A sleek black schooner rounded the north end of Warren Island, a pine-studded state park adjacent to Islesboro, Maine, known for its magnificent views of Camden’s blue hills. The helmsman spun the wheel and the schooner’s bow swung lazily south into the gentle breeze, spilling air from the tawny sails. The vessel lost way. A moment later, the anchor hit the water with a prodigious splash, and the rattle of chain carried throughout the anchorage.

Soon the sails were down and furled. The crew ferried passengers ashore for a short hike on the island before dinner. Another schooner nosed around the point and anchored, replaying a scene common during the balmy days of summer on the west side of Penobscot Bay, home to 12 schooners based in Rockland and Camden. The fleet is one of the busiest in the United States.

They may be numerous and popular, but the windjammers represent only a fraction of the traditional vessels plying North American waters. More than 250 are registered with the American Sail Training Association (ASTA), a nonprofit dedicated to promoting educational programs at sea for sailors of all ages, and to preserving the ships that serve as working interpretative museums paying homage to the rich maritime history that shaped the modern world. Hundreds more tall ships from 25 countries are affiliated with Sail Training International, a nonprofit umbrella organization for associations that are similar to ASTA and share a common mission.

Most of these craft are floating classrooms where paying-guest crews learn the ropes of big-ship sailing, and how to work as a team, to achieve a common objective. Hauling the braces (lines used to pivot yards for a given point of sail), standing on footropes to furl or reef a square sail high above the deck, manning the capstan, and standing a cold night watch in foul weather while living in close quarters with others builds character and leadership skills. The shipboard work is a key component of every sail-training program, whether it’s to educate cadets on ships like the U.S. Coast Guard Barque Eagle or paying crew aboard the Virginia, a 126-foot replica of one of Virginia’s pilot schooners that sails out of Norfolk; it’s operated by the Virginia Maritime Heritage Foundation.

As varied as the working vessels of the Age of Sail, today’s tall ships range in length from 30 feet to more than 400 feet. They run the gamut from square-riggers, barques, barquentines, and brigantines to all manner of schooners—pilot boats, Grand Banks fishing boats, and oyster boats. Some are true icons from the past, lovingly restored and maintained as living maritime history, and others are replicas of famous merchant ships, warships, and racing yachts that are open to the public for tours and a variety of sailing adventures including long offshore passages and sunset cruises.

Among the many notable replicas is the 139-foot schooner America. The original is renowned for its role in starting the America’s Cup tradition in 1851 in that famous race around England’s Isle of Wight. Another is the 179-foot HMS Rose, fashioned after an 18th-century British frigate. It’s now named HMS Surprise for its starring role in Russell Crowe’s hit movie Master and Commander. Both of these tall ships are based in San Diego.

Dennis Conner’s America’s Cup Experience organization runs whale-watching and sunset cruises aboard the America. The Maritime Museum of San Diego acquired HMS Surprise in 2004, adding to its fleet of historic vessels, which includes the 145-foot topsail schooner Californian, a replica of a revenue cutter that patrolled the coast in the late 1840s. Designated as California’s official tall ship, Californian sails regularly with paying passengers.

The world’s largest tall ship, Royal Clipper, flagship of the Star Clippers cruise ship line, is a 439-foot, five-masted, full-rigged luxury vessel complete with three swimming pools and settees in the crow’s nest. You’re talking real pampering here, with gourmet food and excellent service as the ship sails to exotic locations in the tropics and elsewhere. The ship has 114 cabins and carries 227 passengers and 106 crewmembers. Sailing Ship Adventures, a travel service based in Wellesley, Massachusetts, that specializes in tall ship vacations of all kinds, is a fertile resource for would-be tall ship adventurers.

Sailing with all the amenities is great for some sailors, but most big-ship sailing experiences are more Spartan and in keeping with what it was really like for sailors serving before the mast. For example, the galley stove aboard Picton Castle, a 179-foot barque that offers round-the-world (and shorter) passages, is on deck and dates back to 1893, handy in the steamy tropics to keep the heat to a minimum belowdecks. Paying crew sleep in two tiers of pilot berths, the typical arrangement on most sail-training ships whether they are square-riggers or schooners.

Many of the tall ships are nonprofits operating as sail-training schools for youth, and to support and promote environmental awareness of the ocean’s fragile ecosystem. In New Jersey, the not-for-profit Bayshore Discovery Project runs ecological and historical-oriented educational programs to enhance awareness of Delaware Bay aboard the 85-foot oyster schooner A.J. Meerwald (built in 1928), which sails out of Port Norris, New Jersey. The schooner was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995 and is New Jersey’s official tall ship. The nonprofit’s many educational programs, especially those for youth groups, received ASTA’s Sea Education Program of the Year Award in 2005.

In the Pacific Northwest, Sound Experience, another non-profit, offers programs similar to those of the Bayshore Discovery Project aboard the schooner Adventuress, out of Port Townsend, Washington. The 101-foot schooner was built in 1913 in East Boothbay, Maine, and served as a pilot boat off the Farrallones, near San Francisco, for 35 years. It now sails the waters of Puget Sound, promoting the need for environmental protection of the sound and the importance of preserving North America’s maritime history. Every year approximately 3,000 kids and adults tour the ship.