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Balclutha (1886)
Encyclopedia
Balclutha, also known as Star of Alaska, Pacific Queen, or Sailing Ship BALCLUTHA, is a steel-hulled full rigged ship
Full rigged ship
A full rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing vessel with three or more masts, all of them square rigged. A full rigged ship is said to have a ship rig....
that was built in 1886. She is the only square rigged ship left in the San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
area and is representative of several different commercial ventures, including lumber, salmon, and grain. She is a U.S. National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
and is currently preserved at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
The San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park is located in San Francisco, California, USA. The park includes a fleet of historic vessels, a visitor center, a maritime museum, and a library/research facility...
in San Francisco, California.
History
The Balclutha was built in 1886 by Charles Connell & Co. Ltd.Charles Connell and Company
Charles Connell and Company was a British shipbuilding company based in Scotstoun in Glasgow on the River Clyde.-History:The Company was founded by Charles Connell who had served an apprenticeship with Robert Steele and Co before becoming manager of Alexander Stephen and Sons Kelvinhaugh yard...
, of Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, for Robert McMillan, of Dumbarton in Scotland. Her namesake is said to be the eponymous town of Balclutha, New Zealand
Balclutha, New Zealand
Balclutha is a town in Otago, it lies towards the end of the Clutha River on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is about halfway between Dunedin and Invercargill on the Main South Line railway, State Highway 1 and the Southern Scenic Route...
, but her name can also refer to her first homeport, Glasgow, Scotland, which is a "City on the Clyde" - the meaning of her name derived from the Gaelic Baile Chluaidh. Designed as a general trader, Balclutha rounded Cape Horn
Cape Horn
Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...
17 times in 13 years. During this period she carried cargoes such as wine, case oil, and coal from Europe and the East Coast of the United States
East Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
to various ports in the Pacific. These included Chile for nitrate, Australia and New Zealand for wool, Burma for rice, San Francisco for grain, and the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
for timber.
In 1899 the Balclutha transferred to the registry of Hawaii, and traded timber from the Pacific Northwest to Australia, returning to San Francisco with Australian coal.
In 1902 the Balclutha was chartered to the Alaska Packers' Association
Alaska Packers' Association
The Alaska Packers' Association was a San Francisco based manufacturer of Alaska canned salmon founded in 1891 and sold in 1982. As the largest salmon packer in Alaska, the member canneries of APA were active in local affairs, and had considerable political influence...
. After having struck Sitkin island near Kodiak on May 16, 1904, she was renamed the Star of Alaska when bought by APA for merely $500. After extended repairs she joined the salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
fishing trade, sailing north from the San Francisco area to the Chignik Bay, Alaska, in April with supplies, fishermen, and cannery workers, and returned in September with a cargo of canned salmon. For this trade she carried over 200 crew and passengers, as compared to the 26 man crew she carried as the Balclutha. In 1911 the poop deck was extended to the main mast to accommodate Italian and Scandinavian workers. In the 'tween deck bunks for Chinese workers were built in. Her last voyage in this trade was in 1930, when she then was laid up after her return home.
In 1933, the Star of Alaska was renamed the Pacific Queen by her new owner Frank Kissinger. In this guise she appeared in the film Mutiny on the Bounty
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935 film)
Mutiny on the Bounty is a 1935 film starring Charles Laughton and Clark Gable, and directed by Frank Lloyd based on the Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall novel Mutiny on the Bounty.The film was one of the biggest hits of its time...
starring Clark Gable
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...
and Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.-Early life and career:...
. She then eked out an existence as an exhibition ship, gradually deteriorating.
In 1954, the Pacific Queen was acquired by the San Francisco Maritime Museum, which restored her and renamed her back to Balclutha. In 1985 she was designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
.
She is now one of the exhibits of the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
The San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park is located in San Francisco, California, USA. The park includes a fleet of historic vessels, a visitor center, a maritime museum, and a library/research facility...
and is to be found moored at the park's Hyde Street Pier
Hyde Street Pier
The Hyde Street Pier is a historic ferry pier located on the northern waterfront of San Francisco, California, amidst the tourist zone of Fisherman's Wharf....
.
As well as being exhibited, she is host to a monthly sea shanty
Sea shanty
A shanty is a type of work song that was once commonly sung to accompany labor on board large merchant sailing vessels. Shanties became ubiquitous in the 19th century era of the wind-driven packet and clipper ships...
sing-around.
See also
Four other Clyde-built tall shipTall ship
A tall ship is a large, traditionally-rigged sailing vessel. Popular modern tall ship rigs include topsail schooners, brigantines, brigs and barques. "Tall Ship" can also be defined more specifically by an organization, such as for a race or festival....
s are still afloat:
- Falls of Clyde (Hawaii)
- GlenleeGlenlee (ship)Glenlee is a three-masted baldheaded steel-hulled barque, launched fully rigged and seaworthy on December 3, 1896. She is now a museum ship at the Riverside Museum on Pointhouse Quay, Glasgow, known as The Tall Ship at Glasgow Harbour....
(Glasgow) - MoshuluMoshuluMoshulu is a four-masted steel barque built by William Hamilton on the River Clyde in Scotland in 1904, and currently a floating restaurant docked in Penn's Landing, Philadelphia. -History:...
(Philadelphia) - PommernPommern (ship)The Pommern, formerly the Mneme , is a windjammer. She is a four-masted barque that was built in 1903 in Glasgow at the J. Reid & Co shipyard....
(Finland)
Sources
, retrieved 23:40 GMT 22 January 2005- Entry in Houghton Mifflin's Ships of the World (registration required), retrieved 23:50 GMT 22 January 2005