Wawona

Wawona

1897 Pacific Schooner

Length: 165’
Beam: 35’
Draft: 11.5’

Wawona

When she was built in 1897, the sailing schooner Wawona was the largest three-masted schooner built in North America. Today she is one of two survivors of the once immense commercial sailing fleet in the Pacific Northwest. Hundreds more large commercial sailing ships were built in other West Coast shipyards; they are now all gone. Only the C.A. Thayer in San Francisco and the Wawona remain. The Wawona became a National Historic Site in 1970, the first ship in the nation to be listed on the National Register.

Lumber hauler, cod fisher and military barge in WWII, her career has been long and varied. As a fishing schooner, her lifetime catch of 7.2 million cod far surpassed the career catch of any other Pacific schooner. During World War II the Wawona was drafted as a military barge , hauling military supplies to Alaska and returning to Washington with wood for the aircraft industry

Built at the end of the great age of sail, the Wawona stands as a living monument to the skilled craftsmen who built her, the industries that supported her, and the fortunate crewmen who sailed her.

Through these benefits and volunteer efforts, we hope to raise funds to continue her restoration. Equally important, we want to raise public awareness of this grand ship, the last part of our great maritime heritage that we can still see and touch. We would love to see Wawona as the centerpiece of a vibrant maritime park like Hyde St. Pier in San Francisco. Seattle needs Wawona, the last, best reminder of our maritime heritage. We want to see her here in Seattle so future generations can experience what it was like in the age of sail. There is no spark to fire a child's imagination like standing on the deck of a sailing ship, OUR sailing ship, Wawona.

http://www.nwseaport.org/wawona.html