The keel on Lotus was laid down in 1917 and the boat was completed in 1918, in Rocky River, Ohio. Designed by the naval architectWilliam Hand Jr. in 1916, and christened with the name of Miss Gloucester, she was designed as a pleasure yacht for sailing on the Great Lakes. As Miss Gloucester, she was commissioned by Thomas B. Van Dorn, to be the Van Dorn family yacht. The Van Dorn family sailed her on Lake Erie and perhaps Lake Huron. In 1922, the ship was sold to Stephen Estes Comstock of Newark, NY. He moved the ship to Sodus Bay, on Lake Ontario, and renamed her Lotus, after the wildwater lilies that grew in the bay. Lotus was sold again in 1938, to Dick Todd and Ken Cooley. They renamed her again, this time to Dickens, a combination of their first names. In 1943, Ezra Hale and his partners bought the ship and changed her name back to Lotus. Ezra Hale and John Trahey donated Lotus to the Otetiana Council of the Boy Scouts of America in 1971, specifying that Sea Explorer Ship 303, chartered by the Webster, NYKiwanis, be the ones to use it. The Sea Explorer Ship 303 had begun in 1965, and used a variety of power cruisers before the Lotus was donated. Unfortunately, it was difficult to keep up with the required maintenance and by 1991 Lotus needed serious restoration. With the support of sponsors the Webster Kiwanis, the money was raised for a restoration, soliciting donations from individuals and corporations. A matching funds grant was also received from New York state, which brought the total amount of money raised to $150,000. Lotus was trucked to Rivendell Marine, in Rhode Island, in 1991. The refit was completed in 1993. For the following 14 years, Lotus was sailed by members of Sea Scout Ship 303 around all of Lake Ontario and Irondequoit Bay. Lotus visited many harbor festivals and reenactments each year including Alexandria Bay Pirate Week, Oswego Harborfest, and reenactments in Sacketts Harbor. Lotus has also participated several times in Operation Sail. In 2009 Otetiana Council, BSA and Finger Lakes Council, BSA merged to form Seneca Waterways Council, BSA with operations centered in Rochester.
Present
By the end of the 2017 season Lotus was in serious need of repair. Declining membership in Ship 303 resulted in the unit becoming dormant and the end of its 50 year charter relationship with the Webster Kiwanis. Later that year Sea Scout Ship 303 was re-invigorated by a group of sailors and re-chartered under the Newport Yacht Club in Irondequoit Bay, with the understanding that the Seneca Waterways Council would make arrangements for the care ofLotus. Since that time the once magnificent schooner has been neglected and the deterioration has become severe. In 2019 the Seneca Waterways Council Scouting Historical Society began collecting the archives of Lotus and Sea Scout Ship 303, culminating in a large historical exhibit at the council office that opened in February 2020. A "Friends of the Schooner Lotus" FB page was launched at the same time. Several individuals and organizations have expressed and interest in "saving the Lotus," but at present her future looks grim. She remains in the same location where she was cradled at the end of the 2017 season.
Specifications
Dimensions
Length : on deck, from the tip of the bowsprit to the end of the main boom
