The Colonial Schooner Sultana will be berthed at the Fishing Bay pier on June 17 during the weekly Wednesday Night Dinner scheduled for June 17. Members will be able to board and tour the schooner before dinner and later dine with captain and crew. This occasion will be an exciting opportunity for members and guests, young and old, to become acquainted with a replica of a historic vessel that served the British Royal Navy on the Chesapeake Bay during the late 18th century. Members need only bring a side dish to complement the main Italian-themed course to be provided by the evening’s master chef, Rip Radcliffe. Contact him at ripsail@va.metrocast.net to let him know you will be there and to arrange your dinner contribution. It will be especially important that evening to have an accurate headcount because of the interest expected to be generated by the Sultana visit.On June 8, Sultana Projects based in Chestertown, Maryland, announced plans for the schooner SULTANA to visit Deltaville, Virginia and the Fishing Bay Yacht Club from June 16-19, 2009. There will be a free, open-house on SULTANA at the Fishing Bay Yacht Club on Wednesday, June 17 from 2:00pm to 4:00pm during which the public will be invited to board and tour the vessel. SULTANA’s visit to Deltaville is being hosted by the Fishing Bay Yacht Club and the Deltaville Maritime Museum.

Built in Chestertown, Maryland, and launched in 2001, SULTANA is a reproduction of a vessel of the same name built in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1767 and used by the Royal Navy to enforce the hated “Tea Taxes” in the years leading up to the American Revolution. The original SULTANA spent 1769 and 1770 patrolling the waters of the Southern Chesapeake Bay, including the vicinity of what is now Deltaville. In perhaps her most famous exploit on the Chesapeake, SULTANA spent an evening at Mount Vernon where the Captain and Master dined with the future general and president.

The new SULTANA was constructed using lines and scantlings recorded by the Royal Navy in June of 1768 and is considered to be one of the most accurate 18th century reproduction sailing vessels in the world. Today, SULTANA sails as a schoolship, providing programs in colonial history and environmental science for more than 5,000 students each year. Sultana Projects has twice been awarded the National Maritime Historical Society’s prestigious Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Maritime Education. SULTANA will be visiting Deltaville as part of a scouting expedition for a new educational program it will be launching in the summer of 2010. Sultana Projects is no stranger to Deltaville. In August 2007, Sultana Projects partnered with the Deltaville Maritime Museum, the Deltaville Community Association and the Fishing Bay Yacht Club to organize the “Shallop Rendezvous,” as part of the 400th anniversary of John Smith’s 1608 voyage. The highlight of the event was a race between the three reproductions of John Smith’s 1608 barge (a.k.a. shallop), built by the Deltaville Maritime Museum, Sultana Projects, and the Reedville Fisherman’s Museum.

Each year more than 15,000 students of all ages take part in a unique educational experience with Sultana Projects. Whether sailing on the decks of the 1768 schooner Sultana, exploring the world of early America with the John Smith shallop, or paddling the Chesapeake’s waterways with Sultana Projects’ John Smith Trail Expeditions, students gain a greater appreciation of the history and environment of the national treasure that is the Chesapeake Bay. For more information about SULTANA and Sultana Projects visit: www.sultanaprojects.org.