Like the original "Pride", the "Pride II" is not a replica of a specific vessel, and, although it represents a type of vessel known as a "Baltimore Clipper", it was built to contemporary standards for seaworthiness and comfort but like its predecessor, is a topsail schooner. On May 3, 1987, the keel was laid in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, and "Pride of Baltimore II" soon began to take shape in the temporary shipyard set up along the waterfront with its progress watched and monitored by thousands of daily tourists and citizen visitors. The keel and all the other framing and planking materials were shaped out of Central American hardwoods from Belize. On this ship, modern power tools and techniques were used to speed construction. When onlookers periodically opined that "Them 19th century shipbuilders sure didn't use no kinda power tools," shipwright Leroy Suroski correctly pointed out, "They woulda if they woulda had 'em."[http://www.pride2.org/building-pride-ii/] Built in the iconic "Baltimore Clipper" style, "Pride II" has heavily raked masts, and has 10 sails, she carries two large gaff sails (one on a boom and one loose-footed), a main gaff topsail, three headsails, and a square topsail and flying topgallant on the foremast. Also rare on modern traditional sailing vessels, she flies studding sails (stun's'ls), additional sails set along the edge of the square topsail and the gaff mainsail on temporary spars known as stun's'l booms. "Pride II" also carries a very unusual sail known as a ring-tail, set like a studding sail off the main boom and main gaff.