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The History of the "Oregon Clipper" Western Shore
The Western Shore was Launched October 10, 1874 at North Bend, Coos Bay, Oregon
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_______________________________ The Oregon Clipper Western Shore c. 1874 It was a memorable day for the people living in the Coos Bay area when the Oregon Clipper was launched on October 10, 1874. Having built over two dozen tall ships to this date, Captain Asa Meade Simpson was now about to launch the only clipper ship to be built on the West Coast. In fact there were only three full-rigged ships built on the Pacific side of the United States. The others were the Wildwood of 1,099 tons built at Port Madison, Washington, in 1871 and the Olympus of 1,110-tons built at Seaback, Washington, in 1880. The Western Shore was the largest of the three being 180 feet on the keel and 204 feet overall, beam 43 feet, and depth of hold 21 feet, and registered at 1,188 tons. The Western Shore was designed by Asa and Robert Simpson, and built by John Kruse. She was built of Douglas fir and Port Orford cedar. Her frames were 16x24 inches over the keel and deck beams 12x7 inches. Planking and ceiling were in long lengths and up to 6x18 inches. The cabins had paneling of Myrtle, Laurel, and Mahogany made by joinerman J. Gibson, and Frank Mark was the ornamental joiner and polisher. The only fault she had was a short, abrupt bow and fifteen more feet would have made her a beauty. The bay off North Bend, Oregon was dotted with farmers and loggers in skiffs. The Coos Bay passenger steamer Coos came from Henryville and Marshfield with spectators and the steamer Messenger had the Marshfield brass band on board to help liven the festivities, while the Satellite brought people from Empire City. Even the coastwise steamer Eastport stopped on her way up the bay so her passengers could take in the event. There were about 500 people on hand to watch the big ship slide into the water. The central figure of the day was Capt. Robert Simpson, the noble tar, who was in his glory receiving his fair guests everywhere with his customary gallantry and neglecting nothing that would conduce to their comfort. The ladies admired how elegant the vessel's cabin was. Some of the more adventurous ladies ventured down into the tween-deck to satisfy their curiosity. In the meantime Leon, the boarding house cook, opened the Chateau de Manur to the young ladies and was tending the hospitalities of his bachelorean quarters to all the pretty girls. ____________________________ Tall Ships of the Coos Bay
____________________________ ECS ~ The naval architect, Melbourne Smith, has come up with this tale of the Western Shore, from the book: Shipwreck Stories, by Charles Hobson, along with her dimensions that in some ways resemble those of a medium clipper. Although certainly at the time of her building in 1874, speed and daring were no longer of such importance as they were in the 1850s at the time of the California Gold Rush. ____________________________ Donald: The Western Shore's dimensions were 183.5-feet register, 42.0-feet breadth, 22.6 depth. which is a good indicator of her configuration when compared to other ships. She was built by Asa Meade Simpson. ~ Melbourne Smith
SHIPWRECK STORIES: 1878, The Western Shore sank on Duxbury Reef --------------------------------------------------- Facts Launched in 1874 from the shipyard at North Bend, Oregon, the Western Shore was the largest full rigged sailing vessel ever built on the West Coast. She was 184 feet long and was originally built to haul lumber but entered the coastal coal trade after several voyages to England. In January of 1878 she needed three attempts to clear the Golden Gate on her way to Seattle. On the first try the tow line broke in a heavy gale and except for a wind shift at the last moment she would have been wrecked on Alcatraz. A few days later as she was towed out the Golden Gate the wind died just as the tow line was being released. Captain Blinn and his mate were handling the tow line. In the process the hawser snapped taunt and tore loose the cleat with such force it broke the captain's leg in two places and threw him from the forecastle to the main deck where he died four hours later. The ship was able to anchor overnight before being towed back to port the next day. On the third try she made it safely through the Gate with a new captain. _________________________________ The Clipper Ship Western Shore The age of the clipper ship was a most interesting period in international maritime history. Increasing trade throughout the world called for faster and more sophisticated vessels. The United States and Great Britain were keen competitors in building this type of ship. This period roughly extended from 1830 to 1875. Donald McKay of (East) Boston was the most noteworthy designer and builder of clipper ships, although many other yards turned out fine vessels. Oregon was noteworthy in constructing the only clipper ship on the West Coast, if not the whole Pacific area. This was the Western Shore built and launched at Coos Bay in 1874. Asa Meade Simpson, a down east Yankee from Brunswick, Maine, came around Cape Horn as supercargo on the ship Birmingham and landed in San Francisco in April, 1850. He engaged for a short time in gold mining before becoming a carpenter, a retail lumber yard operator, and finally lumber manufacturer and ship operator. His activities rapidly extended north along the Oregon Coast and in 1856 his brother, Louis B. Simpson, arrived in Coos Bay on the brig Qyadratus with mill equipment and supplies for the construction of a sawmill at the present site of North Bend. A shipyard was also built and in 1858 a two-masted vessel (the Argo) was the first to be launched from the new yard. This was followed by fifty-eight other craft during its * long history. _________________________________ Tall Ships Photo Gallery
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_______________________________ The Western Shore was sometimes referred to as the" Oregon Clipper." She was heavily rigged for her size and the way that she was rigged gave her fast sailing qualities. Her fore mast was 70 feet at the deck and 32 inches in diameter, the main mast was 72 feet long at the deck and 32 inches, and the mizzen mast was 68 feet long at the deck and 28 inches in diameter. The total length of the main mast from truck to keelson was 133 feet and from the truck to the deck 112 feet. When Asa Simpson designed her he departed radically from the conventional method which was to have the fore yards shorter than the main and the mizzen yards shorter than the fore. She was very square in her rig, the yards on the fore and main masts were the same length. The lower yards on the fore and main masts were 74 feet long. The ship was built by day labor and cost $80,000 or $66.67 per ton which was regarded a very low figure. A similar vessel built on the Atlantic coast would have cost from $90 to $120 per ton. This proved conclusively that a vessel could be built on the Pacific Coast at a paying figure when built under the supervision of intelligent and experienced shipwrights like John Kruse. The facilities for building vessels at the North Bend shipyard were first-class. The timber was convenient to the yard and most of it was cut in the adjacent Simpson sawmill.
When the Western Shore sailed from Coos Bay for San Francisco she was not fully rigged. She was only rigged up to her top sails. Despite her shortened rig she was able to make 10 knots with a cargo of 225, 000 feet of lumber. Captain R. W. Simpson was in command on the three-day trip south. The rest of her rigging was set up at San Francisco and she loaded wheat for Liverpool. _____________________________
_____________________________ On her return voyage from Seattle she was making ten knots under full sail with a cargo of 2,000 tons of coal. On the clear night of July 9, 1878, she was just north of San Francisco when she inexplicably ran full onto Duxbury Reef. The impact was so great that a piece of her bow flew forty feet into the air. She sank within three hours leaving only the tops of her masts, sails fully set, extending out of the water. The cause of the accident was never fully learned and remains a mystery. Speculation ran from thoughts that a strong northerly current had thrown the ship off course to a suspicion of carelessness on the part of the captain, since the lights of Point Reyes and the Farallones were plainly visible. Strong seas broke the ship apart rapidly and only the sails were saved, picked from the masts by Bolinas fishermen. For the next twenty-five years 300 pound clumps of coal washed up on Bolinas beaches. _________________________________
________________________________ In the year 1863, Robert W. Simpson, another brother of Asa Simpson, arrived in North Bend and joined forces with John W. Kruse in ship construction. This undoubtedly augmented the activity and capability of the yard turning out better and larger vessels. It must be recalled that Coos Bay was surrounded by magnificent forests of fir and to the north, excellent stands of Port Orford cedar. This offset the disadvantage of the location which was remote from any industrial center; inaccessible by road, and with a very dangerous bar for sailing vessels to pass over **. With this in mind, it is quite remarkable that by 1870 the Simpson yard laid plans for constructing a full-rigged clipper ship, the Western Shore. She was 183 feet in length, 208 overall, 22 foot beam and registered tonnage of 1,178, which was larger than any other ship previously built on the (Pacific) Coast. The Western Shore was launched in 1874 and it is recorded her cost was approximately $70,000. Construction was carried out by John Cruse; sail plan by Robert W. Simpson and hull and keel specifications by Captain Asa M. Simpson. Although she was not completely sparred in Coos Bay, her sailing time from there to San Francisco was a credible 46 hours. Undoubtedly the scarcity of rigging material in her home port necessitated this move. ______________________________
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________________________________ Captain J. W. McAllep took command of the vessel and made the voyage to Liverpool in 101 days delivering the cargo without damage (exact cargo unknown, but believed to be coal). On her return voyage she had a general cargo, mostly salt, and accomplished the journey in 110 days with no claim for damaged cargo. She sailed for the Columbia River from San Francisco a short time after the steamer Oriflamme and arrived in the river two and half hours ahead of the steamer making the trip in a little over two days. The vessel loaded cargo of wheat at Portland for Liverpool and made the trip in 103 days. Again without claim for damaged cargo. The two voyages to Liverpool still remain unequaled by any sailing vessel both for speed and delivering undamaged cargo. Upon the return of the Western Shore after her second voyage back from Liverpool, Captain Blinn took command and the ship was placed in the Puget Sound - San Francisco coal trade. As the Western Shore was being towed out of San Francisco harbor in 1877, Captain Blinn was knocked off the anchor deck by a split hawser and Captain Blinn bled to death on the deck. The first mate, Hotchkiss, was made captain. The Western Shore made one round voyage in that trade and was on her second voyage when disaster struck. The big ship was on her way from Seattle with a coal cargo, when she went ashore about 11 p.m. on July 9, 1878, on Duxbury Reef, between the Golden Gate and Point Reyes (near the Farallon Islands). The wreck was difficult to account for because at the time the ship stuck both Farallon and Point Reyes lights were plainly visible and the weather was not unfavorable. The ship was under full sail, making 12 knots at the time. Her captain and crewmen were rescued by the tug Wizard. All that was salvaged was some of the rigging because she soon broke up. Captain A. M. Simpson (her prime owner) had this to say about wreck: "She was put in the Seattle coal trade under Captain Hotchkiss and wrecked on Duxbury Reef on her second trip, total loss 2,600 tons of coal on board, clear night, cause unexplainable but only one of the score I have had thrown away by optimistic ambition or too much of something else not accounted for, if rumor is to be believed." Rumor had it that the ambitious First Officer turned Captain was drunk at the time of the wreck. Legend has it that Hotchkiss perpetrated the parting of the hawser that killed Captain Blinn giving command to Hotchkiss. Whatever the cause, this brought to a sudden end, the life of the only Clipper ship built on the U.S. West Coast, the Western Shore. Steve Priske / Victor West ~ Model Shipwrights ________________________________ The "Oregon Clipper" Western Shore
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_____________________________ Fiction Black & White You gotta understand, this is a monster ship sweeping down from the north white sails full pulling two thousand tons of black coal. Whipping past Point Reyes she's hauling, I mean hauling. The captain's feeling pretty good. He's got a new time record for the run from Seattle to the Golden Gate on his first voyage as skipper. Yeah he's feeling real good. He's not gonna let that little nagging feeling about Captain Blinn darken his mood. Forget the way the hawser got loose in Frisco on their departure when Blinn was still captain. Yeah, Captain Blinn hadn't seen him slip a couple of loops off the cleat. Yeah, the line yanked loose when it surged like he knew it would, but a broken leg was the most he'd figured. What a whollop! Broke Blinn's leg -- not once, but twice -- and landed him on the main deck twelve feet away where he lasted four hours before he died. They owed him his shot he told them, he was next in line, and now here he was proving them and him right with a new time record."Hey, what's that shouting? Let's have some discipline on this ship. Say, that light shouldn't be there. Whose that guy at the helm? Who put that gimpy guy at the helm? _________________________________ The maiden voyage of the Western Shore was from San Francisco to Liverpool under command of Capt. J. W. McAllep and carrying a full cargo of wheat. Her time of passage was 104 days, a very good record for any clipper. She loaded coal in England and was back at the Golden Gate in 110 days, which was excellent time for a east to west passage of Cape Horn. The next voyage was coastwise, San Francisco to Astoria. Leaving the Golden Gate shortly after the steamer Oriflame, she reached the Columbia bar in 50.5 hours, 2 and a half ahead of the steamer. During the next two years, 1875 - 1876, she completed several voyages to England, most of which were less than 110 days. In 1877 she established a record 101 days from Portland to Liverpool. The Western Shore was a favorite in West Coast ports but was never considered a lucky ship. In January, 1878 she was becalmed off the entrance to San Francisco Bay and nearly went ashore. In the process of being hauled off, her skipper, Capt. Blinn was killed by a parted hawser. In June 1878, she southbound from the Puget Sound to San Francisco with coal when she struck Duxbury Reef near Bolinas Bay at a reported speed of 12 knots and was a complete loss. It would be of interest to obtain more information concerning the construction and voyages of this fat little clipper. Her life was short but her recorded voyages were outstanding. ~ Steve Priske _______________________________ References: Lewis & Dryden's Marine History of the Northwest, Pages 219-220. ~ Edmund Hayes Oregon Historical Quarterly Vol. 68, Page 267 ~ Asa Meade Simpson by Stephen D. Beckham. * A total of 65 tall ships were launched on the Coos Bay from 1859 to 1922. ** Historical data indicates that from 1856 to 1945 over 50 vessels, not including fishing or pleasure craft, have been lost on the Coos Bay bar, with considerable loss of life. _______________________________ |
