Ship profile for the sailing ship: "C.A.Thayer"

Technical data of the sailing ship:

Name:C.A.Thayer
Registered port:San Francisco
Nation:USA
Type of rigging:3-MAST-SCHONER
Type of ship:3-Mast-Gaffelschoner
Year built:1895
Yard:Hans Bendixsen, Fairhaven, California, USA
Overall length:66.75 m
Length (hull):47.50 m
Breadth:11.00 m
Draught:3.40 m
Ship's hull:Holz / Wood
Engine:keine / none

Portrait of the sailing ship:

Last update: 02 Jan 2001

  • in 1895 Hans D. Bendixsen built the "C.A. Thayer" in his Northern California shipyard, named for Clarence A. Thayer, a partner in the San Francisco-based E.K. Wood Lumber Company
  • between 1895 and 1912 she transported lumber to San Francisco, after sustaining serious damage during a heavy gale, her lumber trade days ended in an Oakland shipyard in 1912
  • 1912 sold to Mr. P. Nelson, who used her in the salt-salmon trade until 1924 each spring she brought boats, bundles of barrel staves, and tons of salt from San Francisco to Western Alaska, spent the summer anchored out at Squaw Creek or Koggiung and returned with barrels of salted salmon each September, in winter month she carried Northwest fir and Mendocino redwood to Australia, return cargo was usually coal, but sometimes hardwood or copra (dried coconut meat, from which coconut oil is pressed)
  • from 1925-1930 she made yearly voyages from Poulsbo, Washington, to the Bering Sea codfishing waters
  • laid up in Lake Union, Seattle, then
  • 1942 the U.S. Army purchased the ship for use in the war effort, removal of her masts and used as an ammunition barge in British Columbia
  • after World War II re-rigged once again and return to codfishing until 1950
  • in 1957 purchased by the State of California, after preliminary restoration in Seattle, Washington, she sailed down the coast to San Francisco
  • The San Francisco Maritime Museum performed more extensive repairs and refitting, and opened "C.A. Thayer" to the public in 1963.
  • transferred to the National Park Service in 1978
  • designated a National Historic Landmark in 1984
  • Today she hosts a slate of unique school education programs presented by the National Maritime Museum Association.

Contact:

Website (English, 14 May 2022):
https://www.nps.gov/safr/learn/historyculture/c-a-thayer.htm
C.A. Thayer: info at the website of the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park with an actual photo and alot of historical ones, some statistics, her history

Literature for further reading:

We recommend the following references for your further research of the ship. The references marked with have been included in the generation of the ship profile on this page.

Otmar Schäuffelen
"Die letzten grossen Segelschiffe"
Delius Klasing Verlag 1997 ISBN: 3-7688-0483-6
(9. aktualisierte Auflage)
Page: 327 Source with picture Source with history Source with technical data

American Sail Training Association (ASTA)
"Sail Tall Ships! A Directory of Sail Training and Adventure at Sea"
2000 ISBN: 0-9636483-5-7
(12th Edition)
Page: 79 Source with picture Source with history Source with technical data Quelle with contact

Ingrid Schmidt
"Maritime Oldtimer, Museumsschiffe aus 4 Jahrhunderten"
Edition Leipzig 1986
Page: 53 Source with picture Source with history Source with technical data

Otmar Schäuffelen
"Die letzten grossen Segelschiffe"
Delius Klasing Verlag 2002 ISBN: 3-7688-0483-6
(10. aktualisierte und erweiterte Auflage)
Page: 368 Source with picture Source with history Source with technical data

American Sail Training Association (ASTA)
"Sail Tall Ships! A Directory of Sail Training and Adventure at Sea"
2007 ISBN: 978-0-9799878-0-9
(17th Edition)
Page: 124 Source with picture Source with history Source with technical data Quelle with contact