The S.S.S. (Sea Scout Ship) ''Lotus'' is a historic gaff rigged schooner. Her home port is

Sodus Bay Sodus Bay is a bay on the south shore of Lake Ontario, one of the Great Lakes. Sodus Bay is located in Wayne County, New York, USA. Most of the bay is in the Town of Huron, however, the western part is in the Town of Sodus. Sodus Bay has some ...

Wayne County, New York Wayne County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 91,283. The county seat is Lyons. The name honors General Anthony Wayne, an American Revolutionary War hero and American statesman. Wayne Coun ...

, United States. She is owned and operated by the "Friends of the Schooner Lotus."

History of ''Lotus''

The keel on ''Lotus'' was laid down in 1917 and the boat was completed in 1918, in

Rocky River, Ohio Rocky River is a city in western Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. A suburb of Cleveland, it is located along the shore of Lake Erie approximately west of downtown Cleveland. The city is named for the Rocky River that forms its eastern bor ...

. Designed by the

naval architect This is the top category for all articles related to architecture and its practitioners. {{Commons category, Architecture occupations Design occupations Occupations Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role ...

William Hand Jr. in 1916, and christened with the name of ''Miss Gloucester'', she was designed as a pleasure

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

for sailing on the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...

. As ''Miss Gloucester'', she was commissioned by Thomas B. Van Dorn, to be the Van Dorn family yacht. The Van Dorn family sailed her on

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also h ...

and perhaps Lake Huron. In 1922, the ship was sold to Stephen Estes Comstock of

Newark, New York Newark is a village in Wayne County, New York, United States, south east of Rochester and west of Syracuse. The population was 9,017 at the 2020 census. The Village of Newark is in the south part of the Town of Arcadia and is in the south of ...

. He moved the ship to

, on

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border ...

, and renamed her ''Lotus'', after the wild

water lilies ''Water Lilies'' (or ''Nymphéas'', ) is a series of approximately 250 oil paintings by French Impressionist Claude Monet (1840–1926). The paintings depict his flower garden at his home in Giverny, and were the main focus of his artisti ...

that grew in the bay. ''Lotus'' was sold again in 1938, to Dick Todd and Ken Cooley. They renamed her again, this time to ''Dickens'', a combination of their first names. In 1943, Ezra Hale and his partners bought the ship and changed her name back to ''Lotus''. Ezra Hale and John Trahey donated ''Lotus'' to the

Otetiana Council Seneca Waterways Council (SWC) is a local council of the Boy Scouts of America that serves youth in Ontario, Wayne, Seneca, Yates, and Monroe Counties in Western New York. The current Council President is Ted Orr. The current Council Scout Execu ...

of the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded ...

in 1971, specifying that Sea Explorer Ship (now Sea Scout Ship) 303, chartered by the Kiwanis Club of Webster, New York, be the ones to use it. The Sea Explorer Ship 303 had begun in 1965, and used a variety of power cruisers before the Lotus was donated. Unfortunately, it was difficult to keep up with the required maintenance and by 1991 ''Lotus'' needed serious restoration. With the support of the Kiwanis Club, the money was raised for a restoration, soliciting donations from individuals and corporations. A matching funds grant was also received from

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

, which brought the total amount of money raised to $150,000. ''Lotus'' was trucked to Rivendell Marine, in

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

, in 1991. The refit was completed in 1993. For the following 14 years, ''Lotus'' was sailed by members of Sea Scout Ship 303 around all of

. ''Lotus'' visited many harbor festivals and reenactments each year including Alexandria Bay Pirate Week, Oswego Harborfest, and reenactments in

Sackets Harbor Sackets Harbor (earlier spelled Sacketts Harbor) is a village in Jefferson County, New York, United States, on Lake Ontario. The population was 1,450 at the 2010 census. The village was named after land developer and owner Augustus Sackett, who ...

. ''Lotus'' has also participated several times in

Operation Sail Operation Sail refers to a series of sailing events held to celebrate special occasions and features sailing vessels from around the world. Each event is coordinated by Operation Sail, Inc., a non-profit organization established in 1961 by U.S. Pres ...

. In 2009

, BSA and

Finger Lakes Council Seneca Waterways Council (SWC) is a local council of the Boy Scouts of America that serves youth in Ontario, Wayne, Seneca, Yates, and Monroe Counties in Western New York. The current Council President is Ted Orr. The current Council Scout Execu ...

, BSA merged to form Seneca Waterways Council, BSA with operations centered in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...

Present

By the end of the 2017 season, ''Lotus'' was in serious need of repair. Declining membership in Sea Scout Ship 303 resulted in the unit becoming dormant and the end of its 50-year charter relationship with the Kiwanis Club of Webster. Later that year, the unit was re-invigorated by a group of sailors and re-chartered under the Newport Yacht Club in

Irondequoit, New York Irondequoit is a town (and census-designated place) in Monroe County, New York, United States. As of 2019, the coterminous town-CDP had a total population of 50,055. Irondequoit is a suburb of the city of Rochester, lying just north and east of ...

, with the understanding that the Seneca Waterways Council would make arrangements for the care of ''Lotus''. Sea Scout Ship 303 and several caring volunteers made attempts to protect her from the elements over the next few years, but with little success. She was in a state of abandonment and deteriorated rapidly. In 2019 the Seneca Waterways Council Scouting Historical Society began assembling a ''Lotus'' and Sea Scout Ship 303 archive. The efforts culminated in a large exhibit at the council office that opened in February 2020. By that time "The Friends of the Schooner Lotus," organized in

Sodus Point, New York Sodus Point is a village in Wayne County, New York, United States. The population was 900 at the 2010 census. However, the last official US Census in 2020 recorded the population at 822. The name is derived from a nearby body of water, Sodus Bay. ...

at the end of 2019, had begun meeting monthly. A Facebook group was created and efforts were begun to obtain ownership of Lotus. A marine survey determined that the value of the schooner was far less than the financial obligation required to store her. By that summer, several setbacks brought on by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, legal and financial concerns, differences of opinions on restoration methods and other issues involving the owners made it seem like there was no hope of saving ''Lotus'' and that she would likely be scrapped by the end of the year. On December 14, 2020, an agreement was reached and ownership was transferred to "The Friends of the Schooner Lotus". With determined efforts of the new owners over the following several days including help from Katlynn Marine, ''Lotus'' was prepared for transport. On December 21, 2020, she was trucked to Beacon Bay Marina and Cayuga Wooden Boat Works. Efforts are now underway to raise the funds necessary to begin the lengthy restoration of ''Lotus''.

Specifications

Dimensions

*Length: on deck, from the tip of the bowsprit to the end of the main boom ''See also:'' *Beam: , 3 inches *Draft: , 9 inches *Weight: 16 tons (approximate) *Total Sail Area:

Engine

Yanmar is a Japanese diesel engine, heavy machinery and agricultural machinery manufacturer founded in Osaka, Japan in 1912. Yanmar manufactures and sells engines used in a wide range of applications, including seagoing vessels, pleasure boats, cons ...

four cylinder, turbo-charged diesel with sealed heat exchange

Materials

*Masts: Sitka Spruce *Frames:

Oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

*Original Hull Planking: Long-leaf Yellow

Pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

*Replacement Hull Planking: Mahogany *Main Deck: Vertical-grain Douglas Fir *Cockpit Deck: Long-leaf Yellow

*Original Cabin Tops: Canvas

References

Memories of the Schooner Lotus
"Loafing on Lotus," by C.P.H. Vary, June 1924 issue of "Yachting"

External links

Photo of the ''Lotus''Official Ship 303 page on the Sea Scouts websiteSSS 303 Lotus Facebook Group, Maintained by the crew
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lotus, S.S.S. Schooners of the United States Tall ships of the United States Youth organizations based in New York (state) Ships on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Tourist attractions in Wayne County, New York Transportation in Wayne County, New York National Register of Historic Places in Wayne County, New York Ships built in Ohio Sea Scouting