C.A. Thayer

A wooden three-masted schooner built in 1895 at Hans D. Bendixsen's yard, Fairhaven, CA, for E.K. Wood Lumber Co., Hoquiam, Washington. Her dimensions are: 156'×36'×11'8 and tonnage: 452 GRT and 391 NRT.

1895: Launched at Hans Bendixsen's yard, Fairhaven, CA, for E.K. Wood Lumber Co., Hoquiam, Washington, to be used in the timber trade.
1912: Sold to "Whitehead Pete" Nelson, who were using her in the Alaska salmon packet trade.
1925: Bought by Capt. J.E. Shields, Poulsbo, Washington, and put into cod-fishing.
1931: Laid up.
1941: Conscripted by the Army to be used as a barge for storage of empty shells from target practice at sea.
1946: Re-masted with masts from the four-masted schhoners Sophie Christenson and made five voyages between 1046 and 1950.
1950: Sold to an entrepreneur who displayed her as a pirate ship on Hoods Calanl, Washington.
1957: Bought by the State of California for permanent preservation.

Presently a museum ship in San Fransisco.

Selective Bibliography

Livingstone, Steven E.: Historic Ships of San Francisco. A Collective History and Guide to the Restored Historic Vessels of the National Maritime Museum.
Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 1984. Obl8vo, iv, 124 pp, ill.
Trott, Harlan: The Schooner that Came Home. The Final Voyage of the C.A. Thayer.
Cornell Maritime Press, Cambridge, MD, 1958. 8vo, xiv, 117 pp, ill.

Updated 1995-08-10 by Lars Bruzelius

Sjöhistoriska Samfundet | The Maritime History Virtual Archives.