Pinnace > Schooner
This article can only be a brief introductory cruise to sailing ships that plied the world's oceans from 17th to early 20th centuries as seen primarily - although not exclusively - from American shores. Examples mentioned here are personal favorites believed to have some importance to the history of wooden ship building in America.
17th Century Pinnace -
The earliest ship of any size built in America was the pinnace Virginia, whose presence in southern Maine in the first decade of the 17th century is documented at Fort St. George and the Popham Colony. The pinnace Virginia predates the earliest American schooners by more than a century. Fort St. George was on the southern Maine coast, near what would become the boundary with New Hampshire. There is a very small sketch of the Virginia on a map of Fort St. George made in 1607. After this date, the Virginia made two voyages that brought settlers to the Jamestown colony in Virginia. There is an important project underway to build a working, historically accurate replica of the Virginia.
Tall Ships -
Tall ships are immediately compelling and dramatic. Under full sail, these largest of sailing vessels are beautiful and embody power with grace as they evoke the great age of sail. Large sailing ships dominated the seas as they carried commerce up and down rivers and coastlines, and across the world's oceans into the 20th century.
The American Schooner -
The name 'schooner' may derive from an obscure verb "to scoon', which means to skim across the water. Surviving correspondence establishes that Captain Andrew (or ? Tyler) Robinson of Gloucester Massachusetts designed and built this first American schooner in 1713-14. Although not radically different from other sailing ships of the time, the schooner rig handled well in coastal waters and the number of crewmen necessary to sail the ship had been reduced. Efficiency had thereby increased and the cost of doing business had decreased. A schooner must have at least two masts, and in the basic rig, the smaller sail is on the foremast while the larger mast is gaff rigged. The topsail schooner, which has a square rigged sail on the forward mast, has been immortalized in more than one sea chantey. Rigging became more complicated as vessel size and number of masts increased. Schooners quickly became very popular in the United States, England, France, Russia, Denmark, Sweden and Germany.
Schooners were originally small ships with two masts and weighing 50 to 100 tons. Three masted schooners began to make their appearance in the 19th century and by the 1890s, four and five masted schooners of considerable size were built worldwide. Medium size and large schooners made the journey from America's coastal ports to the West Indies and back. They also crossed the Atlantic and sailed to Hawaii. By the 1890s inland in North America , over 2,000 schooners carried the maritime commerce of the Great Lakes. Schooners were fast and cost efficient, crews were half that needed for a square rigged ship.
17th Century Pinnace -
The earliest ship of any size built in America was the pinnace Virginia, whose presence in southern Maine in the first decade of the 17th century is documented at Fort St. George and the Popham Colony. The pinnace Virginia predates the earliest American schooners by more than a century. Fort St. George was on the southern Maine coast, near what would become the boundary with New Hampshire. There is a very small sketch of the Virginia on a map of Fort St. George made in 1607. After this date, the Virginia made two voyages that brought settlers to the Jamestown colony in Virginia. There is an important project underway to build a working, historically accurate replica of the Virginia.
Tall Ships -
Tall ships are immediately compelling and dramatic. Under full sail, these largest of sailing vessels are beautiful and embody power with grace as they evoke the great age of sail. Large sailing ships dominated the seas as they carried commerce up and down rivers and coastlines, and across the world's oceans into the 20th century.
The American Schooner -
The name 'schooner' may derive from an obscure verb "to scoon', which means to skim across the water. Surviving correspondence establishes that Captain Andrew (or ? Tyler) Robinson of Gloucester Massachusetts designed and built this first American schooner in 1713-14. Although not radically different from other sailing ships of the time, the schooner rig handled well in coastal waters and the number of crewmen necessary to sail the ship had been reduced. Efficiency had thereby increased and the cost of doing business had decreased. A schooner must have at least two masts, and in the basic rig, the smaller sail is on the foremast while the larger mast is gaff rigged. The topsail schooner, which has a square rigged sail on the forward mast, has been immortalized in more than one sea chantey. Rigging became more complicated as vessel size and number of masts increased. Schooners quickly became very popular in the United States, England, France, Russia, Denmark, Sweden and Germany.
Schooners were originally small ships with two masts and weighing 50 to 100 tons. Three masted schooners began to make their appearance in the 19th century and by the 1890s, four and five masted schooners of considerable size were built worldwide. Medium size and large schooners made the journey from America's coastal ports to the West Indies and back. They also crossed the Atlantic and sailed to Hawaii. By the 1890s inland in North America , over 2,000 schooners carried the maritime commerce of the Great Lakes. Schooners were fast and cost efficient, crews were half that needed for a square rigged ship.
Schooner Shipyards in New England / Square Rigged Ships
Schooner Shipyards in New England -
After the Civil War, American investors put their money into cities and railroads with less interest in the new steel hulled, steam ships. The first five-masted schooner in the United States was the David Dows, built in 1881 at Toledo, Ohio. The first five masted schooner was launched on the American east coast in 1888 when the Governor Ames at 1778 tons slid down the shipways and into the waters of the Medomac River at Waldoboro, Maine. The first five masted schooner to be built on the American west coast was the Inca, constructed in the shipyard at Port Blakely, Washington in 1896. The last five masted schooner on record was the concrete hulled Perseveranza built in 1922 at Lavagna, Italy.
Essex county in Massachusetts was a premier locality for the building of fishing schooners for those who worked the waters of coastal New England and the North Atlantic Grand Banks. Essex provides a portrait of the wooden ship building industry that served a large and successful coastal maritime industry but did not require the largest ships. By the 1850s, over 50 vessels a year were being built and launched from 15 shipyards. During the most productive years, 1849-1853, Essex County launched 256 fishing schooners. Essex completely dominated the building of two masted, fishing schooners on the United States east coast, most of which worked with the Gloucester (Massachusetts) fishing fleet. Shipbuilding 'gangs' partitioned themselves according to specialty and their members often came from the same family. Until the 1860s, almost everything needed to build and outfit a schooner was made in the small industry shops of Essex County. Until 1847, the workday was dawn to dusk, seven days each week. By 1895, that had been reduced to nine hours each day, six days each week. Seven of Essex's schooners from this era survive and the Roseway launched in 1925, is now a tourist ship with new home port in Rockland, Maine.
Waldoboro Maine was a small town on mid-coast Maine situated on the Medomac River and home to several major schooner shipyards. Shipbuilding at Waldoboro and the Penobscot Bay region typify that of the New England ship building industry for large vessels, three to six masted schooners, barques, barquentines and other rigs. Shipyards on the banks of the Medomac River were prominent by the 1790s. By the end of the New England, wooden ship building era in the first years of the 20th century, Waldoboro yards had built 600 ships. Other important Maine shipbuilding ports were to be found on rivers and estuaries both south and north of the Medomac River. Waldoboro and Penobscot Bay history typify that of many coastal New England ports where shipyards could draw upon a host of local talent to build strong, seaworthy schooners in record time.
Full Rigged Ships -
The term 'full rigged ship' refers to a sailing vessel of considerable size, with three or more masts that are all square rigged. Barques became extremely popular with several variations on the basic rig. Four masted, steel barques were the most prevalent cargo carriers in the early 20th century and gave rise to the term 'full rigged ships'. Rigs that mix square rigged with fore and aft sails such as the barquentine, hermaphrodite brig and jackass-barque are difficult to classify and technically are not 'full rigged ships. The barquentine is a three masted ship with the fore mast square rigged, the other two masts fore and aft rigged.
Brigs -
The brig is a smaller two masted ship, each mast is square rigged with a gaff sail on the main mast. The brigantine is also a two masted vessel with her fore mast square rigged and the main mast rigged with fore and aft gaff sails and a square topsail. A hermaphrodite brig is a two-masted ship with foremast fully square rigged and the mainmast fore-and-aft rigged. To complicate the classification scheme, in Scandinavia brigs are sometimes considered a type of schooner.
Barques -
A barque carries three masts, all but the last are square rigged. The stern-most mast is fore and aft rigged. Barques became extremely popular with several variations on the basic rig. Rigs that mix square rigged and with those outfitted otherwise such as barquentine, hermaphrodite brig and jackass-barque are difficult to classify and technically are not 'full rigged ships. Barquentines were favored in the Baltic and North Sea as well as the deep water Atlantic trade. The largest barquentines were six masted and built in America. Three masted wooden barques dominated deep water maritime cargo commerce by the middle of the 19th century.
Whaling ships were often small three masted barques as typified by the sole surviving, wooden hulled American whaler the 'Charles W. Morgan' whose long career began in the famous New England whaling port of New Bedford, Massachusetts. She was 105' long, with a beam of 27.7' a draft of 12.6' without cargo and weight displacement of just under 314 tons. 'Charles W. Morgan' cost about $53,000 to build and she carried 3,000 barrels of whale oil, each holding 32.5 gallons, when fully loaded. Her long career ended in 1921 by which time the 'Charles W.Morgan' had earned over one million dollars.
Perhaps the most famous American whaling ship was the Nantucket whaler Essex whose captain was only 28 years old on her fateful voyage. Small for a whaler at 87' long and 238 tons, the 'Essex' was ~2,000 miles west of South America when struck and pushed several times by a huge sperm whale on November 20, 1820. The Essex sank, but not before food and other essential items could be rescued. Only 8 of the 21 crewmen survived the weeks that followed until rescued, either in small boats on the open ocean or on tiny isolated Henderson Island, a member of the Pitcairn Island Group, where three crew members chose to remain. This incredible experience included cannibalism in the small boats by the crew of the Essex. Herman Melville retold the first part of the Essex tragedy in 'Moby Dick' using First Mate Owen Chase's published narrative. In subsequent decades, several other whaling ships were attacked and sunk by large, angry whales that were likely sperm whales.
The most famous sailing ship ever built for maritime commerce is assuredly the Cutty Sark, an English extreme clipper ship that plied the Pacific for the tea trade with China. Cutty Sark is one of only three surviving ships that has a composite wrought iron frame covered by wooden planking. The hull is coated in Munz metal. She was the fastest ship of her size and could maintain a consistent speed of 27+km/hr. Cutty Sark survived to the present day, and was open to the public at Greenwich (southeast London) until a fire on May 7, 2007 caused major damage. Repair and restoration work that is leading towards a 21st century presentation continues as the large budget necessitates continual funding.
The End of an Era -
America and Canada extended the wooden schooner era with the building of ever larger ships that were primarily coal freighters. Eleven, six masted schooners were built in the United States, nine in Maine and seven of these at the Percy & Small yard at Bath. These largest schooners has good speed, but unavoidable design flaws resulted in water leakage and hogging - there was a slight bow amidships. The quantity of wood and iron needed to build such giant schooners was staggering: 1,100,000 feet of yellow pine, 350,000 feet of oak, 75,000 feet of white pine and spruce, and 200 tons of iron. However, final costs to build a six masted schooner could be under $180,000, only 8 to 15 crewmen were needed and coal could be hauled for $2/ton, a P&L ratio that guaranteed a good profit to owners and investors. Most coal schooner routes were from Hampton Roads Virginia, or Delaware Bay, to ports in the Gulf of Maine. The largest barques were five masted and the last of these was built in France in 1890. Use of schooners in the coastal trade of the United States and Canada continued until World War I.
After the Civil War, American investors put their money into cities and railroads with less interest in the new steel hulled, steam ships. The first five-masted schooner in the United States was the David Dows, built in 1881 at Toledo, Ohio. The first five masted schooner was launched on the American east coast in 1888 when the Governor Ames at 1778 tons slid down the shipways and into the waters of the Medomac River at Waldoboro, Maine. The first five masted schooner to be built on the American west coast was the Inca, constructed in the shipyard at Port Blakely, Washington in 1896. The last five masted schooner on record was the concrete hulled Perseveranza built in 1922 at Lavagna, Italy.
Essex county in Massachusetts was a premier locality for the building of fishing schooners for those who worked the waters of coastal New England and the North Atlantic Grand Banks. Essex provides a portrait of the wooden ship building industry that served a large and successful coastal maritime industry but did not require the largest ships. By the 1850s, over 50 vessels a year were being built and launched from 15 shipyards. During the most productive years, 1849-1853, Essex County launched 256 fishing schooners. Essex completely dominated the building of two masted, fishing schooners on the United States east coast, most of which worked with the Gloucester (Massachusetts) fishing fleet. Shipbuilding 'gangs' partitioned themselves according to specialty and their members often came from the same family. Until the 1860s, almost everything needed to build and outfit a schooner was made in the small industry shops of Essex County. Until 1847, the workday was dawn to dusk, seven days each week. By 1895, that had been reduced to nine hours each day, six days each week. Seven of Essex's schooners from this era survive and the Roseway launched in 1925, is now a tourist ship with new home port in Rockland, Maine.
Waldoboro Maine was a small town on mid-coast Maine situated on the Medomac River and home to several major schooner shipyards. Shipbuilding at Waldoboro and the Penobscot Bay region typify that of the New England ship building industry for large vessels, three to six masted schooners, barques, barquentines and other rigs. Shipyards on the banks of the Medomac River were prominent by the 1790s. By the end of the New England, wooden ship building era in the first years of the 20th century, Waldoboro yards had built 600 ships. Other important Maine shipbuilding ports were to be found on rivers and estuaries both south and north of the Medomac River. Waldoboro and Penobscot Bay history typify that of many coastal New England ports where shipyards could draw upon a host of local talent to build strong, seaworthy schooners in record time.
Full Rigged Ships -
The term 'full rigged ship' refers to a sailing vessel of considerable size, with three or more masts that are all square rigged. Barques became extremely popular with several variations on the basic rig. Four masted, steel barques were the most prevalent cargo carriers in the early 20th century and gave rise to the term 'full rigged ships'. Rigs that mix square rigged with fore and aft sails such as the barquentine, hermaphrodite brig and jackass-barque are difficult to classify and technically are not 'full rigged ships. The barquentine is a three masted ship with the fore mast square rigged, the other two masts fore and aft rigged.
Brigs -
The brig is a smaller two masted ship, each mast is square rigged with a gaff sail on the main mast. The brigantine is also a two masted vessel with her fore mast square rigged and the main mast rigged with fore and aft gaff sails and a square topsail. A hermaphrodite brig is a two-masted ship with foremast fully square rigged and the mainmast fore-and-aft rigged. To complicate the classification scheme, in Scandinavia brigs are sometimes considered a type of schooner.
Barques -
A barque carries three masts, all but the last are square rigged. The stern-most mast is fore and aft rigged. Barques became extremely popular with several variations on the basic rig. Rigs that mix square rigged and with those outfitted otherwise such as barquentine, hermaphrodite brig and jackass-barque are difficult to classify and technically are not 'full rigged ships. Barquentines were favored in the Baltic and North Sea as well as the deep water Atlantic trade. The largest barquentines were six masted and built in America. Three masted wooden barques dominated deep water maritime cargo commerce by the middle of the 19th century.
Whaling ships were often small three masted barques as typified by the sole surviving, wooden hulled American whaler the 'Charles W. Morgan' whose long career began in the famous New England whaling port of New Bedford, Massachusetts. She was 105' long, with a beam of 27.7' a draft of 12.6' without cargo and weight displacement of just under 314 tons. 'Charles W. Morgan' cost about $53,000 to build and she carried 3,000 barrels of whale oil, each holding 32.5 gallons, when fully loaded. Her long career ended in 1921 by which time the 'Charles W.Morgan' had earned over one million dollars.
Perhaps the most famous American whaling ship was the Nantucket whaler Essex whose captain was only 28 years old on her fateful voyage. Small for a whaler at 87' long and 238 tons, the 'Essex' was ~2,000 miles west of South America when struck and pushed several times by a huge sperm whale on November 20, 1820. The Essex sank, but not before food and other essential items could be rescued. Only 8 of the 21 crewmen survived the weeks that followed until rescued, either in small boats on the open ocean or on tiny isolated Henderson Island, a member of the Pitcairn Island Group, where three crew members chose to remain. This incredible experience included cannibalism in the small boats by the crew of the Essex. Herman Melville retold the first part of the Essex tragedy in 'Moby Dick' using First Mate Owen Chase's published narrative. In subsequent decades, several other whaling ships were attacked and sunk by large, angry whales that were likely sperm whales.
The most famous sailing ship ever built for maritime commerce is assuredly the Cutty Sark, an English extreme clipper ship that plied the Pacific for the tea trade with China. Cutty Sark is one of only three surviving ships that has a composite wrought iron frame covered by wooden planking. The hull is coated in Munz metal. She was the fastest ship of her size and could maintain a consistent speed of 27+km/hr. Cutty Sark survived to the present day, and was open to the public at Greenwich (southeast London) until a fire on May 7, 2007 caused major damage. Repair and restoration work that is leading towards a 21st century presentation continues as the large budget necessitates continual funding.
The End of an Era -
America and Canada extended the wooden schooner era with the building of ever larger ships that were primarily coal freighters. Eleven, six masted schooners were built in the United States, nine in Maine and seven of these at the Percy & Small yard at Bath. These largest schooners has good speed, but unavoidable design flaws resulted in water leakage and hogging - there was a slight bow amidships. The quantity of wood and iron needed to build such giant schooners was staggering: 1,100,000 feet of yellow pine, 350,000 feet of oak, 75,000 feet of white pine and spruce, and 200 tons of iron. However, final costs to build a six masted schooner could be under $180,000, only 8 to 15 crewmen were needed and coal could be hauled for $2/ton, a P&L ratio that guaranteed a good profit to owners and investors. Most coal schooner routes were from Hampton Roads Virginia, or Delaware Bay, to ports in the Gulf of Maine. The largest barques were five masted and the last of these was built in France in 1890. Use of schooners in the coastal trade of the United States and Canada continued until World War I.
Schooner Shipbuilding in Maine and the Golden Age of Sail
A few good links to get you started
- Rigging A to Z
- A Maritime Museum of the Atlantic web page illustrating and describing the different types of sailing vessel rigs in the Golden Age of Sail.
- Sailing Ship Rigging Ship Terminology
- Index of articles and nautical terms: Backstay, Barque, Barquentine, Boom (for gaff sails), Brace, Brigantine, Bunt-leechline, Buntline, Clew (of a gaff sail), Clew (of a square sail), Clew (of a staysail), Clew garnet, Clewline, Cloud disturber, Course, Crossjack
- History of Wooden Shipbuilding on the Maine coast at Penobscot Bay
- If you visit just one site about the Schooner shipyards of Maine, this is it... a must read.
- Joseph Clark, Waldoboro shipbuilder
- Waldoboro Maine in terms of annual tonnage launched, was one of the nation's premier shipbuilding localities. Shipyards lined the Medomac River for at least two miles.
- Maine's schooners, large and small - 1
- First of an excellent two part article about building schooners in Maine.
- Maine's schooners, large and small - 2
- Second of an excellent two part article about building schooners in Maine.
- Listing of Tall Ships available for visits and tours
- A fine Squidoo Lens about today's tall ships.
- Profiles of several important English ships from the great age of sail.
- An excellent Squidoo Lens from a professional author and expert on historic ships.
- Tracking tall ships
- Today's tall ships are either replicas or restorations. The journey of several can be followed daily at this web site.
- Tall Ships of Yesteryear - Archival Photographs and Prints
- Archival photographs of maritime history are compelling images and contain invaluable historical data. Visit galleries of vintage photos and prints about classic schooners, full rigged ships, 19th century seaports and ship of the line. Links on this page invite you to explore maritime history in depth. These links include excellent research articles, dramatic videos of early 20th tall ships (coming soon) and the Lord Nelson's Victory in the Battle of Trafalgar.
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Reader Feedback
Lensmaster
k wrote
what was it ment to be? It was a lot of blaber to me!
Posted May 27, 2009
Lensmaster
darrell wrote
stop whaling
Posted April 05, 2009
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by merlynne6
historian of ancient/medieval times and mythologies, early railroads, and tall ships; archivist; digital artist; teacher of environmental education to...
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