By JF Grodeska
ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS – The Oyster Schooner AJ Meerwald sailed into Atlantic Highlands Municipal Harbor July 17 and, for five days, welcomed visitors on public sailing expeditions. The event was sponsored by the Atlantic Highlands Yacht Club.
The AJ Meerwald is a restored vessel, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995 for its significance in architecture, commerce and maritime history. Then-New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman proclaimed the Meerwald the official New Jersey state tall ship in 1998.
Meerwald was constructed and launched by Charles H. Stowman & Sons at the shipyard in Dorchester in 1928. It was one of hundreds of schooners built along Delaware Bay before the decline of shipbuilding in the area during the Great Depression.
During World War II, Meerwald was commandeered under the War Powers Act and conscripted to the U.S. Coast Guard, where it was used as a fire boat. After the war, it was sold to Clyde A. Phillips for use as an oyster dredge. During Prohibition, the AJ Meerwald was used to smuggle alcohol, a risky but profitable business.
Eventually, Meerwald was decommissioned and ready to be scrapped until a group of concerned citizens came together to raise funds to restore the ship to its original condition. Today, the AJ Meerwald is a living museum. Its homeport is the Bayshore Center in the Bivalve section of Commercial Township in Cumberland County.
AJ Meerwald offers tours and educational programs that teach students about the history and ecology of the Delaware Bay and is a tourist attraction, allowing visitors to see and understand the workings of an early 20th-century sailing vessel. The ship also goes on tour each summer, visiting different ports and offering sailing excursions to the public.
The five-day visit to Atlantic Highlands enthralled visitors as they sailed Sandy Hook Bay, as if venturing into the last century.
While the ship visited Atlantic Highlands, students from the Atlantic Highlands Sailing Education Program (AHSEP), a not-for-profit sailing program open to kids in the Bayshore area, enjoyed a morning sail aboard the AJ Meerwald. According to program director Jill Christine Careri, the students loved the tour.
If you missed the AJ Meerwald in Atlantic Highlands, you can catch her at other ports this summer, including the Cape May Ferry Terminal in Cape May from Aug. 2 through Sept. 12 with public sails from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday to Friday and 2 to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. For the full schedule visit njea.org/aj-meerwald-2024-sailing-schedule.
The article originally appeared in the August 1 – 7, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
