The city of St. Marys, Georgia welcomed the arrival of the Peacemaker ship last week as she made her way toward her weeklong home, docking south of Langs Marina on the St. Marys River from January 25th to February 1st. The Peacemaker – a tall, wooden barquentine ship that hearkens to the sea-dwelling vessels of centuries past – took a one-week hiatus from her scheduled route down the coast of Florida before making her way toward her next stop in Mobile, Alabama, on the Gulf of Mexico.
The Peacemaker is unique in more ways than its traditional construction and ambiguous appearance, including a crew that lives for fellowship with their Creator while sailing the coast, as well as sailors that use the ship as a beacon for their way of life on dry land. I wanted to check out the “pirate ship” docked for a week on the brackish St. Marys, but what I discovered was much deeper than what I originally assumed would be a guided tour from a middle-aged Blackbeard impersonator aboard this intriguing vessel.
Just like a book, the Peacemaker can’t be judged by its cover, something I quickly realized while touring the ship. The owners of the Peacemaker allowed people to come aboard free of charge during their week in St. Marys to get a glimpse into what their lifestyle is all about. The crew hands out free literature that details their journey – both spiritual and seafaring – the moment you step onto the main deck.
The Peacemaker may look like a vessel straight out of a Patrick O’Brian novel, but it actually isn’t that old. The ship was built on a riverbank in southern Brazil in 1989 by a Brazilian industrialist named Frank Walker. Mr. Walker had originally named the ship the Avany, a name that is still ubiquitous across the many portholes and hawseholes that encompass the wooden craft.
What began as a promising adventure from the Caribbean to the southern Atlantic coast ended up with the boat parked in Savannah, Georgia for some time. Finally, the Walkers decided to sell the boat, and the people manning the vessel today were the fortunate buyers of the craft in the fall of 2000. Since then, the crew has embarked on a journey along the East Coast and up to the Great Lakes, visiting dozens of cities and welcoming thousands of curious tourists aboard while acting as the flagship for their organization called the Twelve Tribes.
The Twelve Tribes are actually a collection of communities located in twelve different geographical regions in the world, with tribal areas boasting one to several communities within themselves, depending on how long each individual tribe has been around. According to the Peacemaker’s flyer, the Twelve Tribes are extremely family oriented, spending their time working together, eating together, teaching together and worshipping together. The Peacemaker is meant to be the flagship that demonstrates their unique vision and purpose to the world.
Every detail about the Peacemaker ship is made available to visitors through free handouts. The wooden barquentine boat was built using the Brazilian hardwoods indigenous to the ship’s birthplace, with epee and mahogany framing and covering the craft. The Peacemaker’s overall length is 150 feet, and reaches 126 feet into the sky from waterline to top mast. The ship also displays over 10,000 square feet of sail area . . . when the sails are actually up. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to catch the rigging in its full glory during our weekend visit.
The Peacemaker will be making its next stop in Mobile, Alabama before hitting the high seas again as she spreads her message in 2015. If you’re interested in learning more about the Peacemaker’s mission, you can check out the Twelve Tribes website by visiting www.twelvetribes.org.
