Waiting for a Fair Wind

[Bobcat]

I am reading a book about the North Pacific/Bering Sea cod fishery. Schooners without engines were used up into the 1950's.

In reading it, I am struck the amount of time that pure sailing vessels wait for the wind. It could take seven days to sail from Port Townsend to Cape Flattery. There was also a mention of the Wawona being stuck for three weeks after taking on water in a bay near Unimak Pass.

Amazing the time spent waiting for conditions to improve.

[Ian McColgin]

A reality of sailing.

[Bobcat]

A reality of sailing.


True and tells you why commercial use of sail died as soon as it did.

[Bob Triggs]

"Waiting for a fair wind"... is this the title???

[BETTY-B]

"Waiting for a fair wind"... is this the title???

It could be "Salt of The Sea" The Pacific Coast Cod Fishery And The Last Days of Sail. Captain Ed Shields. If it's not, that's another great book with plenty of killer pics.

[Bobcat]

It could be "Salt of The Sea" The Pacific Coast Cod Fishery And The Last Days of Sail. Captain Ed Shields. If it's not, that's another great book with plenty of killer pics.

Bingo!

And an excellent book it is

[Valdez]

I have that book and I would recommend it for anyone interested in sailing
and /or fishing under sail. If you think fishing in the Bearing Sea is rough
today, try it in Captain Shields day.

[Bobcat]

I have that book and I would recommend it for anyone interested in sailing
and /or fishing under sail. If you think fishing in the Bearing Sea is rough
today, try it in Captain Shields day.

There's a comment in the book about a mishaps that occurred during WWII, when there was radio silence and all the navigation aids were shut down. The lighthouse on Unimak Island, for example, was dark.

Talk about working with a hand or two tied behind your back: no auxiliary power, currents, fog, and bad weather, and then they turn off the lighthouses....

[johngsandusky]

I've read accounts of coastal schooners in Long Island Sound. Often they waited days for a "chance along". They also often ended their days driven ashore in gales.

[Ian McColgin]

I love the tale about Capt Zeb Tilton of the Vineyard. Seems a New Bedford woman thought she had him nailed down for the wedding but no Zeb at the appointed hours. Eventually she rushed down to the warf only to see “Alice S Wentworth” easing away on the new ebbing tide. She cried out to remind Zeb that he was due in church and got the brilliant reply, “A man can get married most any time, but it’s not often we have a fair wind and fair tide all the way to Holmes Hole.”

“Clearwater” operated for only a year under sail alone. Management found her inability to keep schedule an issue and after firing the first captain (The tale is that he slugged Pete Seeger.) they could not find another willing to command her with no engine. This was - what? - ‘68 or so as I recall and the cadre of pure sailors of large vessels we have today had yet to mature.

[Canoeyawl]

Old Zeb...
"That bed was so soft, if you wanted to roll over you had to get out and walk around to the other side "

[Bobcat]

Anyone know what happened to the Schooner Sophie Christianson, one of the codfishers in the book? I know the C A Thayer is in San Francisco and the Wawona was broken up last year.

[Paul Pless]

you may enjoy this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Git-48_CPww

[Bobcat]

you may enjoy this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Git-48_CPww

Thanks!

I answered my own question: The Sophie Christianson was stripped of her masts during WWII and remained a towed barge after the war. She piled up on the west side of Vancouver Island and was a total loss.

Large wooden vessels rarely come to a good end.

[Michael D. Storey]

True and tells you why commercial use of sail died as soon as it did.

It is my understanding that 'sail' took thousands of years to 'die'.
Also, I would point out that major world cultures relied on annual cycles of wind to maintain their commerce. Cargoes would wait, often for over six months, for a favorable wind.
Indeed, most of the present day sailors who make voyages do so at certain times of the year because of winds.

[Bobcat]

It is my understanding that 'sail' took thousands of years to 'die'.
Also, I would point out that major world cultures relied on annual cycles of wind to maintain their commerce. Cargoes would wait, often for over six months, for a favorable wind.
Indeed, most of the present day sailors who make voyages do so at certain times of the year because of winds.

Really? Seems to be that the death of commercial sail occurred with a few decades of reliable propulsion machinery. The navies of the world went from sail to steam and motor vessels rapidly. Look at the War of 1812 and the Civil War in the US for example.

[Tom Hunter]

Henry Cabot Lodge (b 1902) lived on Nahant as a boy, which has an excellent view of the shipping traffic in and out of the harbor. The prevailing winds blow into Boston harbor, so shipping would pile up waiting for the breeze to change. Lodge describes counting over 100 sail leaving the harbor on days that the wind turned favorable. Must have been an amazing thing to see.