Recently Discovered Cache of Lost Photographs Document West Coast Clipper Ship Prowess

By Steve Priske

If one follows the axiom that, “the last built of a thing is generally the best built of a thing,” then the finest tall ships ever built may have been built on the West Coast, and were home-ported at San Francisco.History books tell us that in 1849, when the Gold Rush was at its peak, the epitome of tall ships were being launched from dozens of East Coast ship yards and were called Clipper ships, over 600 in all. It has been assumed that no Clippers were built on the West Coast. Well, that’s all about to change. A discovery made in 2003 reveals that over 65 world-class tall ships, some Clippers, were indeed built on the West Coast. Some were the first of their rig anywhere, while others set sailing records that stand to this day.

In 2003, while working on a literary project in Coos Bay, Oregon, I came upon an astonishing 1,500 original glass negative photos, most made in the mid 1800s. This huge collection of photographs depicted what has turned out to be the largest fleet of tall ships ever built on the U.S. West Coast. As a maritime historian and model shipwright, I was familiar with the extensive 19th century lumber schooner fleets that plied the redwood coasts and the Mosquito Fleets bringing lumber and coal from hard-to-reach outposts in Washington and Oregon to markets at San Francisco. But no history book or museum collection had taught me that a huge fleet of over 65 world-class tall ships had been built on the West Coast. However, after a year of chronicling this fantastic story, that is exactly what I’ve found. 

A world-class tall ship is one defined as measuring over 130’ on the keel, over 150’ on the deck, registered at over 300 tons and powered solely by sail. In terms of nautical history, The Oregonian, in reporting on this find, described it as akin to finding another pyramid in the desert.

The rapid growth that took place around San Francisco Bay in the mid 1800s spawned several colossal industries, one being the lumber business. Of the many lumber companies that made their home in San Francisco, the Simpson Brothers Lumber Company stood out from all others, not just for their many lumber mills and retail yards, but for their huge fleet of ocean-going tall ships. While most lumber and shipping operations were content with plying the West Coast in relatively small 100’ to 130’ long, two- and three-masted schooners, the Simpson Brothers went “big time”: 200’ plus long, blue water tall ships, delivering their cargos to points all over the world. Included in this unique fleet of ships of sail was the only true Clipper ship built on the West Coast, and she was christened the Western Shore.

The Clipper Western Shore was launched in 1874, from Captain Asa Meade Simpson’s shipyard at North Bend, Oregon, and at once brought to San Francisco and put in the wheat trade to England. Asa and his brother Captain Robert Simpson, who designed her unique sail plan, set out to show their eastern counterparts that a West Coast Clipper could be built at a reasonable cost and with respectable sailing qualities. In fact, no sailing vessel ever set afloat on the West Coast achieved such remarkable speed records. In 1875, the Shore left San Francisco a few minutes behind the steamer Oriflame and arrived in Astoria two and one-half hours ahead, making the trip in a trifle over two days. A year later, she established another record by sailing from Astoria on the Columbia River to Liverpool in 97 days, and the next year made the trip to the same port from San Francisco in 110 days, all records that stand to this day. The Shores storied carrier includes almost running aground on Alcatraz Island, when her hawser parted while under tow, a mishap that knocked her Captain over 20 feet from the fore deck onto the main deck, where in four hours he bled to death from a broken shoulder. In 1878, while on a coal run from Astoria to San Francisco, the Western Shore ran aground under full sail onto Duxbury Reef off of Bolinas and sank within hours, all hands making it to the boats and safety. The ship’s captain at the time, Captain Hotchkiss, claimed to have mistaken the lights of Bolinas with those of the Farallones. Captain Simpson was convinced that the skipper and first officer were drunk!

What made the Western Shore such a standout Clipper ship was her design and construction. She measured 204’ overall and was registered at 1,177 tons, the largest square rigger built on the West Coast. Her frames and planking were built of Douglas Fir, while her masts and yards were rough hewn from Port Orford Cedar, which Captain Simpson would often comment, “grows up to 150’ tall and arrow straight” adjacent to his Coos Bay shipyard. A dramatic departure from tradition, the Western Shore had six yards on all three masts (a three skysailer), and her main and fore masts were the same height, 130’ from deck to truck. An even more radical design difference, the corresponding yards on the fore and main masts were the same length. And, most importantly, the Western Shore was built by the Danish master shipbuilder John Kruse, who while in the employ of Captain Simpson would build over 38 similar tall ships, several sailing for an astounding 40 years. I find it particularly ironic that the super fast Western Shore was sailing the same Pacific routes to England during the same seasons the Cutty Sark and other notable Clippers were, and yet, sadly, no history book records her existence.

While the Clipper ship Western Shore would be the sweetheart of the San Francisco fleet of Captain Asa Simpson, he found the Barkentine ship’s rig the most useful for transporting deck loads of lumber. A perfect example of this is the Gardiner City, a three-masted Barkentine that Captain Simpson had built in 1889. She was 169’ feet on the keel, about 185’ long on the deck, and originally built as a four-masted schooner. A few years after being launched, the Gardiner City was re-rigged as a three-masted Barkentine. One morning in 1911, while bound up the coast from San Francisco, she met the schooner Alert bound for Hawaii. A few minutes later, the Alert’s bow sprit fowled the fore rigging of the Barkentine, and her anchor raked the starboard side of the Gardiner City, cutting every shroud on the foremast. The crew managed to jury rig and limp back to San Francisco where the ship was laid up, while the Alert continued on to Honolulu.

Having started his lumber empire around 1855, Captain Simpson soon realized there was a lucrative market for lumber overseas, and thus launched a series of ships that would average 200’ overall in length, and represent the finest clipper type hulls ever built. A wonderful example can be found in the Willie R. Hume, the first four-masted Barkentine built on the West Coast. She was built by John Kruse and launched in 1890; the Hume measured 183’ on the keel,  202’ overall, and had the lines of the world’s finest clippers. The Willie R. Hume was a frequent sight at San Francisco and San Pedro waterfronts until it was sold to Mexican owners in 1911. Another first was launched in 1886, the four-masted schooner Novelty. She was the world’s first four-masted bald head schooner, and sported no bow sprit when launched, leading a local paper to comment, “...she should have been called Oddity, instead of Novelty.” Later, a short bow sprit would be added and the  Novelty would go on to be the first four-masted schooner to circumnavigate the globe. In 1907, the Novelty was lost in a deep fog bank, stranded on the Oregon sand dunes, her crew, captain, and family walking ashore.

Aside from the fleet of the Simpson Brothers, about two dozen more ships of world-class proportions would be built on the West Coast for the Pacific Shipping Company, also based in San Francisco. One of the more notable examples was the four-masted schooner Polaris, which measured a huge 205’ on the deck and was launched in 1902. The Polaris was built by Emil Heukendorff, who had been the master draftsman of Captain Simpson for about 25 years, until they got into an argument over where to place the privy on the schooner Admiral. Heukendorff soon started his own shipyard and, in my opinion, built the most attractive tall ships of the 19th century. His ship the Polaris would sail until 1914, when she wrecked on Duxbury Reef, the same place the Western Shore laid down her bones. Heukendorff would build nine more blue water tall ships, such as the four-masted schooner Taurus, a sister ship to the Polaris, and a ship that was burned off Catalina Island while making a movie in 1924.

It’s true that by the early 1900s steamships took over the coastal transportation of lumber to the Bay Area, but these ocean-going tall ships would continue circumnavigating the globe well into the 20th century. Many would be sold to foreign owners and are recorded to have sailed for 35 years on average, which is about ten years longer than their East Coast counterparts of the same era. Others, such as the Encore (c.1897) and Manila (c.1899),  met their fates quite dramatically in World War I, being hunted and sunk by German Raiders, such as the Seedler. One ship, the 180’ long, four-masted schooner Echo, built by E. Heukendorff and  launched in 1896, sailed for about 30 years, before it was turned into a floating home off Sausalito through the 1950s. 

Given the vast size and record-setting accomplishments of this fleet of San Francisco-based tall ships,  it is my contention, when compared to the many West Coast shipyards which produced mostly 100’ to 130’ long schooners, and those East Coast shipyards that gave us the famous Clippers like the Sea Witch and Great Republic, that these 65 plus world-class tall ships of San Francisco rank right up near the top of all maritime accomplishments and should be considered some of the finest tall ships ever built.