balclutha redux

They mark our passage as a race of men — Earth will not see such ships as those again. — John Masefield

The Grand Dame of the Bay is in sea general' (tinplate, for her once-a-decade makeover. We're talking about Balclutha, the 301-ft LOA centerpiece of the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, located at the foot of Hyde Street in the City. Queen of the seven-ship historic fleet, Balclutha is one of the last and largest full-riggers on display on the West Coast. (The only others are San Diego's Star of India and Honolulu's Falls of Clyde) — and one of the most interesting.

Launched in Glasgow in 1886, Balclutha (from baile clutha, gaelic for 'town on the Clyde', a reference to Dumbarton) made her maiden voyage the next year, carrying coal from Cardiff to San Francisco. She carried sacks of wheat grain for her trip back home. Although she visited other ports around the world, the coke and pig iron) and, of course, lots of Scotch whiskey.

In 1899, Balclutha was transferred to Hawaiian registry and joined the bustling Pacific Coast lumber trade. For three years, the ship carried lumber from the Pacific Northwest to Australia — 1.5 million board feet in all. Much of it ended up underground as mining timbers in the Broken Hill Mine, a mother lode in the Outback so rich in silver and lead ore that it's still producing today. Balclutha became the last vessel to fly the flag of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

In 1901, a special act of Congress admitted foreign-made ships into American registry. (Before that, only ships captured during wartime could become 'American'.) A few years later, Balclutha became part of the last great American sailing fleets, the Alaska Packers.

The Alaska Packers Association caught, canned and transported salmon. Although steam power had already taken over most trade routes at the turn of the 20th Century, the salmon business was seasonal and sail still made economic sense, especially since old sailing ships were cheap and available. How cheap? After Balclutha went aground in 1904, the Packers bought her for $500! They pulled her off, fixed her up and put her to work.

The Alaska Packers ships would sail north with men and supplies in April, anchor off one of the company's canneries with a skeleton crew for the summer, and return south in September with holds typically filled with 2.5 million cans of

YACHT AND SHIP BAY BALDERSTON/COURESY ERIC

A little off around the ears, please — 'Balclutha' in drydock prior to her bottom getting sandblasted and painted

Europe-to-San Francisco run figured prominently in her early years, with such varied cargos as pottery, cutlery, 'Swan-

BALCLUTHA AT A GLANCE

LOA 301 ft LOD 256.5 ft Beam 38.6 ft Depth 22.7 ft Displacement 4,100 tons Mainmast 145 ft Sails 25 Sail Area 25,000 ft2 Crew: 26 salmon. Here in the Bay, the fleet rafted up and wintered in the Alameda Estuary, where any needed work was done. The Packers named all their canneries after diamonds and all their ships after stars and countries. Balclutha, one of the first members of the 'star fleet', became Star of Alaska.

As the years went by, and the salmon business became more profitable, the Packers began replacing their sailing ships with steam powered ones. When Star of Alaska sailed north in the spring of 1930, she was the only sailing ship in attendance. She was retired upon her return to the Bay later that year. Of the 14 sailing ships in the Alaska

— HIP TO BE SQUARE

PARK HISTORICAL MARITIME FRANCISCO SAN

Above, 'Star of Alaska' ('Balclutha') under sail off the Golden Gate during her Alaska Packer days. Although it's unlikely she'll ever sail again, even under tug power (right), the sight of her underway last month still stirred the heart.

Packers fleet, only Balclutha and Star of India (ex-Euterpe) survive. If you scuba dive, you can still visit one more — the Star of Russia remains a popular wreck site off Vanuatu.

The next chapter in Balclutha's life saw her become a true 'star'. In 1933, an enterprising fellow named Frank Kissinger purchased Star of Alaska for $5,000, renamed her Pacific Queen and towed her down to Catalina Island. There the anchored ship appeared in some scenes from the Clark Gable-Charles Laughton version of Mutiny on the Bounty, which went on to win the Oscar for best picture in 1935. GOLDTHORPE For a time thereafter, Kissinger towed the ship up and down the West Coast, JACK C. either playing off the Bounty notoriety or exhibiting her as a 'pirate ship.' During this period, without proper care, the ship slowly deteriorated. She barely escaped World War II scrap metal drives.

In 1954, largely through an effort spearheaded by Director Karl Kortum, the San Francisco Maritime Museum purchased Pacific Queen for $25,000. Assisted by donations of cash, materials and labor from the local community, the Museum restored the vessel and returned her original name. Balclutha was transferred to the National Park Service in 1978, and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985.

Early last month, the 122-year-old ship took rare leave of her dock at Hyde Street Pier for the short, tug-assisted voyage to Bay Ship and Yacht in Alam-

eda. There she was 'hauled out' on a floating drydock for three weeks of maintenance and repairs, including extensive recaulking of leaky decks; rigging work; removal, sandblasting and repainting of her masts and yards; and a bottom job. The latter was preceded by ultrasonic testing of her riveted steel hull. All in all, "She is in amazing condition for a ship her age," said shipyard General Manager

Bill Elliott.

The $1 million shave and haircut (paid for by the San Francisco Maritime Historical Park) was expected to take about three weeks. By the time you read this, Balclutha will likely be back at her spot at Hyde Street Pier, ready to embark another cargo of visitors to the faraway ports of a time long gone.

ALL IN THE FAMILY

In the days of commercial sail, only the Master, whose wife sometimes accompanied him, had any opportunity for family life. On Balclutha's last voyage under the British flag, Captain Alfred Durkee’s wife, Alice, gave birth to a daughter. They named the little girl Inda Frances because she was born on the Indian Ocean while the ship was bound for San Francisco.