS Detroit. The Canadian group built the hull for a planned replica of the Detroit, before having to abandon the project due to lack of support.

-- With reports from Journal Staff Writer Mark Reynolds.

 Tags  Newport Oliver Hazard Perry Warren

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