LEWISTON—A leisurely cruise aboard the classic sailing ship Black Pearl on Sunday afternoon in the lower Niagara River wasn’t quite enough for 13-year-old Jason Spany of Rochester.

Jason wasn’t fully satisfied until he climbed up a rope ladder to a platform sometimes mistakenly called the crow’s-nest, attached to one of the vessel’s masts. He was so awed by the view from the top that he invited his father, Donald, to climb up and have a look, too.

Donald and Christine Spany and their two sons, Jason and 15- year-old Mitchell, were among several passengers on an hourlong voyage that began and ended at Lewiston Landing.

“Everybody loved the cruise,” said Christine Spany, as she stood firmly on solid ground with her son Mitchell, after their ride. “I found out about it online. We were in town for a wedding, and I always look for something fun to do when we go away — and this was it!”

Black Pearl cruises, operated by Liberty Excursions (otherwise known as Nicholas Alexander and his wife, Amanda) of Lockport, sail in the Niagara River and on Lake Ontario every weekend, weather permitting.

Not everyone gets to climb up on the mast. Amanda Alexander explained that the platform that they climbed up on was a work platform and not a crow’s-nest. The Black Pearl doesn’t have a crow’s-nest, which technically is a partly enclosed, bucketlike platform used for a lookout near the top of a ship’s mast.

What the Black Pearl does have is sailboat rigging exactly like the rigging on the USS Constitution, Nicholas Alexander said.

Like the Constitution, the hull of the 73-foot-long Black Pearl is built of wood, its main mast stands 68 feet tall, and it can hoist up to 13 sails. It normally operates with a captain and a five-member crew, and at least half a dozen people can sleep overnight below the deck if they don’t mind being a bit crowded.

Both the Alexanders are licensed captains, and their vessel often is used for sailboat training, especially among Sea Scouts.

The Black Pearl was built in 1948 by C. Lincoln Vaughn, a Newport, R. I., shipbuilder who used it as his personal yacht. He sold the Black Pearl in 1959 to Barclay Warburton III, who helped to promote the South Street Seaport Museum in New York City by anchoring the vessel at the museum’s pier in the early 1970s for sea music festivals.

Warburton sailed the Black Pearl to the Caribbean many times and to Europe for the first TransAtlantic OpSail race. In 1974, he organized the American Sail Training Association, and the Black Pearl became its flagship. Upon Warburton’s death, the Black Pearl was willed to the association.

After several owners and in desperate need of repair, the Black Pearl was purchased in December 2008 by the Alexanders. After a year of intensive restorative work, the Black Pearl is making its first commercial voyages this year.

The present schedule, subject to change, includes one-hour trips Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings in the Niagara River, sunset trips from Olcott Harbor weekdays and Sunday evenings, and round-trips leaving Olcott early Saturdays, remaining in Lewiston overnight and returning to Olcott late Sunday afternoons.

Net proceeds of the Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning trips from Lewiston Landing benefit the Historical Association of Lewiston, according to Lee Simonson, volunteer president of the association.

For pricing, reservations and sailing times, call 433-0410 or visit www.sailblackpearl.com . Prices range from $40 to $100 per person.

rbaldwin@buffnews.comnull