Lady Washington
Lady Washington on Commencement Bay
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| History | |
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| Name: | Lady Washington (replica) |
| Operator: | Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority |
| Builder: |
Ray Wallace, designer; Richard Miles, shipwright |
| Laid down: | 1987 |
| Launched: | March 7, 1989 |
| Homeport: | Aberdeen, WA |
| Honors and awards: |
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| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 99 tons (gross) |
| Displacement: | 210 tons |
| Tons burthen: | 178 tons |
| Length: | |
| Beam: | 22 ft (7 m) |
| Height: | 89 ft (27 m) (Rig height) |
| Draft: | 11 ft (3 m) |
| Sail plan: |
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| Complement: | 12 (crew), 45 (passenger) |
| Armament: | Two three pounder; two swivels aft |
| Notes: | Douglas fir hull |
Ray Wallace, designer;
Lady Washington is a ship name shared by at least four different small wooden merchant sailing vessels during two different time periods. The original sailed for about 10 years in the 18th century. A somewhat updated modern replica was created in 1989. The replica has appeared in numerous films and television shows, standing in as other real or fictional ships.
The original Lady Washington, or more commonly, Washington, was a 90-ton brig. Her early history is still in question. As part of the Columbia Expedition, she left Boston Harbor on October 1, 1787. She sailed around Cape Horn and participated in the maritime fur trade with the coastal Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest and in tea and porcelain across the Pacific in China. She was the first American-flagged vessel to round Cape Horn. She was the first recorded vessel to make landfall on the Oregon coast near Tillamook, Oregon. John Meares claimed that she was the first non-native vessel to circumnavigate Vancouver Island.
Named in honor of Martha Washington, she was captained by Robert Gray, and later by John Kendrick, former captain of her larger sailing partner, Columbia Rediviva and commander of the expedition. At the end of the first trading season, Kendrick ordered Gray to sail Columbia to China, while Kendrick took command of Lady Washington . Under the command of Kendrick, she was refitted in Macau as a brigantine.
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Wikipedia