Wyoming (schooner) explained

Wyoming was an American wooden six-masted schooner built and completed in 1909 by the firm of Percy & Small in Bath, Maine. With a length of 450feet from jib-boom tip to spanker boom tip, Wyoming was the largest known wooden ship ever built.[1]

Because of its extreme length and wood construction, Wyoming tended to flex in heavy seas, which would cause the long planks to twist and buckle, thereby allowing sea water to intrude into the hold. Wyoming had to use pumps to keep its hold relatively free of water. In March 1924, it foundered in heavy seas and sank with the loss of all hands.

Description

Wyoming was designed by Bant Hanson with Miles M. Merry, the master builder for the North American Atlantic coastal trade, for the company Percy and Small and the intended cargo being coal.[2]

Wyoming was 450feet overall, 350feet on deck, and 329.5feet between perpendiculars. It was 50feet wide, and had a draft of 30feet. Its gross register tonnage (GRT) was 3730, equivalent to an internal volume of 373000cuft. Its net register tonnage (NRT) was 3036, representing a cargo capacity of 303600cuft after subtracting the volume consumed by the helm and crew quarters and other areas not suitable for cargo. It had a deadweight tonnage (DWT) of 6,004 long tons, that is, the weight of the ship fully loaded, including the crew, cargo (6,000 tons), fuel, water and stores, less the weight of the ship when totally empty (4,000 tons). It could carry 6,000 long tons of coal. Wyoming was built of yellow pine with 6" planking and there were 90 diagonal iron cross-bracings on each side.

Wyoming was equipped with a Hyde anchor windlass and a donkey steam engine to raise and lower sails, haul lines and perform other tasks; the steam engine was not used to power the ship, but permitted it to be sailed with a smaller crew of only 11 hands. It was named for the state of Wyoming because Wyoming Governor Bryant Butler Brooks (1907–1921) was one of the investors in the ship, which cost $175,000 in 1909 dollars (approx $5,849,000 US Dollars 2023). Another Percy & Small-built schooner, the five-masted Governor Brooks, was named after Brooks.

History

External links

41.5333°N -123°W

Notes and References

  1. John H. . Leinhard . The Schooner Wyoming . The Engines of Our Ingenuity. 2492 . University of Houston, College of Engineering . KUHF-FM .
  2. January 1910 . The Six-Masted Schooner Wyoming . International Marine Engineering . 15 . 1 . 1–2 . New York . Marine Engineering . 11 January 2021.
  3. Web site: Six-mast schooner WYOMING setting sail off the mouth of the Kennebec River, 1909. Maine Memory Network. 2012-08-20.
  4. Web site: Location of Wyoming Wreck. 2012-08-20.
  5. Web site: American Underwater Search and Survey finds 'Wyoming', six-masted wooden giant of the sea . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20031121105655/http://www.cdnn.info/industry/i031108/i031108.html . November 21, 2003 .
  6. Web site: The Lightships of Nantucket Sound. 2012-08-20.
  7. News: Wreck of Wyoming found off Cape Cod; Largest wooden cargo ship sank in 1924. Bangor Daily News. The Associated Press. 2003-11-10.
  8. News: Wooden giant of sea is found. Cape Cod Times. 2003-11-08.