Various Vessels
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The scow schooner, Alma, on San Francisco Bay in about 1988 and about
1900. They were very common in the 19th century for hauling things around
the bay. She is essentially a flat bottomed barge with a schooner rig. I
crewed on board her for two seasons and we found that directional stability is
not one of her better qualities; sail trim is almost as important as the
direction the rudder is pointing. She is part of the National Maritime
Museum in San Francicso.
The bark, Star of India, at home in San Diego with the Lady Washington in the
background. The Star of India, a model of ship conservation, was
launched in 1863 and is in sailing condition today. Her keel is 202',
which makes her about 240' over all length as opposed to the Lady Washington's
O.A.L. of 110'. Vessels of this period usually had double topsails, as can
be seen here by the position of the upper and lower topsail yards.
The lower topsail yard is stationary while the upper one is hauled up with the
halyard. The carved seagull sitting on the end of the jib-boom if a
faithful replica of the original. Notice Christmas lights strung up the
fore royal stay.
Aloft on the ship, Balclutha. Looking at pictures of a ship or even standing
on the deck of one does not give a sense of what it is like aloft. This
was my first time aloft, as it turned out, the first of thousands; I was asked
to come along to hold the end of a measuring tape, but meanwhile I was standing
there on the t'gallant footropes, a hundred or so feet in the air, trying to imagine
furling. An insignificant amount of movement on deck becomes greatly
amplified aloft. For comparison, the Lady Washington t'gallant yard is at
about the same height as the course yard on the Balclutha or the Star of India.
The Balclutha as she sat during the 1960's before she was moved to her current
location on Hyde St Pier. She had been rigged by master riggers not too
long before and was in good shape at this time. Since then she has been in
steady decline. In the late 1990's, not long after the pictures above were
taken, the rigging was declared unsafe and now, I understand, even the National
Maritime State Park riggers are not allowed aloft. This is in sharp
contrast to the Star of India, above, which is approximately the same
size, although older and is in sailing condition.
The boat in the foreground, made by Douglas Brooks, is a modern replica of a
typical 19th century dinghy of the type that the Alma had in the above
picture. The ship on the left in the background is the Balclutha and the
other is the lumber schooner C. A. Thayer at the National Maritime Museum in San
Francisco.
Here we have a worried skipper being pursued by a felucca, just as Joshua Slocum
was 100 years before. This felucca was the type used by the Italian
fishermen on the San Francisco bay. It is a lateen rig. This one, at
least, does not go to weather very well and when you tack, the yard ends up on
the wrong side of the mast. Since this is not very pleasing , the crew is
sent forward to cast off the tack, walk the yard around the aft side of
the mast and then refasten the tack. I have done this rather unhandy maneuver.
This is a picture of a dhow taken in the 1960's off the coast of Africa.
It is a lateen rig similar to the felucca , above.
The
boat in the foreground is a cutter built by Douglas Brooks from an 1810 lines
drawing in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich of a 1789 cutter. It was commissioned by the
city of Vancouver ,WA to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the exploration of
the Columbia River. It requires 8 oarsmen and a helmsman and is the second
largest boat that would have been carried by a larger vessel of the
period. The exploration was reenacted as close as possible to the original
time table and, as in the original trip, there was almost no opportunity to set
the lug sails. Rowing eight or more hours a day with seven other oarsmen
for days at a time is a wonderful experience which must be done to be properly
understood.
This is a longboat, the larger boat that would be carried on board a ship.
It belongs to the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport in Aberdeen WA. If
anyone in the 18th century were caught flailing their oars around like this they
would have been laughed out of port. This must be a training row.
The gray vessel is the topsail schooner Californian. I was recently
informed by a former member of the Californian's crew that the handsome white
schooner is the America, an accurate replica of the America's Cup schooner. This is a good comparison of three
different types of topsail: a square topsail, a gaff topsail and a fisherman.
The Californian, followed by the Hawaiian Chieftain. In the background
under the Golden Gate Bridge you can vaguely see the ocean going steam tug Hercules.
Although we didn't just sail under the Golden Gate in this picture, I must say
that there is nothing quite as exciting as sailing a square rigger under the
Golden Gate after being at sea for a few days.
The
topsail ketch Hawaiian Chieftain with all sail set trying to get out of range
of our cannon.
This is a Russian training ship just arriving in SF bay. I believe that
all that sail hanging around is more for the entering port photo opportunity.
It is a little odd that the yards are at full height with the square sails
hanging in the gear, since the yards are usually lowered as the sails are taken
in.. Notice that there are some guys aloft, but they are taking in the
view rather than furling.
The USCG bark Eagle.
This is the Star Pilot out of Southern California. She was built as a
Grand Banks fishing schooner but was used as a pilot vessel, which means that
she wasn't beaten up like the fishing schooners were.
The William C Headley is a Atkins design cutter built in Martinas CA in
1942.
I ran across this restored Bahamian trading schooner in Miami.
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