HUDSON RIVER MARITIME MUSEUM
  • Visit
    • About
    • Plan Your Visit
    • Events Calendar
    • Exhibits on View >
      • Working Waterfronts
      • New Age of Sail
      • Warning Signs
      • Mary Powell
      • Rescuing the River
    • Rondout Lighthouse
    • Docking
    • Visiting Vessels
  • Learn
    • Youth Programs
    • Lecture Series
    • Online Exhibits
    • School Programs
    • Speaking Engagements
    • Seven Sentinels Film
  • Solaris Cruises
    • Cruise Schedule
    • Meet Our Boat
    • Book A Charter
  • Wooden Boat School
    • Boat School
    • Youth Classes
    • Adult Classes
    • Boatbuilding Classes
    • Restoration
    • Boats For Sale
  • Sailing
    • Sailing School
    • Adult Sailing
    • Youth Sailing
    • Riverport Women's Sailing Conference
    • Sea Scouts
  • Join & Support
    • Ways to Give
    • Donate
    • Membership
    • Volunteer
    • Capital Campaign
    • Our Supporters

History Blog

Sail Freighter Friday: Schooner "C.A. Thayer": A Distinct West Coast Maritime Product

10/7/2022

1 Comment

 
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.

NOTE: This week we have a guest post from the
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park about the Schooner C A Thayer a uniquely West Coast sail freighter. You can find more on their website.
Picture
C.A. Thayer sailing along the West Coast with a load of lumber. Image credit - SF Maritime NHP: J07.05134
How often do we hear phrases such as “The last of its kind” or “One of a kind”? With a cultural resource, how or should we evaluate the value of such a statement? And what constitutes the truth of such a statement? Built in 1895, the C.A. Thayer is a bald-headed, three-masted West Coast lumber schooner, and yes… she is the last of her kind. Constructed in the yard of Hans Bendixson in Fairhaven, California (near Eureka, in the far northwestern part of California), she is both typical and atypical. She is typical in that she was a common type of vessel built for lumber service on the U.S. West Coast. She is atypical in that she survives when hundreds of her kin have rotted away or were otherwise lost. Vessels with her hull and elements of her rigging design were not to be found anywhere else in the country, and these elements, though not solely responsible, played a key role in the decision for a rebuilding that has left her in practically new condition. She was, in fact, a highly specialized West Coast maritime product, designed for both the environment in which she was meant to sail and the cargo she was meant to haul.
Picture
C.A. Thayer loading lumber at Hoquiam, Washington for Honolulu, broad port quarter view of vessel, 1912. Image credit - SF Maritime NHP: F01.6375n
With lumber hauling along the West Coast as her intended mission, the design of the Thayer reflects the contours of the West Coast as well as economy. Large, protected harbors such as San Francisco Bay are rare along the western seaboard. The majority of the California coast is a sailor’s nightmare. Whereas San Francisco Bay is a large and sheltering anchorage, most of the coast is rocky with many cliffs, and exposed. Big Sur, south of San Francisco, is majestic, beautiful, and breathtaking… if you are on shore looking out to the ocean. But upon the deck of an engineless sailing vessel, it could be completely frightening. And if wrecked, there are no obvious ways to get safely ashore. So, it was wise to have a handy maneuverable rig. Thus, the fore and aft schooner rig was very popular, especially for the trip north into the prevailing wind and ocean currents. As this rig evolved on the West Coast, the bald-headed schooner became common, particularly in three masted designs, in which there were no separately attached topmasts. Given the tall Pacific lumber available for mast timbers, this simplified her sail and rigging arrangement.
Picture
C.A. Thayer, looking forward, showing details of rigging when she was equipped with a West Coast square-sail. Image credit - SF Maritime NHP: J09.23813
On occasion, one might also see a peculiar sail addition. This was the West Coast square sail (and sometimes surmounted by a raffee). Found on the forward mast, a yard was crossed and so arranged that a sail could be laterally set on one or the other side. So, instead of setting this square sail from the top down, it was set from the center line of the vessel outboard, one side at a time, since the foresail would block the wind of the other/leeward side. The Thayer did not carry such a sail for most of her career, but is documented as carrying one during some of her voyages south to Australia, so as to take better advantage of any following winds on the long trans-Pacific voyage. Combine all of the above with a steam donkey engine (not something unique to the West Coast) mounted within the deckhouse, the primary sails could be made in incredibly large size, yet the vessel sailed with a small, and a correspondingly cheaper to employ, crew. This engine, therefore, had the same effect that automation technology does today, and allowed the C.A. Thayer to be sailed with as few as eight crew members: four sailors, one cook, two mates, and a Captain.
Picture
Credit: Chris Edwards, NPS
The Columbia River in Oregon, the site of many of the Douglas Fir loading ports, influenced the Thayer’s hull form. A ship with a single deck and relatively flat bottom was what was called for. The C.A. Thayer and the rest of her West Coast kin had to be built to pass safely over the sand bars at the mouths of such rivers. Though not explicitly flat-bottomed herself, the Thayer has very little dead rise and is much wider (36’4”) than she is deep (11’8”).  One result of this shallowness is that about half her load of 575,000 board feet of lumber was stacked up on deck. Due to this, there was a second set of pin rails mounted high on her shrouds to provide accessible belaying points for her running rigging when a full load was carried. The sailors merely used the deck load top as a line handling deck. But with the resulting broad beam and shallow depth of hold, she was able to safely mount the sand bars. This hull design, incidentally, also provided stability when sailing empty. When northbound, it was often unnecessary to load ballast.  
Picture
Credit: Chris Edwards, NPS
The building material with which all this was achieved was the same as that which most often formed her cargo, old growth Douglas fir. Given her wide beam, but shallow depth of hold, her upper ceiling planking played a critical role is resisting hogging tendencies. Therefore, when visiting the vessel and entering her hold, one can spy individual planking 8 inches thick and up to a shocking 80 feet long. Her clamps too are of major size, though her restoration team was unable to obtain pieces of original (10 inches thick and 110 feet in length) size. Due to her being designed for immense deck loads, her hanging knees, supporting her deck, are huge and especially interesting as they cannot be cut to shape. To have the necessary strength to support deck loaded lumber cargoes, they have to be of a naturally curved grown shape. This was a particular challenge, especially when considering the lack of natural curves in Douglass Fir. In other parts of the country where other types of trees were more common, these natural curves (referred to as compass timber) were often acquired where large branches grew in a curving outward arc from the trunk. With Douglas Fir trees, branches grow out from the trunk at nearly 90 degrees. So in order to get the natural curved shape needed, effort was made to make use of the stumps and roots of the tree. In particular from trees that grew on the side of a hill where the curving roots would have an especially sharp angle.
Picture
Credit: Chris Edwards, NPS
Though not unique along the West Coast, there were many features that made these ships totally distinctive compared to the Gulf Coast, East Coast, or Great Lakes practices. These design features, and the fact that she is now the last of her kind, were important  factors why the decision was made to proceed with her massive reconstruction. Today, the C.A. Thayer has a largely “new ship” feel about her. Though longevity is something all wooden structures aspire to, wooden vessels/ships, given the marine environment they live in, are particularly vulnerable to entropy. With her reconstruction now nearly complete, visitors will have access to a unique West Coast historic maritime resource for a long time to come.
Picture
Credit: Chris Edwards, NPS
Bibliographic References

Books:

Olmsted, Roger. C.A.Thayer and the Pacific Lumber Schooners. Los Angeles: Ward Ritchie Press, 1972.


Unpublished Works:

Cleveland, Ron. The Rigging of West Coast Barkentines & Schooners. Unpublished manuscript, Maritime Research Center, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, no date.

Myers, Mark Richard. “Pacific Coast-Built Sailing Ship Types: 1840-1921.” B.A. Honors Study Thesis, Pomona College, 1967.


Official Reports:

Architectural Resources Group. “Historic Structure Report: Schooner C.A. Thayer.” National Park
Service, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, 2022.

Delgado, James P. & Gordon S. Chappell. “National Register of Historic Places Inventory, Nomination Form: C.A.Thayer (Schooner).” National Park Service, Western Region, 30 June 1978.


Periodicals: 

Andersen, Courtney J. “Exciting Times in the Life of C.A. Thayer. Re-rigging and Old Sailing Ship: A Maritime Detective Story.” Sea Letter 72 (Fall 2015), 2-12.

Canright, Stephen. “Born of the Lumber Trade: An Historical Context for the C.A. Thayer.” Sea Letter 50 (Summer 1995), 3-11.

Canright, Stephen. “Preserving the C.A. Thayer: What is to be Done?” Sea Letter 50 (Summer 1995), 20-25.

Canright, Stephen. “Rebuilding the C.A. Thayer.” Sea Letter (Summer 2007), 6-24.

Cox, Thomas R. “William Kyle & the Pacific Lumber Trade: A Study in Marginality.” Journal of Forest History 19:1 (January 1975), 4-14.

Cox, Thomas R. “Single Decks and Flat Bottoms: Building the West Coast’s Lumber Fleet, 1850-1929.” Journal of the West XX: 3 (July 1981), 65-74.

Dennis, D.L. “Square Sails of American Schooners.” The Mariner’s Mirror 49: 3 (August 1963), 226-227.

McDonald, Captain P.A. “Square Sails and Raffees.” The American Neptune V (1945), 142-145.

Miles, Ted. “The Later Lives of the C.A.Thayer.” Sea Letter 50 (Summer 1995), 13-19.

Author

Christopher Edwards is a National Park Ranger at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.


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!
Donate Now
Join Today
1 Comment
South San Francisco, CA link
1/23/2025 05:25:53 pm

The blog explores the history and significance of the CA Thayer, a sail freighter that represents a unique West Coast maritime heritage. It highlights the vessel's design, purpose, and role in the shipping industry. The post sheds light on how the schooner reflects the region's rich maritime history.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    This blog is written by Hudson River Maritime Museum staff, volunteers and guest contributors.

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    May 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    April 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016

    Categories

    All
    Agriculture
    Amusement Parks
    Barges
    Black History
    Bridges
    Canals
    Captain William O. Benson Articles
    Catskill Mountains
    Environmental History
    Featured Artifact
    Ferries
    Fireboats
    George W. Murdock Articles
    Halloween
    House Boats
    Hudson River Commercial Fishing
    Iceboats
    Ice Harvesting
    Immigration
    Indian Point
    Indigenous Peoples
    Labor
    Lighthouses
    Marine Art
    Military
    Muddy Paddle Series
    Photo Contest
    Railroad
    RMS Titanic
    Rowing
    Sail
    Sail Freight
    Schooners
    Shipbuilding
    Shipyard
    Sloops
    Sports
    Steamboats
    Towboats And Tugboats
    Whaling
    Winter
    Women's History
    Wrecks And Mishaps

    RSS Feed

GET IN TOUCH
Hudson River Maritime Museum
50 Rondout Landing
Kingston, NY 12401

​845-338-0071
[email protected]


Contact Us

GET INVOLVED

Join & Support
​​Donate
Membership
Volunteer

Work with Us
​
RESEARCH
History Blog
Collections
Research Resources

stay connected

Join Our Email List
ABOUT
News
Publications
​Docking
Museum Store
Facility Rentals
Board
​
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Visit
    • About
    • Plan Your Visit
    • Events Calendar
    • Exhibits on View >
      • Working Waterfronts
      • New Age of Sail
      • Warning Signs
      • Mary Powell
      • Rescuing the River
    • Rondout Lighthouse
    • Docking
    • Visiting Vessels
  • Learn
    • Youth Programs
    • Lecture Series
    • Online Exhibits
    • School Programs
    • Speaking Engagements
    • Seven Sentinels Film
  • Solaris Cruises
    • Cruise Schedule
    • Meet Our Boat
    • Book A Charter
  • Wooden Boat School
    • Boat School
    • Youth Classes
    • Adult Classes
    • Boatbuilding Classes
    • Restoration
    • Boats For Sale
  • Sailing
    • Sailing School
    • Adult Sailing
    • Youth Sailing
    • Riverport Women's Sailing Conference
    • Sea Scouts
  • Join & Support
    • Ways to Give
    • Donate
    • Membership
    • Volunteer
    • Capital Campaign
    • Our Supporters