When my wife and I took a trip down to California for my Uncles 99th birthday, these two ships, The Lady Washington, and the Lynx were in Eureka harbor and I got some of pictures of them. The first picture is of the Brig Lady Washington.
She is 112 feet long counting the spar, or 68 feet long on the deck, 56 feet at the waterline. She is 22 feet wide at the beam. Her main mast is 90 feet and she displaces 178 long tons and carries 65 tons of lead and concrete ballast. She has a Detroit Diesel 318 HP motor which makes her a little independent of the wind and tide, and she can make 7.5 knots under diesel power. With a fair wind she makes 9 knots under sail. Her running rigging totals four miles with 141 separate lines. She carries two miles of standing rigging and 11 sails. Of those sails, 6 are square and 5 are fore and aft with a total of 4,443 square feet of canvass. She is armed with 2 three pounders and 2 swivel guns. Launched in March 1989 she is a copy of a Brig whose keel was laid around 1750 and was the first Yankee trader to the Pacific Northwest -- I forget the date, but it was before 1800. 1780's kind of sticks in my mind.
The second photo is a copy of the Baltimore Clipper Schooner Lynx from the war of 1812.
She is 2 masted with heavily raked spars and fore and aft sails except for the top sail being square rigged. These sharp built vessels were renowned for their speed, which made them ideal as privateers and naval dispatch schooners. She is armed with 4 six pound carronades and 4 half pound swivel guns. The Lynx and other sharp built tops'l schooners like her were issued "letters of margue" by the government. This in effect made them legal pirates, because the government got it's cut of the booty, and these guys went to raiding the British merchant fleet. Commerce raiders of their day like what the U boats did to us and what our subs did to Japan in WWII. It was a bad time for British shipping, because these guys wouldn't stand and fight the war ships, they out ran them. They could run the blockade going and coming. This got the red coats so mad they decided to destroy the ship yard at Fell's Point, Maryland. But to get there they had to pass Ft. McHenry, and we all know that's when Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner and the yankees carried the day once again, or perhaps I should say for a change. The British merchant ships were insured by Lloyds of London. There was a bell in front of their building in London that would be tolled if or when one of their insured ships was lost. By wars end, that bell was being rung every day. So between Napoleon (he wasn't our ally, but he was keeping the Brit's really busy) and fast little ships like these, we won the war. The war was over when Andy Jackson whooped the red coats at New Orleans, but that was kind of like icing on the cake. Anyhow, I'd love to be able to sail on one of these, in fact when I was younger I'd be standing in line to get a job sailing before the mast. But alas, I'm an old coot and can only dream now. The Lady Washington is 56 feet at the waterline. The landing craft I drove in the navy (LCM -- Mike 4 USS merrick, AKA 97) was 55 feet long. And oh yes, the Lady Washington was used in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. It played the part of two ships. One side was painted as a british war ship, and the other side was the merchant or pirate ship. The Lynx was flying two flags, the don't tread on me snake, and a 15 star American flag.
And one final photo of both ships tied up at the dock.
I have pictures of their cannon, and if you want to see them, go to the cannon section. You can only post 5 photos at one time.
She is 112 feet long counting the spar, or 68 feet long on the deck, 56 feet at the waterline. She is 22 feet wide at the beam. Her main mast is 90 feet and she displaces 178 long tons and carries 65 tons of lead and concrete ballast. She has a Detroit Diesel 318 HP motor which makes her a little independent of the wind and tide, and she can make 7.5 knots under diesel power. With a fair wind she makes 9 knots under sail. Her running rigging totals four miles with 141 separate lines. She carries two miles of standing rigging and 11 sails. Of those sails, 6 are square and 5 are fore and aft with a total of 4,443 square feet of canvass. She is armed with 2 three pounders and 2 swivel guns. Launched in March 1989 she is a copy of a Brig whose keel was laid around 1750 and was the first Yankee trader to the Pacific Northwest -- I forget the date, but it was before 1800. 1780's kind of sticks in my mind.
The second photo is a copy of the Baltimore Clipper Schooner Lynx from the war of 1812.
She is 2 masted with heavily raked spars and fore and aft sails except for the top sail being square rigged. These sharp built vessels were renowned for their speed, which made them ideal as privateers and naval dispatch schooners. She is armed with 4 six pound carronades and 4 half pound swivel guns. The Lynx and other sharp built tops'l schooners like her were issued "letters of margue" by the government. This in effect made them legal pirates, because the government got it's cut of the booty, and these guys went to raiding the British merchant fleet. Commerce raiders of their day like what the U boats did to us and what our subs did to Japan in WWII. It was a bad time for British shipping, because these guys wouldn't stand and fight the war ships, they out ran them. They could run the blockade going and coming. This got the red coats so mad they decided to destroy the ship yard at Fell's Point, Maryland. But to get there they had to pass Ft. McHenry, and we all know that's when Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner and the yankees carried the day once again, or perhaps I should say for a change. The British merchant ships were insured by Lloyds of London. There was a bell in front of their building in London that would be tolled if or when one of their insured ships was lost. By wars end, that bell was being rung every day. So between Napoleon (he wasn't our ally, but he was keeping the Brit's really busy) and fast little ships like these, we won the war. The war was over when Andy Jackson whooped the red coats at New Orleans, but that was kind of like icing on the cake. Anyhow, I'd love to be able to sail on one of these, in fact when I was younger I'd be standing in line to get a job sailing before the mast. But alas, I'm an old coot and can only dream now. The Lady Washington is 56 feet at the waterline. The landing craft I drove in the navy (LCM -- Mike 4 USS merrick, AKA 97) was 55 feet long. And oh yes, the Lady Washington was used in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. It played the part of two ships. One side was painted as a british war ship, and the other side was the merchant or pirate ship. The Lynx was flying two flags, the don't tread on me snake, and a 15 star American flag.
And one final photo of both ships tied up at the dock.
I have pictures of their cannon, and if you want to see them, go to the cannon section. You can only post 5 photos at one time.
