''Balclutha'', also known as ''Star of Alaska'', ''Pacific Queen'', or Sailing Ship ''Balclutha'', is a steel-hulled

full-rigged ship A full-rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing ship, sailing vessel with a sail plan of three or more mast (sailing), masts, all of them square rig, square-rigged. Such a vessel is said to have a ship rig or be ship-rigged, with each mas ...

that was built in 1886. She is representative of several different commercial ventures, including lumber, salmon, and grain. She is a U.S.

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

and is currently preserved as part of

San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park The San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park is located in San Francisco, California, United States. The park includes a fleet of historic vessels, a visitor center, a maritime museum, and a library/research facility. Formerly referred to ...

in San Francisco, California, although temporarily on display in Vallejo. She was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on 7 November 1976.

History

''Balclutha'' was built in 1886 by

Charles Connell and Company Charles Connell and Company was a Scottish shipbuilding company based in Scotstoun in Glasgow on the River Clyde. History The company was founded by Charles Connell (1822–1894), who had served an apprenticeship with Robert Steele & Company ...

Scotstoun Scotstoun () is an area of Glasgow, Scotland, west of Glasgow City Centre. It is bounded by Garscadden and Yoker to the west, Victoria Park, Jordanhill and Whiteinch to the east, Jordanhill to the north and the River Clyde (and Braehead ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland, for Robert McMillan, of

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

, Scotland. Her name derives from the

Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...

''Baile Chluaidh'' ("City on the Clyde", a poetic name for

). Designed as a general trader, ''Balclutha'' rounded

Cape Horn Cape Horn (, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which is Águila Islet), Cape Horn marks the nor ...

17 times in thirteen years. During this period she carried cargoes such as wine, case oil, and coal from Europe and the

East Coast of the United States The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the region encompassing the coast, coastline where the Eastern United States meets the Atlantic Ocean; it has always pla ...

to various ports in the Pacific. These included

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

for nitrate,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

for wool,

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

for rice, San Francisco for grain, and the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

for timber. In 1899 ''Balclutha'' transferred to the registry of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, and traded timber from the Pacific Northwest to Australia, returning to San Francisco with Australian coal. In 1902 ''Balclutha'' was chartered to the

Alaska Packers' Association The Alaska Packers' Association (APA) was a San Francisco-based manufacturer of Alaska canned salmon founded in 1891 and sold in 1982. As the largest salmon packer in Alaska, the member canneries of APA were active in local affairs, and had con ...

(APA). After having struck a reef off of

Sitkinak Island Sitkinak Island is an island of the Kodiak Archipelago of the state of Alaska, United States. It lies south of the southern tip of Kodiak Island in the western part of the Gulf of Alaska. Tugidak Island lies to its west. The two islands are the ...

near

Kodiak Island Kodiak Island (, ) is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait. The largest island in the Kodiak Archipelago, Kodiak Island is the second largest island in the Un ...

on 16 May 1904, she was renamed the ''Star of Alaska'' when bought by APA for merely $500. After extended repairs she joined the

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

fishing trade, sailing north from the San Francisco area to the Chignik Bay, Alaska, in April with supplies, fishermen, and cannery workers, and returned in September with a cargo of canned salmon. For this trade she carried over 200 crew and passengers, as compared to the 26-man crew she carried as the ''Balclutha''. In 1911 the poop deck was extended to the main mast to accommodate Italian and Scandinavian workers. This expansion is called the shelter deck. In the 'tween deck, bunks for Chinese workers were built. Her last voyage in this trade was in 1930, when she then was laid up after her return home. In 1933, ''Star of Alaska'' was renamed ''Pacific Queen'' by her new owner Frank Kissinger. In this guise she appeared in the film ''

Mutiny on the Bounty The mutiny on the ''Bounty'' occurred in the South Pacific Ocean on 28 April 1789. Disaffected crewmen, led by acting-Lieutenant Fletcher Christian, seized control of the ship, , from their captain, Lieutenant (navy), Lieutenant William Bli ...

'' starring

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American actor often referred to as the "King of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". He appeared in more than 60 Film, motion pictures across a variety of Film genre, genres dur ...

and

Charles Laughton Charles Laughton (; 1 July 1899 – 15 December 1962) was a British and American actor. He was trained in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and first appeared professionally on the stage in 1926. In 1927, he was cast in a play wi ...

. She then eked out an existence as an exhibition ship, gradually deteriorating, and was for a while exhibited as a "pirate ship". In 1954, ''Pacific Queen'' was acquired by the San Francisco Maritime Museum, which restored her and renamed her ''Balclutha'' and moored her at Pier 41 East. In 1985 she was designated a

. and
In 1988, she was moved to a mooring at

Hyde Street Pier The Hyde Street Pier, at 2905 Hyde Street, is a historic ferry pier located on the northern waterfront of San Francisco in the U.S. state of California. Background Prior to the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco–Oakland Ba ...

of the

. She previously hosted a monthly Chantey Sing in the shelter deck, which has moved to the adjacent ''

Eureka Eureka often refers to: * Eureka (word), a famous exclamation attributed to Archimedes * Eureka effect, the sudden, unexpected realization of the solution to a problem Eureka or Ureka may also refer to: History * Eureka Rebellion, an 1854 g ...

''. In 2025, she was moved to

Mare Island Mare Island (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Isla de la Yegua'') is a peninsula in the United States in the city of Vallejo, California, about northeast of San Francisco. The Napa River forms its eastern side as it enters the Carquinez Strait junc ...

while the Hyde Street Pier is being replaced.

Image gallery

Image:BalculthaViewAft.JPG, Image:AnchorWindlass.jpg, Image:Balclutha1.jpg, Image:Balclutha2.jpg, Image:Balclutha Figurehead.JPG,

Sources

References

*, retrieved 23:40 GMT 22 January 2005
Entry in Houghton Mifflin's ''Ships of the World''
(registration required), retrieved 23:50 GMT 22 January 2005

External links

''Balclutha'' - BlooSee.comComedian Jonathan Winters Detained In San Francisco
Winters was arrested in 1959, after climbing in the rigging of the Balclutha. * {{Authority control San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park Tall ships of the United Kingdom Tall ships of the United States Victorian-era merchant ships of the United Kingdom Museum ships in San Francisco Individual sailing vessels Windjammers Three-masted ships Historic American Engineering Record in San Francisco National Historic Landmarks in the San Francisco Bay Area Sail training ships Ships built on the River Clyde 1886 ships National Register of Historic Places in San Francisco Ships on the National Register of Historic Places in California Full-rigged ships Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco category:Ships of the Star Line

History

Image gallery

See also

Sources

References

External links