C.A. Thayer, Last Ship of its Kind, Poulsbo History
In celebration of the rechrisening of the C.A. Thayer I wanted to share with you a brief history of the ship, its significance to Poulsbo and the Shields family.If you have additional photos or information you would like to share please email ken.rury@exprealty.com.
C.A. Thayer History
The C.A. Thayer was built in 1895 in Eureka, CA and is the last Westcoast sailing schooner left. There were hundreds of them at one time, hauling lumber to California from Washington and Oregon, then after it was severely damaged in a gale in 1912 it became part of the Salmon Fishery in Alaska shipping to San Franciso. Finally being converted to a cod fishing vessel in 1925.Poulsbo
Captain Ed Shields and his Pacific Cod Fishing Company of Poulsbo bought the C.A. Thayer and sailed it between 1925 and 1930 from Poulsbo, Washington, to Alaska's Bering Sea cod fishing waters for 5 months without touching land. In addition to supplies, she carried upwards of thirty men north, including fourteen fishermen and twelve "dressers" (the men who cleaned and cured the catch). It sat idle on Lake Union for 10 years during the depression and sold to the U.S. Army for the war effort as an ammunition barge after they removed the masts. After the war, Shields bought his ship back from the Army, fitted her with masts once again, and returned her to cod fishing. Her final voyage was in 1950 and was the last of the three and four masted sailing schooners to make the annual trips from Poulsbo to the Bering Sea for the cod fishery.
Book: “Salt of the Sea: The Pacific Coast Cod Fishery and the Last Days of the Sail,” an oversized hardback book of 238 pages, containing Shields’ never-before-published photos and his accounts of the work that went into preparing the fishing fleet for five months in the high seas and ensuring that the ships came back safely with holds full of cod. Can be purchased at Poulsbo Historical Society, the Poulsbo Maritime Museum and most bookstores.
Restoration
The State of California purchased C.A. Thayer in 1957. After preliminary restoration in Seattle, Washington, the San Francisco Maritime Museum performed more extensive repairs and refitting, and opened C.A. Thayer to the public in 1963. The vessel was transferred to the National Park Service in 1978 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1984.
After 40 years as a museum ship, C.A. Thayer has again been restored, starting in 2004 with approximately 80% of the ship's timbers replaced with new timbers matching the original wood.
In 2016 new masts poles and were installed and rerigged and the ship returned to Hyde Stree Pier for it's rechristening on Aug 20th, 2016 and attended by the Shields family from Poulsbo.
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