She was designed by McCurdy & Rhodes, Naval Architects in Cold Spring Harbor, New York and Frederick W. Bates of Damariscotta, Maine.

After her launch in 1973, Whitcomb took delivery and under the initial guidance of Captain James Payne of Brunswick, ME, the Gamage sailed the Northwest Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea with high school and college students as well as paying passengers.

In 1994, she was purchased by Challenge Inc., managed by David and Arden Brink, who ran sea education programs on Harvey Gamage and SSV Mystic Clipper.

Ocean Classroom Foundation executive director Greg Belanger entered an agreement with Phineas Sprague, Jr, owner of Portland Yacht Services, to preserve the Gamage.

Working with Sprague, in 2015 Belanger created Ocean Passages to provide the Harvey Gamage as a resource for educators to run their own programs and curriculum.

[12][13] Starting in 2015, Harvey Gamage spent summers in Maine and winters in Cuba with a special OFAC License and permission of the Cuban Government.

Some of the longest running sail training programs in the United States originated on Gamage, and she has been the focus of many creative art projects and books.