Captain Tyler King

After 37 years of operating the American Eagle, Captain John Foss has passed the stewardship of operating and maintaining the historic Schooner American Eagle to Captain Tyler King, a former mate and crew member with a decade of experience building, maintaining and sailing on wooden vessels of all sizes, including quite a few other vessels in the Maine windjammer fleet.

Captain King has been working on and around boats since his childhood. Growing up in his family’s small wooden-boat yard in Gloucester, Massachusetts, he has built or repaired nearly every type of wooden vessel and their systems. Before taking the helm of the schooner American Eagle, he spent his summers along the New England coastline, learning all that he could about maritime history and the Maine windjammer trade. Now alongside the wheelbox himself, he is dedicated to keeping and preserving the written and unwritten ways of traditional sailing for many years to come.

A sailing trip with Capt. King is a course in the history and dynamics of schooners, fishing, and the Gulf of Maine and of the literature of the Sea. His good humor and enthusiasm for the fleet radiates to his crew and guests, embodying what it means to drive a Maine windjammer.