Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
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The largest schooner ever built sinks...
When on July 7, 1902, the daughter Helen of the engineer Thomas A. Watson christened the schooner "Thomas W. Lawson" with the traditional champagne bottle being smashed...
...and the ship is launched...
... the schooner is regarded as an absolute technical peak performance and THE innovation in sailing ship construction...:
With its seven masts, the ship is not only the largest schooner ever built, but it can be sailed with a comparatively small crew!
Less than 20 sailors are enough to operate the huge sails, all of which can be operated from the deck; Nobody has to climb up the masts and do the dangerous work with the sails there - as with a conventional square-rigger!
In order to operate the same sail area on a traditional square-rigger of the same size, such as the "Preussen" of the same age...
... more than twice as many crews ("Prussia": 46 men) were needed!
The space saved for the crew quarters is now used for the loading capacity and the equipment of the passenger compartments, which are downright luxurious for a sailship...:
The "Thomas W. Lawson" is intended as a coal freighter for the "Bay State Gas Co." in Boston, whose president is also the namesake of the ship...:
But the schooner does not meet all the expectations of its owners and customers!
The ship could never accommodate the - theoretically possible - enormous loading capacity of 11,000 tons (for comparison: "Preußen" 8,000 tons). It would be way too heavy and sink immediately!
Even not fully loaded, the ship is already very deep in the water...:
In addition, the "Thomas W. Lawson" with its seven high masts is extremely top-heavy!
Even with low wind speeds and calm seas, the upper schooner sails must therefore be reefed (i.e. reduced) to avoid capsizing...:
Once she almost capsized in the harbor if the quay wall hadn't been in the way...:
Later, the masts (i.e. the upper part of the masts) are removed completely. Due to the reduced sail area, the schooner, which was originally designed for high speed, naturally becomes slower and loses another advantage over conventionally rigged sailing ships!
In 1906, the ship was therefore converted into an oil tanker.
But already the first trip ends catastrophically!
On December 14, 1907, the "Thomas W. Lawson" was anchored leeward of the Isles of Scilly to weather a severe winter hurricane...:
But around 1:05 a.m. the anchor chain breaks, the schooner drifts away, hits across the sea and finally capsizes due to its still high top heaviness...:
Of the 18-strong crew, all but 59-year-old Captain George Washington Dow...
... and the machinist Edward L. Rowe (35)...
... died.
Also on board Scilly Pilot William "Cook" Hicks...
... had previously allowed himself to be rowed aboard the incoming schooner in order to steer the "Lawson" to a safe anchorage near the island of Annet because of the approaching storm and had subsequently not come off board because of the hurricane...
He goes down with the ship too!
The full tanks of the keel-up drifting ship leak, 2,003,063 gallons of oil spill out and trigger the first oil spill in shipping history...
Today, the traces of the oil spill that severely damaged the local fisheries have disappeared - and the last thing that reminds you of what was once the largest schooner in the world is a salvaged lifebelt...:
When on July 7, 1902, the daughter Helen of the engineer Thomas A. Watson christened the schooner "Thomas W. Lawson" with the traditional champagne bottle being smashed...
...and the ship is launched...
... the schooner is regarded as an absolute technical peak performance and THE innovation in sailing ship construction...:
With its seven masts, the ship is not only the largest schooner ever built, but it can be sailed with a comparatively small crew!
Less than 20 sailors are enough to operate the huge sails, all of which can be operated from the deck; Nobody has to climb up the masts and do the dangerous work with the sails there - as with a conventional square-rigger!
In order to operate the same sail area on a traditional square-rigger of the same size, such as the "Preussen" of the same age...
... more than twice as many crews ("Prussia": 46 men) were needed!
The space saved for the crew quarters is now used for the loading capacity and the equipment of the passenger compartments, which are downright luxurious for a sailship...:
The "Thomas W. Lawson" is intended as a coal freighter for the "Bay State Gas Co." in Boston, whose president is also the namesake of the ship...:
But the schooner does not meet all the expectations of its owners and customers!
The ship could never accommodate the - theoretically possible - enormous loading capacity of 11,000 tons (for comparison: "Preußen" 8,000 tons). It would be way too heavy and sink immediately!
Even not fully loaded, the ship is already very deep in the water...:
In addition, the "Thomas W. Lawson" with its seven high masts is extremely top-heavy!
Even with low wind speeds and calm seas, the upper schooner sails must therefore be reefed (i.e. reduced) to avoid capsizing...:
Once she almost capsized in the harbor if the quay wall hadn't been in the way...:
Later, the masts (i.e. the upper part of the masts) are removed completely. Due to the reduced sail area, the schooner, which was originally designed for high speed, naturally becomes slower and loses another advantage over conventionally rigged sailing ships!
In 1906, the ship was therefore converted into an oil tanker.
But already the first trip ends catastrophically!
On December 14, 1907, the "Thomas W. Lawson" was anchored leeward of the Isles of Scilly to weather a severe winter hurricane...:
But around 1:05 a.m. the anchor chain breaks, the schooner drifts away, hits across the sea and finally capsizes due to its still high top heaviness...:
Of the 18-strong crew, all but 59-year-old Captain George Washington Dow...
... and the machinist Edward L. Rowe (35)...
... died.
Also on board Scilly Pilot William "Cook" Hicks...
... had previously allowed himself to be rowed aboard the incoming schooner in order to steer the "Lawson" to a safe anchorage near the island of Annet because of the approaching storm and had subsequently not come off board because of the hurricane...
He goes down with the ship too!
The full tanks of the keel-up drifting ship leak, 2,003,063 gallons of oil spill out and trigger the first oil spill in shipping history...
Today, the traces of the oil spill that severely damaged the local fisheries have disappeared - and the last thing that reminds you of what was once the largest schooner in the world is a salvaged lifebelt...:
