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The small city of Bath has been making ships for generations. But while many of them have been put to utilitarian purposes such as fishing, shipping and military operations, a smaller number have gone on to serve more colorful ends
Such is the case with the five-masted Cora F. Cressy, which was originally built in 1902 at the Percy and Small shipyard in Bath, to serve as a coal transport ship. Now, the Cressy is just a large wreck that’s serving as a breakwater for a lobster co-op in the Lincoln County town of Bremen.
But in between its time as a transport ship that could haul up to 4,000 tons of coal and as a breakwater, the Cressy appears to have helped many New Englanders get around the national ban on alcohol from 1920 to 1933.
According to documents filed with the National Register of Historic Places, after the Cressy had made its last voyage under sail in 1928, it was sold the following year to someone in Massachusetts who converted it to a floating nightclub known as Levaggi’s Showboat.
There is scant information about its next few years, but it’s well-documented that, while Prohibition was in effect, liquor could still be consumed offshore of the U.S. (first within 3 miles, then later 12).
While Prohibition was lifted in 1933, it appears that the Cressy was still used for floating parties for a few more years, according to news reports at the time.
In 1935, the Providence County Times reported that Levaggi’s Showboat had “the most gorgeous dining solon that Providence has ever had to offer.” It offered meals, cocktails and an orchestra for dance music.
“To the left of the dining solon (if one gets the least bit thirsty) the finest liquors can be had at a gay and swanky horse shoe bar,” the article reads.
Eventually, the Cressy’s nightclub days petered out and it was sold to one Bernard “Bunny” Zahn, who around 1938 towed it to his lobster storage facility in Bremen, where it was filled with sand and served as an office and breakwater, according to National Register of Historic Places records.
The Cressy has significantly deteriorated since then, with a 40-foot section of its hull falling off in the 1980s. But it remains one of the largest surviving wooden hulls in the U.S. and can still be seen in the Keene Narrows.
For history buffs, some of its fixtures and equipment have been removed and remain at the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath — which operates at the site of the Percy and Small Shipyard that originally built the Cressy.
