The 390 Series
A real Alden classic is design number 390, a 50-foot, knuckle-bow schooner with a pronounced sheerline. There were nine boats built to this design, six in the United States and three abroad. Most of the U.S. 390s were built by C.A. Morse and Son at Thomaston, Maine, in 1929 and 1930. John Alden himself ordered one of these schooners, originally named *Rogue*, but later better known under the name *Venturer*. Although he didn't keep her long, John bought a sister boat about 18 years later. This schooner, named *Abenaki*, is the boat Alden skippered at the age of 66 to a class second in the 1950 Bermuda Race.
Most sailors thought *Abenaki* was hopelessly outdated for ocean racing when John bought her in 1947, and their opinion was reinforced when she finished at the tail end of the 1947 Newport-Annapolis Race. One of her crew, yachting journalist William Taylor, was scheduled to be the toastmaster at the awards banquet, but the banquet was over before *Abenaki* docked. This prompted some humorous comments, including one report that the Alden "schooner-rigged houseboat" was last seen drifting out of the entrance of Chesapeake Bay. Despite such remarks, Alden never lost confidence in the old design, and his triumph in the 1950 Bermuda Race must have given him great satisfaction.
The lines of the 390, drawn by Aage Nielsen, show the features of an Alden design of the period, but the extra beam and the degree of bow knuckle and sheer set her somewhat apart. The sections indicate great sail-carrying power. She carries 14,650 pounds of iron on her keel. (Courtesy John G. Alden, Inc.)
Originally, the 390s were gaff-rigged schooners, but at least one was later changed to a ketch, and George Ratsey's *Zaida II* was converted to a cutter in 1935. John Alden kept the schooner rig on *Abenaki*, but he altered her for the 1950 Bermuda Race by giving her a tall mainmast that carried a Marconi mainsail and a tremendous gollywobbler. She was also fitted with a boomkin and permanent backstay to replace the runners. The standard 390 sail plan is a gaff-schooner rig with 1,309 square feet, including a large foresail.
George Ratsey (of the Ratsey sailmaking family) raced his *Zaida II* in offshore events. She did very well as both a schooner and a cutter, placing in the money with a regularity—according to William Taylor—"quite out of proportion to what you would have expected from glancing at her rather rotund lines."
Abenaki, the way John Alden had her rigged for the Bermuda Race in 1950. (Morris Rosenfeld photo. Courtesy Chester M. and Harriet Sawtelle)
The Interior of Ziada looking aft. The curtains allow either wide open spaciousness or privacy as desired.
The standard 390 cabin plan has a comfortable sitting area in the saloon. There is a folding chart table just forward of the saloon table, folding upper berths above the saloon transoms, and another folding table in the fo'c's'le. *Abenaki* had a double stateroom aft and a forward galley. The inboard profile shows that the ceiling lacks wide seams between planks, but notice that there is a large open space above and ventilated lockers below to allow air to circulate between the skin and ceiling. (Courtesy John G. Alden, Inc.)
What might be considered a typical early Alden hull, except that it is beamier by about two feet than the normal Alden deep-keel schooner of that period. As with the number 385 yawls and others, the hull is rather wedge-shaped, with full waterlines aft and a slightly hollow entrance. The bilges are firm and the keel moderately long. The long iron ballast not only affords good protection during a grounding but also gives the hull added longitudinal strength. The high bow, though it lessens visibility from the helm, helps keep water off the foredeck. Added freeboard forward is often needed on boats having fine bows without much flare, especially when the forward overhang is minimal. With its raking oval transom, the stern is particularly characteristic of Alden designs of that vintage. The dimensions of the first four 390s are 50 feet 1 inch, by 39 feet 10 inches, by 14 feet, by 7 feet 2 inches. *Zaida II* (390-E) is 51 feet 11 inches long on deck, and two boats of the series are 52 feet long, but the other dimensions were the same throughout the series.
The accommodations are somewhat unusual for a boat intended to carry a paid hand, the galley being aft and the owner's stateroom forward. This arrangement makes the galley inconvenient with respect to the fo'c's'le, but the after location minimizes motion, and there is some advantage in having the galley close to the cockpit. The plans show a saloon fireplace that apparently shares a stovepipe with the galley's Shipmate. There are two transom berths and two folding berths in the saloon. In rough weather, a fair amount of motion might be expected in the three-berth stateroom, but at least this cabin is quite private, since there is a solid bulkhead between it and the fo'c's'le, and it has its own head. There is another head and a convenient oilskin locker near the companionway. An engine room abaft the companionway houses a four-cylinder Red Wing gasoline engine, which is angled to place the propeller to port of the centerline. This offset may be useful to minimize left-hand torque, but if the prop were deeper, it would be well under water on the port tack. On a ketch-rigged version of this boat designed in 1938, the propeller was lowered by placing it in a rudder aperture on the centerline
The aforementioned *Venturer* gained some notoriety under the ownership of Oswald Knauth, who cruised extensively. Mrs. Knauth privately published a book containing logs of *Venturer*'s cruises in the West Indies. This schooner and other 390s proved their seaworthiness by serving in the rugged wintertime offshore patrols during World War II.
A November 1980 article in *Motor Boating & Sailing*, "Antique Boats," featured a 390 schooner named *Tar Baby* (390-A, originally *Who II*). Since her building, she has had only three owners; Carl Sherman bought her in 1973 and still owned her in 1982. Though he has refastened her with stainless steel, her oak frames and yellow pine planking are original. She was altered to a staysail schooner in the late 1960s. Besides *Tar Baby*, there is to my knowledge only one other 390 still sailing—*Voyager* (originally *Tyrone*), Number 390-B. In a *WoodenBoat* magazine article (March/April 1980), Peter Phillipps described *Voyager*'s complete rebuilding in a Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, yard. The deck plan and accommodations have been altered, but her lines and rig are the same. Now entering her second half-century, she has made at least one transatlantic passage under Phillipps' ownership, and more voyages are planned.
As for *Tar Baby*, Sherman is unequivocal in his praise, using phrases such as "absolutely well balanced," "easy sailing," and "magnificent creation." *Tar Baby* reportedly is insured for \$150,000, and would-be buyers have offered more. She is kept immaculate and has won two Best of Fleet awards at the Mystic Seaport Antique and Classic Boat Rendezvous. This old design, Alden's "schooner-rigged houseboat," is still very much appreciated.
A bow view of Voyager (390-B) on the ways getting a fresh coat of paint May 2025. Captain Phillipps had a lot of fun with the heat gun and scrapers.
In 1990 I received letters from Don Armitage of Auckland, New Zealand, saying that he bought the *Arcturus*, design number 390-F, at public auction. At the time of purchase she was in a deplorable condition with a deteriorated deck, most of the ribs broken or rotted, and a lot of toredo worm damage to the planks and keel deadwood. Mr. Armitage and his partners were proceeding with a major rebuilding of the hull (including replacement of nearly half the planking and covering the hull exterior with ¾-inch diagonal skins), deck replacement, and restoration of the interior to the original layout.
An abstract of title shows that the *Arcturus* was once owned by Beatrice A. Patton, wife of George S. Patton, and Mr. Armitage presumes that this ownership inspired the famous general (then a colonel) to order the larger schooner *When and If* from John Alden (see page 402). The abstract also shows that *Arcturus* was later owned by Oscar Kelly, who Mr. Armitage suspects was movie actor/dancer Gene Kelly.
Ira L. Foreman, the owner before Armitage, found *Arcturus* in a state of dereliction in Hawaii. He gutted her, shored up the hull's interior with dunnage, and then sailed her singlehandedly via various Pacific islands to New Zealand. About two years after her arrival there, Mr. Foreman was charged by the Customs Office a hefty import duty, which he was unable to pay. Hence the auction resulting in the old schooner's acquisition by the Arcturus Partnership. Hopefully, her restoration will add many more years of life to this truly classic yacht.
A bow view of Venture (390-C) on the ways reveals her considerable wetted surface.
John Alden (middle) aboard Abenaki in the 1951 New London–Marblehead Race, flanked by Ned Watson (right) and Ed Kittredge. Bill Anderson took the photograph.
"We had a lively evening the night before the start," Anderson said, "and next morning we pushed the engine starting button and nothing happened. John, despite my protest, would not deign to ask a competitor for a tow to the starting line, and we missed the turn of the current at The Race. Undaunted, we went up inside, boiled through Woods Hole with a fair current, and finished fairly well in the fleet."
(Courtesy Edward B. Watson, Jr.)