Sunday, August 3, 2008

Tall Ships

This past week two historic reproduction ships sailed into Bellingham Harbor. Robby and I ventured down to take a look at them. The ships are the Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain.

The new Lady Washington is a full-scale reproduction of the original Lady Washington. Built in the British Colony of Massachusetts in the 1750’s, the original vessel carried freight between colonial ports until the American Revolutionary War, when she became an American privateer. In 1787, after the war, she was given a major refit to prepare her for a unprecedented trading voyage around Cape Horn. In 1788, she became the first American vessel to make landfall on the west coast of North America.

The topsail ketch Hawaiian Chieftain is a replica of a typical European merchant trader of the turn of the nineteenth century. Her hull shape and rigging are similar to those of Spanish explorer's ships used in the expeditions of the late 18th century along the Washington, Oregon, and California coasts. Built of steel in Hawaii in 1988 and originally designed for cargo trade among the Hawaiian Islands, her design was influenced by the early colonial passenger and coastal packets that carried on coastal trade along the Atlantic coastal cities and towns.
Below are pictures I took of the ships.










2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I remember living in boston and watching the tall ships come in. To me it is a really spectacular site.

Anonymous said...

Great pictures again. The ships are just beautiful. I wish I kept my woodwork that well polished!