C. A. Thayer

C.A. Thayer: The Last Pacific Lumber Schooner

C.A. Thayer was built in 1895 as a lumber schooner by Hans D. Bendixsen (1842-1902) in his shipyard near Humboldt Bay, California. Made for the San Francisco-based E.K. Wood Lumber Company, the ship was named for Clarence A. Thayer, an accountant and partner in the firm.

From 1895 to 1912, C.A. Thayer carried lumber between Grays Harbor, Washington and San Francisco. The ship also journeyed as far south as Mexico and across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii and Fiji.

The ship then served as a salmon trader, a cod fishing vessel, an ammunition barge, and a roadside attraction before becoming a museum ship at what is now San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. Hundreds of ships like C.A. Thayer used to sail the Pacific Coast of the United States, but now it is the only one of its kind left.

C.A. Thayer Quick Facts

• Full Length: 219 feet

• Deck Length: 156 feet

• Depth of Hold: 11.38 feet

• Gross Tonnage: 453

• Height of Mainmast: 105 feet

Lumber Schooner (1895-1912)

C.A. Thayer was built for carrying up to 575,000 board feet of lumber along the Pacific Coast. The ship’s design addressed challenges unique to the coastal lumber trade.

Lumber Ports for Dog Holes

As efficiently run as it was designed, C. A. Thayer only needed a crew of four able-bodied seamen, two mates, a cook, and the captain. Lumber schooners were ideal to serve on at the time. Short coastal journeys meant more time in port with families. They also allowed for fresher food to be carried and eaten aboard, earning lumber schooners the nickname “feeders.” Crew members, who also loaded and unloaded cargo, could expect more pay, up to $30 a month. Lumber schooner crews often worked together for many journeys, unlike deepwater crews.

C.A. Thayer’s lumber career came to an end in January 1912, when the ship took on water 20 miles offshore from the Humboldt sandbar. A leak in its hull had overwhelmed the crew, who were only equipped with hand pumps. However, a wooden ship full of lumber is difficult to completely sink, and C.A. Thayer was later towed to safety by the steamer J.B. Stetson. All nine individuals aboard, including Captain Fred Scott and his wife, were unharmed.

Despite being damaged—and laid up in Oakland with a $9,000 salvage claim—C.A. Thayer sailed again.

Salt and Salmon (1912-1924)

When C.A. Thayer was built in 1895, new steam schooners like Wapama were already delivering lumber up and down the Pacific Coast. Much more powerful and efficient, these vessels gradually took over the trade. By 1912, most sail-powered lumber schooners had been abandoned in mudflats, burned on beaches to recover the metal fastenings in the ships, or sold into new trades.

C.A. Thayer was sold to Pete Nelson, who brought the ship into the salted salmon business. Every April from 1912 to 1924, C.A. Thayer sailed from San Francisco to western Alaska transporting 28-foot gill-net boats, wood to make barrels, and tons of salt. The ship anchored at Squaw Creek or Koggiung, where fishermen left in the gill-net boats to catch salmon. When they returned to shore, workers salted the fish to preserve them and packed them in barrels. C.A. Thayer sailed back to San Francisco in September with its hold filled with barrels of salted salmon.

Most ships in the trade were left in harbor during the winter months, but during World War I, freight rates were inflated. This made it worthwhile for C.A. Thayer to transport lumber again. During the winters between 1915 and 1919, C.A. Thayer transported Northwest fir and Mendocino redwood to Australia. The trips took two months each way. The ship often returned transporting coal, but sometimes also carried hardwood or copra (the dried meat of a coconut).

A Floating Factory (1925-1931)

C.A. Thayer next served in the cod fishing business under owner and captain John E. Shields. The ship functioned as a moving factory, salting over 6,000 cod a day. C.A. Thayer made yearly voyages from Poulsbo, Washington to the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska. The ship left in early April and returned in September. To survive in remote waters, the ship carried enough supplies to provide for the 30 to 50 men onboard for five months.

Starting at 4:30 am each day, 14 fishermen launched their dory fishing boats over the rails of the ship. A fishermen could catch 300 to 500 cod in a five-hour period using handlines dropped over both sides of a boat. When the day’s catch was onboard, a dressing crew of 12 men split, salted, and loaded the fish into the lower hold.

The Great Depression hit the salt cod industry, causing C.A. Thayer to be laid up in Lake Union, Seattle, for most of the 1930s. In 1942, the Federal Government requisitioned schooners for military service during World War II. The U.S. Army cut off C.A. Thayer’s masts and used the ship as a munitions barge in British Columbia.

After the war, John E. Shields re-purchased C.A. Thayer and many other schooners. The Army had performed much needed maintenance on the ship’s hull, but it was still without masts. Shields removed the masts of another schooner, the Sophie Christenson, and installed them on C.A. Thayer, allowing the ship to sail to the Bering Sea again. C.A. Thayer made its final voyage as a cod fishing vessel in 1950. It was the last commercial sailing vessel to operate on the West Coast.

Museum Ship (1963-present)

C.A Thayer was displayed between 1954 and 1957 as a roadside attraction “pirate ship” named Black Shield in Hood Canal near Lilliwaup, Washington. The State of California purchased C.A. Thayer in 1957.

After preliminary restoration in Seattle, Washington, a volunteer crew, led by the founders of the San Francisco Maritime Museum, sailed the ship to San Francisco.

The San Francisco Maritime Museum performed more extensive repairs and opened C.A. Thayer to the public in 1963. The vessel was transferred from California State Parks to the National Park Service in 1978 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1984. After four different careers, C.A. Thayer is in its fifth career as a museum ship at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.