 C.A. Thayer in 1988 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Namesake | Clarence A. Thayer |
| Launched | 1895 |
| Out of service | c.1950 |
| Status | Museum ship |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | 453 (gross) |
| Length | 219 ft (67 m) |
| Beam | 36 ft (11 m) |
| Depth of hold | 11.38 ft (3.47 m) |
C.A. Thayer | |
 C.A. Thayer, launched November 12, 1895 | |
   | |
| Location | 2905 Hyde Street,San Francisco, California 94109 |
| Coordinates | 37°48′33″N122°25′18″W / 37.80917°N 122.42167°W /37.80917; -122.42167 |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1895 |
| NRHP reference No. | 66000229 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | 13 November 1966[1] |
| Designated NHL | 13 November 1966[2] |
C.A. Thayer is aschooner built in 1895 nearEureka, California. The schooner has been preserved and open to the public at theSan Francisco Maritime National Historical Park since 1963. She is one of the last survivors of the sailing schooners in theWest coast lumber trade to San Francisco fromWashington,Oregon, andNorthern California. She was designated aNational Historic Landmark on 13 November 1966.[1]
C.A. Thayer was built byDanish-bornHans Ditlev Bendixsen in his shipyard, located across the narrows ofHumboldt Bay from the city of Eureka in Northern California. Bendixsen also built theWawona (1897) which was dismantled in 2009. TheC.A. Thayer was named for Clarence A. Thayer, a partner in the San Francisco-based E.K. Wood Lumber Company.
Between 1895 and 1912,C.A. Thayer usually sailed from E.K. Wood'smill inGrays Harbor, Washington, to San Francisco. But she also carried lumber as far south asMexico, and occasionally even ventured offshore toHawaii andFiji.
C.A. Thayer is typical of the sort of three-masted schooners often used in the west coast lumber trade. She is 219 feet (67 m) in length and has a cargo capacity of 575,000 board feet (47,900 cu ft; 1,360 m3). She carried about half of her load below deck, with the remaining lumber stacked 10 feet (3.0 m) high on deck. In port, her small crew of eight or nine men were also responsible for loading and unloading the ship. Unloading 75,000 to 80,000 board feet (6,300 to 6,700 cu ft; 180 to 190 m3) was an average day's work.
With the increase in the use ofsteam power for the lumber trade, and after sustaining serious damage during agale,C.A. Thayer was retired from the lumber trade in 1912, and converted for use in theAlaskansalmon fishery.
Early each April from 1912 to 1924,C.A. Thayer sailed from San Francisco for Western Alaska. On board she carried 28-foot (8.5 m)gillnet boats, bundles of barrel staves, tons of salt, and a crew of fishermen and cannery workers. She then spent the summer anchored at a fishery camp such asSquaw Creek orKoggiung. While there, the fishermen worked their nets and the cannery workers packed the catch on shore.C.A. Thayer returned to San Francisco each September, carrying barrels of saltedsalmon.
Vessels in the salt-salmon trade usually laid up during the winter months, but whenWorld War I inflated freight rates,C.A. Thayer carried Northwest fir andMendocino redwood toAustralia. These off-season voyages took about two months each way. Her return cargo was usuallycoal, but sometimeshardwood orcopra.
Between 1925 and 1930,C.A. Thayer made yearly voyages fromPoulsbo, Washington, to Alaska'sBering Seacod-fishing waters. In addition to supplies, she carried upwards of thirty men north, including fourteen fishermen and twelve "dressers" (the men who cleaned and cured the catch). At about 4:30am each day, the fishermen launched their Grand Banksdories over the rails, and then fished standing up, withhandlines dropped over both sides of their small boats. When the fishing was good, a man might catch 300–350 cod in a five-hour period.
After a decade-long,Depression-era lay-up inLake Union, theU.S. Army purchasedC.A. Thayer from J.E. Shields for use in thewar effort. In 1942, the Army removed her masts and usedThayer as an ammunition barge inBritish Columbia. AfterWorld War II, Shields bought his ship back from the Army, fitted her with masts once again, and returned her to cod fishing. Her final voyage was in 1950.
The State of California purchasedC.A. Thayer in 1956 from Charles McNeal who used her as a tourist attraction. After preliminary restoration inSeattle, Washington, a volunteer crew sailed her down the coast to San Francisco. (In the 1956 movieJulie, there is a scene where a man is sitting on an airplane reading a San Francisco newspaper. The newspaper has the headline "Ex-master Awaits Return of Schooner C.A.Thayer" above a photo of what is clearly the ship C.A.Thayer. To the right is a photo showing the ex-master of the ship next to his wife.)[3]
The San Francisco Maritime Museum performed more extensive repairs and refitting, and openedC.A. Thayer to the public in 1963. The vessel was transferred to theNational Park Service in 1978, and designated aNational Historic Landmark in 1984.
After 40 years as amuseum ship,C.A. Thayer has again been restored, a restoration which took three years from 2004, and which resulted in her temporary removal from her berth at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. Approximately 80% of the ship's timbers were replaced with new timbers matching the original wood. The ship sailed back to theHyde Street Pier on 12 April 2007.
In Nov. 2016 she was moved to Alameda to be painted, get new booms and gaffs, and have three masts and a bowsprit installed by the Bay Ship and Yacht Company. She returned to the Hyde Street Pier in Feb. 2017.[4] In 2017 she will be rigged with a new set of sails.[5]
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