I've been on three of them. It's sad that this is still rumored to be true. It was fun "hauling the sails".

@Robecology The ship ran the federal blockade with a load of slaves during the Civil War. That meant for the owners a big enough profit the ship was burned and sank in a river. Once found and identified, restoration was a moot point.

Slave ships for the crew was it's own horror story. Most captains didn't survive three trips if the cargo didn't mutiny and kill the crew first. (Once that happened it was common for the new crew to drift in the middle of the ocean pondering technical questions of marine navigation and how to sail a square rigger).

They packed the slaves in so tightly, that cleaning the ship's additional load of human waste was impossible. With little ventilation and unsanitary conditions, throwing about 30% of cargo overboard as corpses during the cruise was a daily chore. Add in tropical disease that killed a significant percentage of cargo and crew alike, one need not ask why slave ships were at the far end of the pier.

If you had a bad reputation as a seaman, you always could serve on a slave ship. Many a crew member woke up at sea discovering what Shanghai meant.

@WonderWartHog99

Yes; I know the history of the slave ships. I clicked on the link.

You said "You were expecting it to be pressed into service as a Windjammer cruise?"

I assumed you were talking about the modern Cruises that were available by Windjammerbarefootcruises.com....which once they lost one major ship (the Fantome...which I sailed on) went bankrupt. They've been taking over by "SailWindjammer.com. and I'll be sailing the ship "Legacy" in December.

[sailwindjammer.com]

@Robecology You said "You were expecting it to be pressed into service as a Windjammer cruise?"

The story was about a specific ship that had burned and sank. It was beyond repair to be converted into any ship. You'd wandered off the story cited in the link.