Ship Modelers Can Recreate History

Plans for One of Two Remaining Lumber Schooners

Wooden Schooners Once Numbered in the Scores

See photographs on our Historic Lumber Schooner Wawona photo gallery.

From the scores of wooden three-masted schooners built in the 19th and early 20th centuries for service in the West Coast lumber trade, when these plans were drawn in 1986, Wawona was one of only two known to be preserved. She was dismantled in 2009. She and the single surviving lumber schooner, C.A. Thayer (National Maritime Museum, San Francisco), were built by Hans D. Bendixsen, who was well known in his time for the superior construction of his vessels.

Wawona was designed for the Dolbeer & Carson Lumber Company of Eureka, California to transport more than 500,000 board feet of lumber per voyage from from the Pacific Northwest to ports further south on the coast. Like most ships in her day, Wawona’s hull was lofted from a carved wooden half model rather than a detailed set of engineering drawings. She cost $29,075 to build, and was launched September 27, 1897.

Her official dimensions at launch were:
Length: 156.0 feet
Beam: 36.0 feet
Depth: 12.3 feet
Gross Tonnage: 468.42
Net Tonnage: 413.94

Wawona was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.

Like most vessels of her type, Wawona was designed with a large, unpartitioned hold. Ports in her stern permitted lumber to be loaded and unloaded quickly from below. Built with an exceptionally strong deck, more than half her load could be carried on deck. Her schooner rig was designed to be handled by a small crew (six to ten men) without interference from large cargoes on deck.

Where East Coast ships of the time were built primarily of oak, Wawona was reportedly built of Douglas fir, a species more plentiful than oak on the West Coast. In a 1986 survey, she still retained much of her original material: her bottom hull planking appeared to be original, and parts like the clamps – single pieces of timber about 145 feet long – were almost certainly original, since shipbuilding timbers of such length became rare and expensive early in the 20th century.

Upon the death of the owners of Dolbeer & Carson lumber company, Wawona was put up for sale. She was sold in January 1914 to Robinson Fisheries of Anacortes, Washington for $8,000. Robinson Fisheries converted Wawona for codfishing, adding New England fishing dories, three-tiered bunks below {to accomodate a much larger crew), and fresh water tanks, among other things.

During World War II, Wawona was conscripted by the U.S. Army for use as a lumber barge. When hostilities ceased, she was remasted and rigged, and returned to the fishing trade. Her final commercial voyage was in 1947. Though still in sound condition, the demand for codfish had not returned to its pre-war level, and trained crews and fishermen had become harder to find. With stiff competition from more efficient, powered modern vessels, the decision was made to take her out of service.

Wawona was laid up in Puget Sound harbor until 1953, when Montana cattle rancher, William P. Studdert, purchased her to transport cattle to the Soviet Union. While nothing ever came of this plan, Studdert held on to Wawona, anyway. In 1964, a group called “Save Our Ships,” forerunner to Northwest Seaport, Inc., purchased Wawona. She has served as a musuem exhibit ever since.

A very thorough, illustrated history titled “Pacific Schooner Wawona,” by Harriet Tracy DeLong was published in 1985 by Documentary Book Publishers Corporation of Bellevue, Washington.

The lines plans provided here were created in 1985 as part of a $2 million restoration project. They were recorded by the Historical American Engineering Record, a project of the National Park Service. The plans were delineated by Richard K. Anderson, Jr.