 |
Web Hosting by Netfirms | Free Domain Names by Netfirms |
|
|
|
Click on image to download a 20k detail
A giant among giants the steel-hulled Thomas W. Lawson was the largest schooner ever built. The schooner also had the distinction of being the only seven-master built. Designed by B.B. Croninshield, a naval architect better known for his racing yachts, the Lawson was built by the Fore River Shipbuilding Co. of Quincy, Mass. in 1902 at a cost of $240,000. The schooner was named after Boston millionaire stockbroker and yachtsman Thomas W. Lawson.
By all accounts the Thomas W. Lawson was a bad sailer and certainly no yacht. In fact the schooner was such a terrible sailer that someone once commented that the ship handled "like a beached whale." The schooner carried the remarkable quantity of 43,000 sq.ft. of sail or one acre of sail - more than enough material to make 2,300 dining room tablecloths... Yet even this vast press of canvas was insufficient for driving the ship's bulky hull through the water and ship was at best a slow sailer. To handle this large quantity of canvas the Lawson had a crew of only 16, aided by a steam donkey engine that drove the hoisting winches and assisted with the steering.
Painting of the Lawson courtesy Richard W. Will, he asks anyone interested in puchasing this painting to drop him a line.
Photo from Picture Australia
Designed as a coal ship for moving cargoes of coal along the East Coast, the Lawson could deliver 11,000 tons of coal a trip. The schooner however proved so unhandy that it was soon refitted for use as an oil tanker to haul oil from Texas to the Eastern Seaboard. Chartered as an oil tanker to the Anglo-American Oil Co. in 1907, the Thomas W. Lawson was lost on December 13th the same year, off Britain's Scilly Isles. While riding out a gale, the anchor chain broke and the schooner foundered on Hellweather Reef with the loss of 15 of the crew.
Today the ship lies on the bottom at 49º53'65" N. 6º23'13" W. It lies west of Shag Rock, broken in two pieces at a depth of 56 feet (17 meters) and is a popular site for divers although windless conditions are required for diving to the wreck.
This model shows the schooner in ballast which emphasizes the tremendous bulk of the hull. Both ships were built for a gentleman whose grandfather was one of her Captains. One ship was built with the Lawson's original white hull (left); the other (above) with the later black hull.
Model ship photos & text © D.S. Smith 2003
Previous Sailing Ship Next Sailing Ship
Return to Scale Reproductions Home Index