11 Boats (and why they are awesome)
The 500 Things Project - A Guest Post!
Happy Saturday, fam! This week is a special one from my husband, Edward. When I asked him to write a guest post, I guessed we would be learning about trees, boats, or physics, and boats have won out. I hope you enjoy - and stick around ‘til the end for a special one! - Amy
Hello! This is a guest post from Amy’s husband, Edward. Don’t worry, the better writer in the family will be back next week.
Today we are going to talk about eleven boats and why they are great. For those of you who don’t already know, I love boats. Paring down to just ten was quite a task. Also, all these are real boats, with sails, not engines, as God intended.
1. USS Constitution
No list of sailing vessels written in the grand ol’ US of A would be complete without mention of the USS Constitution. She is the oldest active still afloat naval ship in the world.1 One of six frigates that created the US Navy, she was launched in 1794.
“Old Ironsides,” a nickname due to cannon balls bouncing off her like she was made of iron, is sheathed with the world’s best tree: quercus alba, the American White Oak. Her ribs and keel are of southern live oak, the strongest oak in the world.
Now a museum ship, you can take tours and see her in the Charlestown Naval Yard, Boston.
2. Oseberg Ship
The Oseberg ship was found buried as part of a Viking age grave. Parts of her structure have been dated to 800 AD. Viking ships are worth mentioning for two reasons: first, what little boy didn’t dream of being a Viking raider? Second, they are incredibly impressive. These vessels could be carried by the crew that manned them, rowed up shallow rivers and sailed across oceans.
Norse boat construction used riven boards for clinker style building. Clinker style is those lovely overlapping planks; they were riveted together with the “clink clink” of hammers on metal. Riven wood is split from the whole log, not sawn like modern lumber. This keeps the fibers intact along the entire length of the board, allowing the stronger boards to be thinner and flexible. Period accounts talk about ships flexing and moving like a serpent in the rough north seas. Would you get into a boat that flexed and twisted with every wave?
Also look at this carving detail:
The Oseberg ship is currently housed in the Viking Ship museum in Oslo, Norway. This is one of the reasons I’m going to get Amy to Norway…
3. Vasa
…we are also going to have to stop in Sweden. Funny story: Amy’s parents were in Sweden and sent an (unlabeled) picture of this boat to the family Snapchat group. I immediately exclaimed to Amy, “That’s the Vasa!” Yes, I am that much of a boat nerd.
Anyway, the Vasa is a study in how not to build a ship. She sank 1,400 yards into her maiden voyage. Turned right onto her side at the first real wind that hit her. Her stability was warned about when the Swedish navy inspected her and was promptly ignored by the king. It’s good to be the king.
Fit for a king, she was lavishly decorated and armed with the best of guns (I’m sure their weight had nothing to do with the sinking). Because she sank in cold Baltic waters, the Vasa was recovered mostly intact with an absolute treasure trove of artifacts from the 17th century.
4. Cutty Sark
In the world of the great sailing ships, the British tea clippers stand out. They were pure speed machines, built to race from the tea regions of southeast Asia to Britain. Before our era of everything whenever we want it, the yearly return of the grain and tea ships was national news. The first to arrive always commanded higher prices for the first of the fresh stuff. Cutty Sark, built in 1869, was the fastest of the British clippers. She held the fastest trip to and from Australia (77 and 73 days respectively) in the wool trade.
Cutty Sark was built with American rock elm below the water line and teak at/above the waterline with teak decks. For those who aren’t wood nuts, think $$$. Her hull was sheathed in Muntz-metal for antifouling and corrosion resistance. She was one of the first ships built with a wrought iron frame (wood on metal was the steppingstone to full metal ships). She survives as a museum ship in London, UK.
5. Peking
Now we enter a strange period in the development of ships: full metal sailing vessels. The Peking was one of the famous Flying P-Liners of the German shipping behemoth F. Laeisz. These fast vessels appeared to fly across the seas and were all named starting with P, hence the nickname: Flying P-Liners.
The Peking is notable for several reasons. First, she was built to sail around Cape Horn (the sailors in the audience are shivering) and did so dozens of times. She also never had a motor installed despite being built in 1911 when steam auxiliary had become common. She remained competitive in the nitrate trade (see Chilean guano) until the completion of the Panama Canal.
The second notable thing is this video from 1929. Filmed by one of her crew as a young man, and narrated by the same as an older man, the video is preserved thanks to the US Coast Guard. When seeing the video, the head of the Coast Guard at the time exclaimed he had never seen so much water on the deck of a ship that hadn’t sunk. According to her captain, what is shown in the film was a typical trip around the horn, nothing of note.
6. Medallia
Medallia is not a ship. The definition of ship actually doesn’t apply to most of the boats I’ve talked about so far because in the age of sail, a ship was a “full rigged vessel of 4 or more masts.” But we aren’t here for pedantry.
Medallia is built for one thing: blistering speed in open ocean racing. She is one of the IMOCA 60 racing class. Built of carbon fiber, she can reach speeds of 35 knots (~40 MPH). Her hydrofoils partially lift the hull out of the water, reducing drag. She sports a rotating wing mast (sails are wings after all) and a canting keel that swings from side to side with hydraulics. Amazingly, Medallia is controlled and powered by one person, Pip Hare. Talk about girl power.
7. Suhaili
Back to history. Suhaili is not a large boat. She is not a particularly fast boat either. Suhaili is, however, the boat used by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race of 1968-1969.
To call Sir Robin’s achievement one of the greatest in maritime history may be an understatement. He was the first person to successfully sail solo, nonstop, around the world. By himself, no stops, around the world. I’ll let that sink in a minute.
Suhaili is a 32 ft wooden ketch, meaning it has a main mast and a smaller mizzen mast. Built in 1963, she was in such rough shape after her circumnavigation the Queen herself paid to have the vessel restored. She has been restored twice again since then and was moored on the Thames in a place of honor for the Diamond Jubilee.
This one you can’t go see, as she currently is moored somewhere in England and regularly sailed by Sir Robin.
8. Rosie Parks
To most, skipjacks are a type of fish. But to lovers of the Chesapeake, this name conjures up leg-o-mutton sails, cross planked v-hulls, and oysters. Rosie Parks is a Chesapeake Bay skipjack oyster dredging boat built in 1955. She is currently owned by the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in Saint Michaels, Maryland.
The oystering fleet of Maryland is the last commercial sailing fleet in the country. All dredging for oysters is done by skipjacks. Sadly, seeing one dredge under sail is a disappearing possibility as the fleet is allowed to use push-boats two days a week to stay competitive. Most only operate on those two days.
The venerable deadrise workboat is an evolution of the skipjack optimized for diesel propulsion. Both types of vessels are vernacular creations specific to the short, steep, and stormy bay during the winter dredging season.
9. Pride of Baltimore II
Baltimore once built the fastest ships in the world. These Baltimore Clippers were used extensively for trade and war by the burgeoning United States. In honor of this heritage, the Pride of Baltimore was built in 1976-1977. 90 ft long, 23 ft wide, with a draft of 9 ft 9 in she was a faithful replica of the ships that made Baltimore famous. She was a topsail schooner typical of the 1812 period. Constructed using period tools and methods, she set a standard for historic replicas. Then she sank.
A sudden squall caused her to turn over 250 miles north of Puerto Rico. Winds of 80 knots (92 mph) laid her on her side where she sank. The year was 1986.
Immediately Baltimore decided to build another, launching the Pride of Baltimore II in 1988. Pride II is larger than her predecessor and safer. She qualified for USCG “T” licensing allowing the carrying of passengers on the open ocean. This means she isn’t quite as faithful a replica, as the construction methods are not period. Some reinforcement and modern ballast were required. She also carries two engines, modern communication and safety equipment, and a licensed crew. Despite this, her rig style, hull shape, and character are true to the history she represents.
She is available for tour in Baltimore, Maryland.
10. Atlantic
The Atlantic is a unique vessel because she was built as a Yacht (1903), raced, used by the Navy (1917-1919), then the Coast Guard (1941-1947), and finally as a floating tea room before being demolished in 1982. She was a wooden three masted schooner. The main reason she makes this list is an astounding trip across the Atlantic in the 1905 Kaiser's Cup race. She set the record for the fastest passage west to east at 12 days, 4 hours, 1 minute and 19 seconds.
This monohull record stood for almost 100 years until 1997. This is even more astounding when you consider she sailed in a regatta.
See, when you’re trying to set a record, you can wait for the perfect weather conditions and ride them across the ocean. This isn’t possible during a regatta where the start time is set well in advance and the weather will be what it is. The 1997 record was not in a regatta. So for almost a 100 years, weather and chance had not come together to beat the time set by a wooden boat made the same year the Wright brothers flew. The regatta record was bested in 2005.
11. Stardancer
This last one is a bonus but must be mentioned. Stardancer is my 30 ft Sparkman and Stephens S&S 30 built in the south of England. Launched in 1972, she is a fiberglass monohull with a modified fin keel, skeg hung rudder, and Bermudian rig. She is my pride and joy. When we got married, I warned Amy I was already married to some land, and a boat.
Stardancer is not currently afloat as she needs an extensive rebuild. We are working to get a trailer to bring her to the family farm where I can put in the several years needed to fix her. A short list of what is needed: new standing rigging, new chainplates, new keel bolts, rebuilt engine, rebuilt transmission, new hosing, freed up seacocks, mast repair, updated electronics… and the list goes on. This is just to get her sail worthy again, as the interior cabin has its own list… Amy is a saint.
I am working to get Stardancer where I can start training to sail around the world. Before Amy and I got together, this was the plan. One lovely wife, sparkling child, career and life later, this is now a retirement plan. ‘Round the world, that is – I am hoping to have her fixed up enough to sail in the next 10 years. (Did I mention Amy is a saint?)
Amy again - wow so many boats! I hope you enjoyed this peek into the nautical world. I’ll be back in your inbox next week - just a couple weeks left in the 500 Things Project. Thanks for being here!
Luke had the pleasure of going to Scandinavia in May of this year. He is infatuated with the countries but I don't remember him mentioning any boats. I did find it interesting and I wish you well on the restoration of your own boat.