Its seamen suffer hardships unknown elsewhere, for they have to endure winters of intense cold and heavy gales and they are always in risk of stranding or being driven ashore.
The story of these hardy men is interwoven, for the most part, with the development of the schooner in size and power.

This graceful craft, so peculiar to its own coast and people, was built for utility and possessed a simple beauty of its own when under full sail.

The schooners were at first very small because it was believed that large fore-and-aft sails could not be handled with safety.

They were difficult to reef or lower in a blow until it was discovered that three masts instead of two made the task much easier.

For many years the three-masted schooner was the most popular kind of American merchant vessel.