In some Cape Cod villages and harbors, certain boats have become fixtures of the landscape and community. Nantucket has its Rainbow Fleet of Beetle Cats, for instance; Wianno its Senior; and Cotuit its Skiff. For the people who sail and race them, these one-design sailboats—all gaff-rigged, and all originally wooden—are a way of life, often stretching back for generations. For bystanders and visitors, they are often highlights of the view from shore: a collection of bright-colored spinnakers surging downwind off the Wianno Cut, a parade winding past Brant Point, or a cluster of sails and brightwork jockeying for position against an incoming tide off Sampson’s Island. Yet, while a particular type of boat helps define the look and experience of these (and other) harbors, Provincetown’s iconic sailing images have long concentrated around one specific boat, the 79-foot schooner, Hindu. Last summer, this gaff-rigged, double-masted, wooden vessel celebrated its 100th birthday. 2026 marks her 80th anniversary of sailing in Provincetown. But its something of a miracle that she’s still afloat.

During Hindu’s annual passage from Key West back to Provincetown in June, 2020, she nearly met her fate. Then-owners and Captains Erin Desmond and Josh Rowan were sailing through Long Island Sound when near disaster struck. Tropical Storm Kay was following them up the coast, and they were hoping to deliver the boat safely to her home harbor before it hit. Then Hindu collided with something in the water. Desmond thought they had run aground as the vessel stopped dead, but that was impossible. They were sailing through a major shipping lane. No rocks or sandbars were anywhere near. Bobbing in the water was something that looked like a fiberglass iceberg. The Coast Guard would later inform them that they’d struck a partially submerged 30-foot boat—an attempt at insurance fraud. Desmond says, “Someone drilled holes in the hull of their boat and let the dock lines go on an outgoing tide near Fort Jefferson in the Long Island Sound knowing that a tropical storm was marching up the coast. They did not drill holes in their holding tanks, which means that their boat only sort of sank. It was underwater (until we hit it at 2:30 a.m. in 100 feet of water in the center of the channel), but buoyant enough to stay near the top of the water column. As it was underwater, our radar did not pick up the object, and even if we had a forward sweeping sonar, we wouldn’t have had enough time to adjust course before impact. The fact is, even with all of the technology in the world, the ocean is still full of secrets.”

Fortunately, Hindu collided with the scuttled vessel straight on. Her stem, the strongest part of the hull, took the hit, but it also shifted three inches. She sprung a serious leak, and numerous hood ends (where a boat’s planks meet its structural backbone) broke free. Still, with her bilge pumps working overtime, the schooner remained seaworthy enough to complete the passage to Provincetown. Upon return to port, however, Desmond and Rowan discovered that no simple fix would make her ready again for passenger service. They installed more pumps and limped up to Maine, where they undertook a massive rebuild. And while the timing was unplanned, this also allowed them to address and correct some other concerns that had been overdue for attention. Hindu relaunched on June 15, 2024, but spent most of that year undergoing safety tests and preparing for the winter season in Key West. Then, for her 100th birthday year, she became fully operational once again. Desmond says, “Her restoration was inspired by her history as a whole.”

Hindu was built in Maine, in 1925, by Hodgdon Brothers in Booth Bay. Designed by naval architect William Hand Jr. of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, she was a half-scale version of a 19th century Grand Banks fishing schooner, constructed as a pleasure sailing boat and christened Princess Pat. She changed owners five times and her name twice before 1938, when William A. Parker began purposing her in the spice trade. For two years, she sailed between Boston and India, prompting Parker to rename her Hindu. During World War II, the US Navy commissioned her to patrol the Eastern Seaboard, painted her battleship gray, provided her with a forward-mounted machine gun, and set her sailing in pursuit of German U-Boats. She proved a valuable asset because, along with other wooden boats, she was stealthy, almost invisible to enemy radar. Soon after the war, she changed hands yet another time, and Capt. Al Avellar purchased her, bringing her to Provincetown in 1946 to use as a passenger vessel. A year later, he practically stumbled into whale watching. Desmond says, “He noticed that his guests got very excited when whales would appear, and he started advertising the first ever whale watching trips on board Hindu. These would always sell out! Eventually he bought a motor vessel, Dolphin, to bring people further and faster to see whales, which started the whale watching industry on Cape Cod.”

In time, Captain Avellar sold Hindu to Alfred “Al” Bates Tinker Jr., who had served aboard her as a deckhand at the ripe age of 12. Her new owner initiated the practice of wintering her in Key West. Although the dates of this development are uncertain, logs from the 1970s clearly indicate that she sailed there during that time. In the late 1980s, Captain John Bennett, an attorney, purchased Hindu and operated her until he died aboard of a heart attack in 2002. The vessel fell into disrepair until another former deckhand, Captain Kevin “Foggy” Foley, revived her in 2004, putting her to work as a charter boat in Key West. In 2007, he hired Captain Josh Rowan, who had grown up sailing the world with his parents. Shortly thereafter, Foley lost the boat in a financial snarl, and a bank took possession, leaving her high and dry. She fell into further disrepair. But Rowan couldn’t bear to see her perish, so he enlisted his father, a boatbuilder and captain himself, to help purchase and resurrect Hindu in 2011. After a major refit, the Rowans relaunched her in 2013, bringing her back home to Provincetown. It was around this time that Desmond joined the operations. She and Josh hit it off, and were married in 2022. She currently serves as Hindu’s primary captain, overseeing an all-female crew, while Josh captains the cutter Bloodhound, another sailboat in their fleet. She says, “Josh got sick of seeing men take the podium at every sailing event, and now takes every opportunity to share knowledge and resources with women in the industry including those of his own company.”

Though William Hand Jr. was a renowned and prolific boat designer, only about 10 of his schooners have survived until now, and only five of them are still sailing. Most of these boats were built for work with the expected lifespan of about 30-40 years. There was only so much a boat could take, and the hurricane of 1938 wiped out vast numbers of them. One reason that Hindu survived so long is that serving as a tourist vessel was pretty easy-going, and the waters around Provincetown were more forgiving than the open ocean. More importantly, however, Desmond says, “Hindu was built as a private yacht. The workmanship and materials used were of a higher class than that used for fishing schooners, which is why there was a Hindu to restore in the first place! Hindu was built as an ‘RV at Sea’ if you will. She was one of the first auxiliary schooners; she had a model M-4 Speedway engine, which turned over at about 700 revolutions, and drove her at 8¼ knots in addition to sail power. The 1926 Motor Boating Magazine that heralded her launch started with ‘Ability to go to sea and stay there is conspicuous tendency in many recent craft.’”

“The fact that there are any original William Hand Jr. schooners left afloat is, in itself, a reason that their history deserves stewardship.” Desmond continues, “He designed many different types of vessels during his life but ended his long and prolific career with the design of these auxiliary schooners. They are the embodiment of ‘sea-kindly’ design; the final artistic creations of a master in his field. These schooners, as proven over the last hundred years, are a perfect marriage of form and function.”

In 2023, Desmond and Rowan transferred ownership of Hindu to Sail As You Are, the nonprofit they started, with a mission “to foster a vibrant and diverse maritime culture that celebrates history, while setting an example for the future.” Desmond says, “Due to Hindu’s long history in Provincetown, inclusivity has naturally become a core value of Hindu Charters, and now Sail As You Are, the nonprofit formed during the Hindu’s restoration. Hindu’s currently all female crew is a happy circumstance. Considering that downward of 2% of ship captains and officers are female in the United States, we are tremendously proud to celebrate female leadership on board.”

Summer of 2026 will be a busy and exciting season for Hindu, and she sailed her first cruise of the Provincetown season in early June. Desmond says, “We’re thrilled to be attending and sailing at Sail Boston 250 this year with both the Hindu and the Bloodhound. The list of special events this season in Provincetown includes Wine Tasting Sails with Truro Vineyards, full moon sails with a local astrologer, themed fundraiser sails for SAYA, 4th of July fireworks sails, and finally, in October, participation in the Chestertown Down Rig Festival in the Chesapeake. Generations of families have a lifetime memories on board.” 

Chris White is a freelance writer for Cape Cod Life Publications.