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Here's a classic of the late Windjammer era, "Paddy, Lay Back!", also known as "Mainsail Haul" or "Valparaiso Round The Horn." There's so many references to the windjammer trade in the lyrics, there's little doubt about its origins, though when exactly it was written is unknown. The references to Valparaiso, guano, barque rigs, manual capstans, rigging lines, and sailing maneuvers could all be as early as the 1870s, but as late as the 1920s for the Nitrates Trade between South America and Europe. This is a walking shanty for bringing in the anchor via the capstan, a type of manual winch. This second recording from the Smithsonian Folkways recordings was done while working, and the sound of the paced work can be heard. At the same time, the song thoroughly reflects the labor conditions aboard windjammers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: There were few legal protections for sailors ashore or in port, and even fewer once away from harbor governments. This shanty became a popular Irish folk song in the 20th century, though the lyrics betray a separation by the time the Wolfetones recorded their version: The references to the manual machinery of a windjammer are obscured in lines such as "take your turn, pull on your caps, and leap aboard" instead of "take a turn around the capstan, heave a pawl" and a few other corruptions from older sets of lyrics. Whichever version you might prefer, a number of these windjammer era songs still permeate the folk music culture. They are, much like sail itself, no longer considered working songs, nor are they attached to specific tasks in most people's minds. However, as working sail returns in response to high fuel prices and the threat of climate change, these songs may well see a similar revival. DREADNOUGHT LYRICS: 'Twas a cold an' dreary mornin' in December (December) Well, all of me money it was spent (spent, spent) Where it went to, Lord, I barely can't remember (remember) So down to the shippin' office went (went, went) [CHORUS] Paddy, lay back (Paddy, lay back)! Take in yer slack (take in yer slack)! Take a turn around the capstan, heave a pawl All around ship's stations, boys, be handy For we're bound for Valparaiso 'round the Horn! Ah, that day there wuz a great demand for sailors (for sailors) For the Colonies and for 'Frisco and for France (France, France) So I shipped aboard a Limey barque the Hotspur (the Hotspur) An' got paralytic drunk on me advance ('vance, 'vance) 'Twas on the quarterdeck where first I saw 'em (I saw 'em) Such an ugly bunch I'd never seen before ('fore, 'fore) For the captain he had shipped a crew of Belgians (Eughhh!) An' it made me poor ol' heart feel sick an' sore (sore, sore) Ah, but Jimmy the rat he knew a thing or two, sir (or two, sir) An' soon he'd shipped me outward bound again ('gain 'gain) On a Limey to the Chinchas for guano (for guano?) An' soon was I a-roarin' this refrain ('frain 'frain) And I asked the mate a-which a-watch wuz mine-O (wuz mine-O) Sez he, 'You'II soon find out a-which is which' (which, which) An' he blowed me down an' kicked me hard a-stern-O (a-stern-O) Callin' me a dirty rotten son-o'-a-bitch (bitch, bitch) Ah, so there I was-a once again at sea, boys (at sea, boys) The same ol' garbage over and over again ('gain, 'gain) So, won't you stamp the caps'n and make some noise, boys (some noise. boys!) And join me all in singing the ol' sweet refrain ('frain, 'frain) AuthorSteven Woods is the Solaris and Education coordinator at HRMM. He earned his Master's degree in Resilient and Sustainable Communities at Prescott College, and wrote his thesis on the revival of Sail Freight for supplying the New York Metro Area's food needs. Steven has worked in Museums for over 20 years. If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!
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Welcome to Sail Freighter Fridays! This article is part of a series linked to our new exhibit: "A New Age Of Sail: The History And Future Of Sail Freight In The Hudson Valley," and tells the stories of sailing cargo ships both modern and historical, on the Hudson River and around the world. Anyone interested in how to support Sail Freight should also check out the Conference in November, and the International Windship Association's Decade of Wind Propulsion.  The BUCKAU, the Flettner Rotor Ship, photographed in 1924. Library of Congress. The rotor ship Buckau was originally built as an auxiliary sailing schooner in 1920, she was converted in 1925 as the first rotor ship using Flettner Rotors. These modern sails are now being used as wind assist systems on dozens of ships, and are projected in some cases as the principal propulsion of a number of vessels currently in the design stage. Flettner Rotors work on the principle of the Magnus Effect, which is what causes baseballs to curve when thrown. Flettner Rotors also provide much more thrust from the same surface area when compared to traditional sails. The tests with Buckau were successful, and the idea caught on to a degree. While Backau was only 600 tons, thus a small ship, others were later launched after her tests, including the 3,000 ton Barbara. Anton Flettner wrote a book about his inventions which is now available on Google Books, and in it details that he had taken a sailing excursion as a young man to Australia, which inspired his maritime endeavors. There were a number of smaller experiments with Flettner Rotors in the early 20th century, but the collapse of shipping rates in the 1920s did not provide an incentive for building more ships. It wasn't until the Oil Crisis of the 1970s that more research was poured into the idea, and until the early 21st century not many Flettner Rotors were installed or used. However, they are now considered one of the best options for wind-assist retrofits on all kinds of modern vessels. Buckau proved that rotors are a viable form of propulsion nearly a century ago, and now they are being put to regular use in the pursuit of decarbonizing shipping. These types of pioneering efforts are not frequent, but they are capable of changing what the future of sail will, quite literally, look like. AuthorSteven Woods is a Contributing Scholar at HRMM. He earned his Master's degree in Resilient and Sustainable Communities at Prescott College, and wrote his thesis on the revival of Sail Freight for supplying the New York Metro Area's food needs. Steven has worked in Museums for over 20 years. If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!
The 1970s Oil Crisis saw a major revival in interest around Sail Freight, which coincided with the bicentennial of the American War of Independence, itself a trigger for renewed interest in traditional crafts and tall ships. As part of this whole scene, Folk Music also experienced a rise in popularity, and in this particular song, you have these threads all combined. While the lyrics are certainly dated, they do encapsulate the spirit of their times, and a seed off which we build today. Folk tunes are always changing, and the lyrics could be modified just slightly to be far more inclusive and encouraging in a modern context. I propose the following as a candidate, for those interested in recording an updated version: "Sailing ships and sailors 'gain will sail the open waters... so all you brave windjammers climb your way into the rigging..." The verses will all need a bit of work as well, but that's not a terribly hard task either. We construct our world through the stories we tell, and as I once heard it said, all stories aspire to be songs. We could use more of these types of stories and songs in the face of the challenges we face today. LYRICS: You can see the squares of canvas dancing over the horizon You can hear the chanty wailing to the heaving of the men You can feel the seas up to your knees and you know the sea is risin' And you know the clipper’s day has come again To the men on high the bos'n's cry commands a killing strain ’Til every mother's son begins to pray With a hearty shout she comes about and she heads into the rain And the ship has never seen a better day Sailing ships and sailing men will sail the open water Where the only thing that matters is the wind inside the main So all you loving mothers keep your eyes upon your daughters For the sails will mend their tatters and the masts will rise again Wooden beams and human dreams are all that make her go; And the magic of the wind upon her sails We'd rather fight the weather than the fishes down below; God help us if the rigging ever fails As the timber creaks the captain speaks above the vessel's groans 'Til every soul on board can hear the call It's nothing but the singing of the ship inside her bones And this is when she likes it best of all Sailing ships and sailing men will sail the open water Where the only thing that matters is the wind inside the main So all you loving mothers keep your eyes upon your daughters For the sails will mend their tatters and the masts will rise again Where the current goes the clipper's nose is plowing fields of green Where fortune takes the crews we wish them well Where men could be when lost at sea is somewhere in between The regions of a heaven and a hell Well they're sailing eastern harbors and the California shore; If you set your mind to see them then you can As you count each mast go sailing past you, prouder than before Then you’ll know the clipper’s day has come again Sailing ships and sailing men will sail the open water Where the only thing that matters is the wind inside the main So all you loving mothers keep your eyes upon your daughters For the sails will mend their tatters and the masts will rise again Sailing ships and sailing men will sail the open water Where the only thing that matters is the wind inside the main So all you loving mothers keep your eyes upon your daughters For the sails will mend their tatters and the masts will rise again So all you loving mothers keep your eyes upon your daughters For the sails will mend their tatters and the masts will rise again. AuthorSteven Woods is the Solaris and Education coordinator at HRMM. He earned his Master's degree in Resilient and Sustainable Communities at Prescott College, and wrote his thesis on the revival of Sail Freight for supplying the New York Metro Area's food needs. Steven has worked in Museums for over 20 years. If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!
 Gavin Allwright addresses the room via video link. Photo courtesy of Brad Vogel. On the 5th of November, the Hudson River Maritime Museum, Center For Post Carbon Logistics, and Schooner Apollonia held a conference on small-scale inland and coastal sail freight at the HRMM Wooden Boat School. Over 30 representatives from all types of organizations and fields were present, including farmers, distillers, sailors, teachers, journalists, naval architects, and marine engineers. Activists such as the main figures of WindSupport NYC were in the room, alongside those interested in closing the zero-carbon delivery loop with representatives from Revolution Rickshaws cargo bikes, among others. Gavin Allwright, Secretary-General of the International Windship Association, gave opening remarks. With the declaration of 2021-2030 as the Decade of Wind Propulsion and over 150 member organizations supporting this effort, the IWSA is the international advocacy body for wind propulsion, and has recently been appointed an advisory organization to the IMO. The IWSA and Gavin's support has been important to the museum's whole effort on sail freight over the last two years, and we look forward to more collaborations in the future. Supercargo Brad Vogel and Captain Sam Merrett of Schooner Apollonia presented on finding cargo for sail freight, and the challenges of moving that cargo under sail. From docking issues to the need for a large volume of cold calling, there are a lot of significant challenges to moving freight on the Hudson, but they can all be overcome. The main focus for the moment is maintaining the ship's current route, and finding more cargo to fill out the hold for each voyage. Andrew Willner of the Center for Post Carbon Logistics presented on resilient and sustainable port infrastructure, and how this can be built into responses to climate change. By incorporating both recreational and working waterfront in planned flood zones and threatened areas, the most use can be made of areas which will be underwater or frequently flooded in 20-30 years. By making sure low-to-no carbon transport is incorporated into these plans, we can move into a future with plenty of waterfront jobs and recreational opportunities which re-center our communities around the water, instead of fossil fuel dependent highways. Geoff Uttmark of ShipShares and TransTech Marine presented on possible finance models for small scale sail freighters. By focusing on community finance for community-owned boats, which will bring shared prosperity and a source of economic activity to port towns all along the Hudson Valley as the industry revives in the coming years. Innovative opportunities through crowd funding, community fundraising, government funds, and cooperative ownership models present a wide variety of options for funding the next generation of sail freighters.  Captain Tanya Van Renesse addresses the conference on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Note the contents of the slide, upper right corner. Photo courtesy of Brad Vogel Capt. Tanya Van Renesse, bosun of Schooner Apollonia, presented on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the re-emerging sail freight industry. The current situation for diversity, equity and inclusion in the maritime industry is highly problematic, and in many cases the maritime trades are mostly filled by an aging white male population. Purposefully including a wider variety of people from different parts of the community will make for higher engagement with sail freight, and a wider distribution of the gains across the community in both health and money terms. It was pointed out, and universally agreed, that active measures to reduce harassment and hazing in the maritime community should be taken immediately, but in the re-emerging world of sail freight, they should be taken pre-emptively. This discussion was one of the most in-depth of the afternoon, as how to implement this moral imperative is not immediately apparent: The solutions to justice issues are rarely simple, and almost never easy, and frequently cannot be solved by a single action. Nonetheless, the room agreed that every sail freighter must make this part of their operational planning, and that the economic changes which will come from adopting sail freight must be intentionally inclusive and diverse, as well as equitable. While a rubber stamp solution may not exist, we can make certain we are trying, and developing a model which will lead to a future better than our present. Lastly, Steven Woods presented on the issue of scale, and how the use of open source ideals can help encourage the growth of a vibrant, democratic, and diverse sail freight movement. By creating openly available ship plans, handbooks, port infrastructure, and other support such as brokerages, the sail freight movement can rapidly expand and be open to a wide variety of communities. You can read the proceedings of the conference at the web page here.  "Welcome to the sail freight conference. The (Schooner) (Yawl) (Ketch) a seat, the (Schooner) we will [em(Barque)]." This is why the author isn't allowed to have markers anymore. Photo courtesy of Steven Woods. AuthorSteven Woods is a contributing scholar at Hudson River Maritime Museum, and coordinator of the sail freight conference. He earned his Master's degree in Resilient and Sustainable Communities at Prescott College, and wrote his thesis on the revival of Sail Freight for supplying the New York Metro Area's food needs. Steven has worked in Museums for over 20 years. If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!
This Monday, how about a classic song about the wild and unpredictable voyage of one of the largest sail freighters the world has ever seen? It's completely fiction, of course, and written to be absolutely ridiculous, but a classic nonetheless. To give you an idea of how ridiculous, here's an illustration of the ship as described in the song's first verse, which I wasted a full 5 minutes on.  I'm not convinced this vessel would actually be sailable, especially with only 8 crew. Having grown up on Irish folk music (specifically the Clancy Brothers), I'd known this song for decades before I really put together how absolutely absurd the lyrics are: 23 masts, a crew of 7, and millions of units of all sorts of just plain preposterous cargo make it a great satire of many other shipwreck songs. Carrying a load of bricks for the grand city hall in New York, but having absolutely no bricks listed in the cargo verse, and a trans-atlantic voyage of seven years in an era when it should be around 3-4 weeks is a great touch of exaggeration. Deadpan delivery tops off the whole performance. Most convenient for us at HRMM, though, is that this can arguably be a legendary song about one of the most unique Brick Schooners ever built and sailed. While legendarily it never made it to New York or the Hudson before sinking, I think we'll claim it all the same. Enjoy this rendition by the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, and of course the song has been sung by many other legends of the Irish Folk scene: The Dubliners, The Pogues, The (aptly named) Irish Rovers, and many others. Mario Rincon, Mike Pagnani, and Andre Ernst all also play this tune on Solaris from time to time, if you come out on one of their concert cruises. For good measure in filling out the post, here's The Irish Rovers playing "The Irish Rover." LYRICS: In the Year of our Lord Eighteen Hundred and Six We set sail from the Cobh quay of Cork We were sailing away with a cargo of bricks For the grand City Hall in New York We'd an elegant craft, she was rigged 'fore and aft And lord how the trade winds drove her She had twenty-three masts, and she stood several blasts And they called her the Irish Rover There was Barney McGee from the banks of the Lee There was Hogan from County Tyrone There was Johnny McGurk who was scared stiff of work And a man from Westmeath called Malone There was Slugger O'Toole who was drunk as a rule And fighting Ben Tracy from Dover And your man Mick McCann, from the banks of the Bann Was the skipper on the Irish Rover We had one million bags of the best Sligo rags We had two million barrels of bone We had three million bales of old nanny goats' tails We had four million barrels of stone We had five million hogs and six million dogs And seven million barrels of porter We had eight million sides of old blind horse's hides In the hold of the Irish Rover We had sailed seven years when the measles broke out And our ship lost her way in the fog And the whole of the crew was reduced down to two 'Twas m'self and the captain's old dog Then the ship struck a rock; oh Lord, what a shock We nearly tumbled over Turned nine times around and the poor old dog was drowned Now I'm the last of the Irish Rover AuthorSteven Woods is the Solaris and Education coordinator at HRMM. He earned his Master's degree in Resilient and Sustainable Communities at Prescott College, and wrote his thesis on the revival of Sail Freight for supplying the New York Metro Area's food needs. Steven has worked in Museums for over 20 years. If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!
We've talked before about the role of WWI U-Boats in the demise of Sail Freight in the Atlantic, and this song is about that topic. As a warning, this song contains strong language and violent references. Anna Maria is the story of a French brigantine sunk by a U-Boat on the fourth of February, 1917. The Brigantine Anna Maria existed, and is present in Lloyd's 1917 register of shipping under the registry number 424. She was 91 feet long, home ported in Bayonne, France, and owned by J. Legasse. Built of wood in 1896, she measured 140 Gross Register Tons, 105 Net. She was 91 feet 4 inches long, and 24 feet 7 inches on the beam.  She was sunk in the first quarter of 1917, as reported under "War Losses" by Lloyd's Registry in their casualties supplement. Other sources point to her being sunk by U-83 which was sunk in turn by a Q-Ship submarine hunter 13 days later.  While the source of the details for the song are of unknown origin, the basic story is historically sound. As part of the Dreadnought's 2017 First World War Concept Album "Foreign Skies," released during the centennial of the conflict, it brings a story of naval warfare to life vividly. A story of love, loss, and vengeance, it is a bit different than the usual content of HRMM Media Monday blogs, but well worth the listen. LYRICS: Well the waves were breaking sharply ‘cross the oaken brigantine While the misty air came up behind And the sky was acid green Well they called me Jean LaGasse I had just turned fifty three On the day I stood upon her deck And put her out to sea Sweet Anna Maria Never More, Never more I'll see When the thunder ripped across the bow Well I crumbled where I stood And I woke to find she'd kept me alive With her final piece of wood Don't speak to me in a fancy language I can't understand Don't flash your pretty medals Don't you take my blood red hand Just tell me how you let us stray Before the pirate's gun And tell me how I can find the man Who killed my dearest one Sweet Anna Maria Never More, Never more I'll see Sweet Anna Maria Never More, Never more I'll see Well he says she was U83 Some magical machine Sent by Kaiser Willy To the banks of the Lorient Gonna find that coward captain Gonna break his front door down Gonna wrap my hands around his neck And put him in the ground Sweet Anna Maria Never More, Never more I'll see Sweet Anna Maria For Love, For Love, of thee AuthorSteven Woods is the Solaris and Education coordinator at HRMM. He earned his Master's degree in Resilient and Sustainable Communities at Prescott College, and wrote his thesis on the revival of Sail Freight for supplying the New York Metro Area's food needs. Steven has worked in Museums for over 20 years. If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!
This song is a bundle of Victorian references which I'll let you look up for yourselves, but is also a uniquely windjammer song. I'd like to focus on those elements, more than the other content, as the song was from the late 19th century, when steam and sail had diverged, but both were still going strong. There's a number of references which all indicate this is a windjammer sailor's song: Setting Sail, of course is obvious, but others are not. Doldrum Grounds are unique to windjamming, as a motor vessel doesn't care if the wind stops. Slacking neither tacks nor sheets is an expression for fast cruising, or maintaining all possible speed, but steamships have none of these parts of square-sail rigging. Rocks and Shoals are dangerous to almost any vessel, but especially to sailing vessels off a lee shore, where the wind can drive a sailing ship on the rocks while a motor ship could employ its engines to move off from the hazard. This remnant of windjamming has survived in several recordings, and uses various years, all from the mid-to-late 19th century, after steam propulsion became common, so it is likely to have been something that differentiated between sailors with the two separate skillsets for the different types of vessels. Regardless, now it is simply a good song in the queue for those of us ashore. LYRICS: 'Twas in the year of '94 and I think of March the 20th day I thought I'd have a little cruise from the Well Street home to Tiger Bay As I rolled through old Wappin street, 'twas there I met a pretty maid She gave me a kiss and she lifted her skirts, her legs were all in fine array [Chorus] Whack fol the looray looray laido whack fol the looray looray lay Whack fol the looray looray lay hurrah for the pilots of Tiger Bay! When we set sail it was quite late, it was the hour of ten at night We never slacked a tack nor a sheet 'til we came to the house of Mother Wright And when I saw that cosy room, I there resolved to stay next day So I took that gal for me harbour dues and she piloted me down to Tiger Bay [Chorus] Then in the morning when I woke, I found myself in doldrum grounds But the madam wouldn't let me go until I had spent twenty pounds Says I to myself: this'll never do, I'll jump this bark without delay So I took a slant for the Well Street home from the rocks and shoals of Tiger Bay [Chorus] Now when I got back to the Well Street home I met my mate in the smoker there He shouted: Jack, where the hell have you been? You seem to be in ballast there I hung my head, not a word I'd say, I got me another ship that day And if I ever go to London again I'll take another cruise down to Tiger Bay [Chorus] To all you young fellers in this room I've only got one word to say Whenever you meet a pretty little maid just lead her gently by the way There's many an ups and downs in the world, and many a pretty girl down the highway But the prettiest ones that you'll ever see are the pilots down in Tiger Bay [Chorus] AuthorSteven Woods is the Solaris and Education coordinator at HRMM. He earned his Master's degree in Resilient and Sustainable Communities at Prescott College, and wrote his thesis on the revival of Sail Freight for supplying the New York Metro Area's food needs. Steven has worked in Museums for over 20 years. If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!
In the 1850s, the Clipper Ships gained fame as some of the fastest ships to ever float, and the Dreadnought was one of the fastest on the Atlantic. She once set the record for New York to Queenstown in 9 Days and 17 Hours, and averaged a far faster time than most on her packet run. She was 212 feet long, and 1,227 Gross Register Tons, and could carry about 2,000 tons of cargo and 200 passengers. Her fame was known far and wide, and she performed very well for the Red Cross Line, after being built in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and was of course famous enough to have a song written about her at the time. This is a more modern rendition, but still a good one. LYRICS: Oh, there is a flash packet Flash packet of fame She hails from New York And the Dreadnought's her name She's bound to the west Where the stormy winds blow All away to the westward In the Dreadnought we'll go Derry down, down, down derry down With the gale at her back What a sight does she make A skippin' so merry With the west in her wake Her sailors like lions On the jacks to and fro She's the Liverpool packet Oh, Lord let her go! Derry down, down, down derry down Now the Dreadnought's a-sailing The Atlantic so wide While the high roaring seas Move along her black sides With her sails tight as wires And the Black Flag to show All away to the Dreadnought To the westward we'll go Derry down, down, down derry down Here's a health to the Dreadnought And all her brave crew To bold captain (Willy!) And his officers too Talk about your flash packets Swallowtail, Black Ball The Dreadnought's the flyer That out sails them all! Derry down, down, down derry down AuthorSteven Woods is the Solaris and Education coordinator at HRMM. He earned his Master's degree in Resilient and Sustainable Communities at Prescott College, and wrote his thesis on the revival of Sail Freight for supplying the New York Metro Area's food needs. Steven has worked in Museums for over 20 years. If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!
Welcome to Sail Freighter Fridays! This article is part of a series linked to our new exhibit: "A New Age Of Sail: The History And Future Of Sail Freight In The Hudson Valley," and tells the stories of sailing cargo ships both modern and historical, on the Hudson River and around the world. Anyone interested in how to support Sail Freight should also check out the Conference in November, and the International Windship Association's Decade of Wind Propulsion.  Voyage of the Experiment, by Len Tantillo. Courtesy of Len Tantillo. The Sloop Experiment was built in Albany in 1785, and was the second US-Flagged vessel to trade with the Qing Empire in China. Over the course of 18 months, Captain Stewart Dean and the crew of 9 sailed over 14,000 miles each way in a 59-foot, 85 ton sloop around the Cape of Good Hope. The return journey took four months and 12 days, a reasonably fast passage around the Cape and across the Atlantic. The Experiment carried a hold full of tar, Ginseng, turpentine, alcohol, tobacco, furs, and cash, which were traded in China and surrounding areas for the Chinese luxury goods which were in high demand in New York and Albany. Cargo brought back included silks, fine porcelain, tea, and other luxury goods. After finding that port fees in China were charged the same for all vessels, regardless of size, the Experiment never made another trip to China, but still turned a decent profit. With the economics of these port fees in favor of larger ships trading with China, the Experiment returned to the Hudson River Trade, carrying passengers and cargo between Albany and New York for a number of years. Captain Dean evidently made several other trips to China, but in other, larger vessels. It seems the Experiment went back to the Hudson River trade after her famous trip to China, and was unique on the Hudson for having the cabin outfitted and decorated in a Chinese style. It was remarked in 1789 that the Experiment's accommodations were quite comfortable, and the captain entertained guests with stories of the epic voyage he had taken in the vessel 5 years before. AuthorSteven Woods is the Solaris and Education coordinator at HRMM. He earned his Master's degree in Resilient and Sustainable Communities at Prescott College, and wrote his thesis on the revival of Sail Freight for supplying the New York Metro Area's food needs. Steven has worked in Museums for over 20 years. If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!
Welcome to Sail Freighter Fridays! This article is part of a series linked to our new exhibit: "A New Age Of Sail: The History And Future Of Sail Freight In The Hudson Valley," and tells the stories of sailing cargo ships both modern and historical, on the Hudson River and around the world. Anyone interested in how to support Sail Freight should also check out the Conference in November, and the International Windship Association's Decade of Wind Propulsion.  Courtesy of Maine Maritime Museum The Schooner Wyoming was built at the Percy and Small Shipyard in Bath, Maine, in 1909, becoming the largest wooden ship ever built. An engineless 6-masted schooner, she carried almost 40,000 square feet of sail, with a crew of only 16 to move up to 6,000 tons of coal at a time.  The Wyoming under construction. Note the diagonal iron reinforcements in the hull. Courtesy of Maine Maritime Museum Wyoming was launched at the tail end of the Windjammer era, and was adapted for moving fossil fuels in the form of Coal. These types of bulk cargoes, for fueling cities, railroads, and steamships were the last cargo carried in large volumes by the Windjammers, and generally proved economically viable into the 1920s. However, the only way to maintain that economic competition was to get ever larger and use fewer and fewer crew to get the job done. To bring crew numbers down to the remarkably low number of 16, the Wyoming had mechanical winches for the running rigging such as sheets and halyards, run by a steam powered Donkey Engine, which also powered the pumps and anchor windlass.  Undated photo of the Wyoming's Crew. Courtesy of Maine Maritime Museum Although originally intended for coastal trade as a Collier, Wyoming also crossed the Atlantic during the First World War, surviving the U-Boat menace which devastated the Atlantic Windjammer fleet at the time. She returned to US coastal trade after the war, and was in service moving coal until she foundered in a Nor'easter off the Massachusetts coast in 1924.  Schooner Wyoming under sail. Courtesy of Maine Maritime Museum Wyoming is important because of her late date of construction and the innovations built in for conserving crew. She is a good example of the type of ship which was able to compete not on speed, but cost in an era of increasingly inexpensive steam propulsion: Fore-And-Aft rigged, partly automated, and designed for a low crew requirement, she was also built for bulk cargo which did not rely on speed for its value. Such ships would be built into the 1920s, before the economic situation for shipping started to decline and hundreds of vessels were laid up and out of use due to a reduction in international shipping, and the expansion of railroads took over from the coastal shipping trade.  Wyoming under coal tips for loading. Courtesy of Maine Maritime Museum. For more information on the Wyoming and the other Schooners launched by Percy and Small, you can visit the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, Maine, or pick up a copy of "A Shipyard In Maine" by Ralph Linwood Snow and Douglas K Lee. AuthorSteven Woods is the Solaris and Education coordinator at HRMM. He earned his Master's degree in Resilient and Sustainable Communities at Prescott College, and wrote his thesis on the revival of Sail Freight for supplying the New York Metro Area's food needs. Steven has worked in Museums for over 20 years. If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!
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