Wawona

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WAWONA (schooner)
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Wawona, 2007, needing major restoration
Location: Seattle, Washington
Coordinates: 47°37′37″N 122°20′10″W / 47.62694°N 122.33611°W / 47.62694; -122.33611Coordinates: 47°37′37″N 122°20′10″W / 47.62694°N 122.33611°W / 47.62694; -122.33611
Built/Founded: 1897
Architect: Hans Bendixsen
Architectural style(s): Other
Governing body: Private
Added to NRHP: July 1, 1970
NRHP Reference#: 70000643 [1]
File:Wawona 03.jpg
The Wawona, 2007

The three-masted, fore-and-aft schooner Wawona sailed from 1897 to 1947 as a lumber carrier and fishing vessel based in Puget Sound. The schooner was built in California's Humboldt Bay by Hans Ditlev Bendixsen , one of the most important West Coast shipbuilders of the late 19th century. From 1897 to 1913, she carried lumber from Grays Harbor and Puget Sound ports to California. One of her captains, Ralph E. "Matt" Peasley, inspired a series of popular novels.

Wawona was 165 feet long with a 35-foot beam. Her masts, before being cut down, were 110 feet tall.

She was berthed at South Lake Union Park in Seattle adjacent to the Center for Wooden Boats. She was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Washington State Heritage Register, and the vessel was an official city landmark.[2] However, after efforts to restore the decaying ship failed, she was dismantled in March 2009.

History

Fishing

From 1914 until 1947, except during World War II, Wawona sailed to the Bering Sea with a crew of 36 to fish for cod. In 1935, her captain, Charles Foss, died at the wheel during a storm in the Aleutian Islands.

Restoration and dismantling

In 1964, sixteen years after the vessel's retirement, a group of Seattle citizens formed Northwest Seaport and purchased Wawona as a museum ship. The schooner was made available for public visits during her ongoing restoration.[3]

In 2006 her masts were removed for safety reasons.[citation needed]

In early 2009, it was announced that Wawona would be towed to a dry dock to be dismantled on March 2. That move, however, has been postponed for up to a month because there's no room at the drydock. (KOMO 1000 News Radio, Seattle) Some of the vessel's features will be preserved as museum pieces.[4]

Wawona was hauled to the Puget Sound Shipyard on March 4th, 2009, and has since been dismantled.

See also

Notes

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-01-23. http://www.nr.nps.gov/. 
  2. Landmarks Alphabetical Listing for S, Individual Landmarks, City of Seattle. Accessed 28 December 2007.
  3. "Historic Naval Ships Association profile of Wawona". http://www.hnsa.org/ships/wawona.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-25. 
  4. ""Last voyage near for Wawona"". The Seattle Times. 2009-02-25. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008783573_webwawona25m.html. Retrieved 2009-02-25. 

External links

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