 |
Web Hosting by Netfirms | Free Domain Names by Netfirms |
|
|
|
Click on image to download a 30k detail
The four-master James Tuft is one example of the myriad of lumber carriers built for the West Coast timber trade. The ship was built by Hall Brothers of Port Blakely, Washington in 1901 at a cost of $74,000. The barquentine was constructed for a consortium of West Coast interests and named after one of the principle shareholders in the consortium.
Designed as a lumber carrier, the James Tuft's framing was particularly massive in order to support the enormous deckloads the ship carried - deckloads that could be tower more than 5 feet high (almost 2 meters) above the deck and stretch level from forecastle to poop. To support this massive weight of timber, the deck beams were sized 16" x 18" (41cm x 46cm) in cross section. The holds were loaded by sliding the planks and deals through special timber ports in the bows and packing the interior tight with lumber. Loads of lumber, such as the Tuft carried, could take the crew, toiling twelve hour days, and working entirely by hand, up to two weeks to unload. This photo, from the Seattle Museum of History and Industry shows the crew bending the foresail on the 82 ft (25m) main yard of the James Tuft in 1905.
In the 1930s theJames Tuft was retired from the sea. Escaping the ship-breakers, the barque was refitted as the gambling barge Casino and tied up at Long Beach, California where it was lost by fire on August 22, 1935.
Photo from Picture Australia
Previous Sailing Ship Next Sailing Ship
Go to Gallery Indexes: The Navy Page * In A Light Bulb * The Yachtsman's Page * Sailing Ships * Motor Ships
Return to Scale Reproductions Home Index