Tall Ships Sailing into Havre de Grace on Friday

Don't be suprised if Havre de Grace is literally booming Friday afternoon.

Tall ships are coming, and they are bringing their cannons with them. Two vessels, the Pride of Baltimore II and the Sultana, will dock in Havre de Grace for the city's War of 1812 bicentennial festival, May 3 to 5.

"The Pride arrives Friday at high tide under sail, and they should have cannons going on their arrival," Brigitte Peters, manager of tourism for Havre de Grace, told Patch.

According to Peters, the Pride will be docked at Hutchins Park, and the Sultana will be at Tidewater Marina.

The Pride of Baltimore II is a 109-foot, 185.5-ton reproduction of a War of 1812 privateer ship. "It’s a Maryland ship and has a great educational component about the War of 1812; they have that material on board," Peters said.

The Sultana is a 97-foot-long, 43-ton ship, which is a reproduction of a British Navy schooner used to collect taxes from colonists in the 18^th century.

Dredging Required for Entry

"The tall ships have been here before," Peters said, but some extra steps had to be taken for this occasion. "With some of the storms that have happened in the last couple years, there have been some depth issues in the channel."

For the tall ships to access Havre de Grace, the channel needed to be dredged.

"It had been in the plans for the Army Corps of Engineers," Peters said. "It was not going to happen this year, and there's a certain window when you can do dredging because of spawning with the fish...but they were able to move it up, and they dredged it from 10 feet to 17 feet."

The work began in March and was completed April 1, Peters said, with ample depth and time for the tall ships to come sailing in for the city's War of 1812 bicentennial festival.

Getting on Board

The Sultana is sailing in Thursday and the Pride of Baltimore II on Friday, Peters said.

Visitors can tour the Sultana at Tidewater Marina from noon to 7 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday. The Pride of Baltimore II will be open for visitors at Hutchins Park from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

This article was updated.