The Urbanna Oyster Festival has many traditions and in 1985 at the 28th annual oyster festival, the first tall ship, Alexandria, came to the town’s waterfront, marking the beginning of an annual tradition with large sailing vessels down by the water.
This year, the Urbanna Oyster Festival Marine Science Legacy Program has scheduled quite a history lesson for America’s 250th anniversary celebration. The waterfront will feature Luna, a replica of a colonial sailing vessel that represented Virginia’s Navy founded in the fall of 1775, and the tall ship Lynx, a replica of an 1812 privateer.
Deltaville Maritime Museum’s boat shop manager John England, who for years has seen to it that the festival has had unique and appropriate watercraft down at the Urbanna Town Marina waterfront, said that the vessels plan to arrive on Wednesday, Nov. 5. “We are hoping they can arrive and enter the creek at about the same time, but weather, wind and tide will determine that,” he said.
Luna, based in Deltaville, has a strong Middlesex County connection as son, Jock, and father John “Chip” Collamore, who is a retired Deltaville boatbuilder, spearheaded the
vision, concept, and construction of the Luna and creation of the Colonial Seaport Foundation (CSF).
Luna is a reproduction of a typical colonial era coastal trading sloop that is used to support CSF’s mission to provide hands-on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) educational oppor-tunities, promote environmental stewardship of the Rappahannock River/Chesapeake Bay, and serve as a traveling welcome center for Middlesex County and the Middle Peninsula.
She is also a goodwill ambassador for the Museums of Middlesex County (MOM). MOM is a nonprofit organization composed of four groups — the Deltaville Maritime Museum, Colonial Seaport Foundation, Middlesex County Museum and Historical Society and the Town of Urbanna Museum.
While Luna most often represents a cargo vessel, the original Luna was conscripted into military service in 1775 representing the State of Virginia Navy, which ultimately was to become the U.S. Navy. During the American Revolution, Luna was charged with disrupting and seizing British commerce, preventing British officials from establishing new strongholds on shore and intelligence gathering.
The tall ship Lynx is an educational organization dedi-cated to hands-on programs that teach history surrounding the struggle Americans faced at sea during the War of 1812. The ship is an interpretation of an actual privateer built in 1812 to serve in the War of 1812, when Americans, once again, had to take up arms against the British.
The original Lynx was involved in the 1813 “Battle of the Rappahannock,” where she and three other privateers were captured by a British blockade.
The two vessels will be open for deck tours at the Urbanna Town Marina at 210 Oyster Road throughout the day on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 7 and 8. On Thursday, Nov. 6, the day before the festival starts, they will be participating in the annual Oyster Festival Marine Science Legacy’s Education Day event. However, the vessels will not be open to the public on Thursday.
