George K. Phillips Chesapeake Ram Schooner

VICTORY CHIMES, built as "EDWIN AND MAUD" being named for the two children of her first Captain, Robert E. Riggen, is the only surviving example of the Chesapeake Ram type schooner in existence today. She was optimized in her design for use on the mid Atlantic and Great Lakes where it was necessary for a schooner to fit through the shallow navigational canals which linked ports in larger and deeper bodies of water. Her original cargo consisted of sawn lumber, grain, soft coal and fertilizer, which she carried in and out of Chesapeake Bay until 1945 when she was converted to carrying passengers. She worked the Bay until she was purchased by a syndicate who brought her to Maine in 1954 and re-named VICTORY CHIMES.

VICTORY CHIMES operated as a successful charter business on the coast of Maine until 1984 when she was sold to a Minnesota banker who brought her to the Great Lakes. Shortly after, she was purchased by the owner of Domino’s Pizza, Mr. Thomas Monaghan, and re-named "DOMINO EFFECT". Used by the company for employee incentive cruises, Mr. Monaghan invested large amounts of money repairing and restoring the schooner and can arguably be credited for saving her life.

In 1989 she returned to the coast of Maine and subsequently in 1990, was purchased by her current owners, Capt. Kip Files and Capt. Paul DeGaeta who named her "VICTORY CHIMES" once again and returned her to the passenger trade. Honored by the State of Maine as "The premier schooner of the Maine sailing fleet" in 1991, by the United States National Parks Service as a "National Historic Landmark" in 1997 and minted on the State of Maine Quarter in 2002, she remains a successful and well kept "working" vessel steeped with important U.S. maritime history.

VICTORY CHIMES presently holds a USCG Certificate of Inspection for 50 passengers and is diligently kept to, and above, the standards the USCG requires with annual inspections, etc… Detailed restorative data, as well as business data, is available upon request to well qualified prospects. Interested parties may wish to consult the vessels website or the National Park Service’s National Historic Landmark Study for the vessel.