Florida, Schooners, Pine, and Mr. Fatio

Despite the much told stories of pirating in St. Augustine, the town's most prolific maritime venture was the legal trade of Florida Yellow Pine. I know, it doesn't sound as exciting but Florida Yellow Pine was so desired, it was considered a huge bargaining chip between two world powers, England and Spain. Florida's timber trade began in Pensacola, FL in 1743, with the first shipment containing pitch, turpentine, and 2 Florida yellow pine spars, each 84 ft. long, on a packet schooner bound for Havana. The first water-powered sawmill was built on Six Mile Creek in Jacksonville in 1819. Six Mile Creek is a shoot-off of the St. Johns River, which provides plenty of navigable water for schooners to enter and depart the Atlantic Ocean with their loads.


When speaking about the prolific pine trade in Florida, one must mention Francis Philip Fatio. He was a Lieutenant in the Swiss Guard who, in 1724 sailed his family from England to St. Augustine. Fatio built 3 plantations along the St. John's River to cultivate indigo, extract turpentine from timber, grow oranges, and raise sheep. His plantations were built on a tract of land that he named New Switzerland; it later became Nueva Suiza during Spanish rule. Fatio kept numerous schooners running to England and later Spain with shipbuilding materials; they would return with luxury wares he sold to local Floridians. Fatio was a natural businessman and saw the potential of the Florida yellow pine. The English navy needed a steady and cheap source for shipbuilding materials – turpentine, pitch, tar, and, most importantly, lumber.
What's so special about Florida Pine you may ask? According to the University of Florida, at one point Florida yellow pine covered up to 60 million acres. Its most attractive feature is that it grows relatively quickly, typically growing 60 to 80 feet tall, occasionally reaching heights of over 100 feet. The trunk of the tree grows straight with coarse branches radiating 15 to 20 feet and drooping slightly from a single central leader.
This prompted Francis Philip Fatio to write to the English government of Florida's timber potential. The British government was considering trading Florida for the Bahamas, and, more importantly, Gibraltar, a strategic location to own given it's proximity to Spain, France, and the Mediterranean. Fatio was trying to convince the British government not to relinquish control of Florida to the Spanish.

An excerpt from his letter to King George III:

"The barren lands now occupied in East Florida produce the best naval stores in all America. The St. John's River is navigable nearly 300 miles, running parallel to the Atlantic Ocean, nowhere distant more than 25 miles. The forests on these lands will produce any quantity of tar, pitch and turpentine; it would be easy to find substantial contractors for 100,000 barrels a year produced from the different species of pine, allowing a reasonable time at first, as the exportation in 1781 has not exceeded 30,000 barrels.
"The yellow pine of East Florida is remarkably large, straight and of fine grain - rather heavy for single stick or large mast. For made masts, I humbly apprehend, it would be very proper as it is easy to find large trees free of all kinds of knots - from 40 to 50 feet in length - for deck planks no wood is equal to it. I had some sawed above 40 feet, free of knots and clear of heart shake."

Despite his best efforts, in 1783 George III traded east and west Florida for the Bahamas and Gibralter. Seeing a shortage of settlers, the Spanish governor allowed Fatio and his son-in-law the right to stay if they swore allegiance to the Spanish crown. He became Francisco Phillipe Fatio and provided naval stores to Spain until his dying day.

Rainy Days

With a rainy morning in front of us (and a hopefully sunny afternoon so we can go sailing), a schooner crew can get restless. It's a great time to sit down with some great nautical literature! Some of our favorite sailing books:

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick
In the middle of the South Pacific the ship was rammed and sunk by an angry sperm whale. The crew drifted for more than ninety days in three tiny whaleboats, succumbing to weather, hunger, disease, and ultimately turning to drastic measures in the fight for survival. I read this book in one sitting, that's how riveting it is!




Pride of the Sea by Tom Waldron

The story revolves around The Pride of Baltimore, a ship built in 1976 as part of Baltimore’s waterfront redevelopment program. Originally intended to serve as a floating museum, The Pride was modeled after the city’s legendary clippers—the favorite ships of 19th-century smugglers, slave traders and privateers, for whom a ship’s speed was more important than its safety. Baltimore clippers frequently disappeared without a trace, but, according to crew members, their sailing was "unforgettable," "like riding bareback at night on a wild black mare." Naturally then, when The Pride was completed, its supporters longed to take it on the open sea, and they eventually convinced the city to send it on a two-year, 2,800-mile goodwill voyage to Europe, with a group of 12 bright young sailors as its crew. It was on its way home when, on May 14, 1986, it was struck by an unexpected squall; it turned on its side, filled with water and sank in a matter of minutes. This book is like an old friend, I return to it at least once a year. And although I've read it countless times, I still find myself holding my breath throughout the narrative!

Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana Jr.

This is the story of Richard Henry Dana Jr., a young Harvard student, who, in 1834, leaves school to go on a sea voyage to improve his health. He ships out of Boston on the brig Pilgrim bound for California to bring back cow hides, presumably for the leather industry around Boston. This book can get a little slow if you are not interested in the technical aspects of handling the boat (we, of course, are fascinated by it, but not everyone is) but, seriously, hang in there! This journal is one of the most vivid accounts of seamanship at the time. Sailors were treated as slaves, dealt with in the harshest of ways, and they usually ended a journey owing the ship more money than they had earned. A little side note, before the mast was the term used for lower ranked sailors. Officer quarters were towards the stern of the ship. As these ships were brigs, the wind always came from the aft of the ship; therefore, the cabins at the stern of the ship had the best breeze, those forward of the mast were stuffy. Really, you should read it!

A Voyage for Madmen by Peter Nichols

In 1968, nine sailors set off on the most daring race ever held: to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe nonstop. It was a feat that had never been accomplished and one that would forever change the face of sailing. Ten months later, only one of the nine men would cross the finish line and earn fame, wealth, and glory. For the others, the reward was madness, failure, and death. This race took place in the days before cell phones, satellites, global positioning systems. One contestant communicated with the press by sling-shooting film canisters filled with notes to passing ships - no iPhone calls here! Even though we're not racers, this book is a must read, simply for the true grit and absolute madness these men possess.

Of course I could go on for many more words about our favorite nautical books, but then I wouldn't be able to curl up with a cup of tea and a good, seafaring book. And, let me know, what are your favorite nautical books?

One of My Favorite Schooners

We on the Schooner Freedom are not ashamed to admit that we are schooner dorks. We argue about the names of masts on four masted schooners, how big you could make that jib, and we look up other schooners, just because we want to know about them. I love it, it makes me happy and you have to some great stuff to talk about when you meet other schooner dorks. My personal favorite schooner, other than the Freedom, of course, is the Schooner Thomas W. Lawson. It was a seven (yeah, I said seven) masted steel schooner. It was, to date:
1. The largest schooner ever built, in terms of tonnage - 5218 gross tons
2. The largest pure sailing vessel ever built - aka, it had no engine, none at all

3. The only seven masted schooner
4. The only seven masted sailing ship of modern times
5. Responsible for most likely the first major oil spill from a ship in modern history, not the best record to hold, but still of some note.
Launched on July 10, 1902, the Thomas W. Lawson was 395 feet in length (lod = length on deck), contained seven masts of equal height (193 feet) from which 25 sails (seven gaff sails, seven gaff topsails, six topmast staysails, and five job sails (fore staysail, jib, flying jib, jib topsail, balloon jib) encompassing 43,000 square feet  of canvas would power her - that's a whole lot of canvas.

What really intrigued me about the Lawson was the naming of the seven masts. I've found two sets of names, the "proper" names and the crew names. The proper names are, from fore to aft:

1. Fore

2. Main

3. Mizzen

4. Spanker

5. Jigger 

6. Driver 

7. Pusher

The crew called them, according to a letter by the ship's first master Capt. Arthur L. Crowley and preserved at the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA, the seven masts were called: 

1.Fore

2. Main

3. Mizzen

4. Number 4

5. Number 5

6. Number 6

7. Spanker

There are also some that assert the masts were called by the days of the week, with foremost being Sunday and the aftmost being Saturday.

Although originally designed for the trans-Pacific trade, she was used in the coal trade until she was rebuilt in 1906 at the Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. for carrying oil in bulk. The topmasts were also removed at that time and the lower masts were used to vent the holds from oil gases. Bound for London loaded with oil she was caught in a storm off the Scilly Islands on the 13th of December 1907. As she could not weather the islands it was decided to try to anchor, but during the night her anchor chain broke and she stranded on the Scilly Islands. Thirteen of the crew lost their lives. 

Some of you may notice the prevalence of the number 13 - she sank of Friday the thirteenth she lost thirteen of the crew, and her name, Thomas W. Lawson, had 13 letters. This has of course led to much superstitious hubbabub regarding the Lawson, most indicating, she had it coming. 

The Lawson had many critics while she was still above the water too. Many considered her sluggish and hard to maneuver, comparing her to a beached whale. Because of the amount of water she displaced, it was difficult to competently operate her in most ports. She needed strong winds to make any significant way and apparently had a tendency to yaw very badly. I know, not good recommendations. I still am fascinated by her. She was built as an answer to the challenge of steam engines, as a last ditch effort to keep the great days of sail going. It didn't work, obviously, but I like the gusto and confidence with which this boat was constructed. I love that sailing ships didn't just roll over and die, but tried to keep up. It may not have been successful, but it forced sailors to leave the shipping industry and adapt to other forms of economy, educational platforms, living history museums, bareboat cruises, and day sailing. From some of our greatest failures come our greatest triumphs.

Ah January!

January is always a weird month for the crew of the Schooner Freedom. We all wait with baited breath to see the week's forecast: warm and sunny, cloudy and breezy, or really sunny and freezing? And we've seen all of those weather conditions. Just last week I happily sailed a Day Sail and a Sunset Sail in shorts and a tee shirt and I think, how blessed are we that we live in Florida and enjoy weather like this is January? A week later, these thoughts are gone from our minds when our temperatures are a high of 60. I know, we're complete and total wimps. We whine and moan, until I see the forecast for Barrow, Alaska. For those of you not familiar with Barrow, Alaska, it is the northernmost point of the United States. A few of us have friends who live in that area. The Freedom also has a sister ship that runs charters in Seward, although not year round. I frequently check the forecast up there, just to make myself feel better. Today's forecast for Barrow reads, from the National Weather Service:
Today...Mostly cloudy. Blowing snow. Temperatures 15 below to 25 below. West winds 25 to 30 mph diminishing to 15 mph in the afternoon. Local wind chill to 50 below in the morning.

Tonight...Partly cloudy. Lows around 25 below. West winds to 10 mph.

Yeah, I feel better already. A nice jacket and a hat makes everything better. And, as Jimmy Buffet says:

Yeah, they're freezin' up in Buffalo stuck in their cars
And I'm lyin' here 'neath the sun and the stars.