The Republican journal., 1898-06-16
Four Masted Steel Schooner Hawaii.
The four masted steel schooner Hawaii,

The four masted steel schooner Hawaii,
now building in Great Britain for the
Sandwich Islands trade, is a sister S hip to
the Honolulu, and we quote cur descrip-
ton of the latter vessel as published in
| the American Shipbuilder of June 26,
1896: "The most interesting features of
this schooner are, first, that she is con-
structed of steel by British firm for the
use of a merchant who will run her princi
pally between San Francisco and other
Pacific ports. Secondly, that her masts
are practically of the same size, so that
the sails may, on three Of the masts at
any rate, be interchangea The bow
spirit, too, is of steel, all in one piece, and
what is commonly called a spike bow
spirit. AS no iron four masted schooner
has ever been built in the United States
the Houolulu will have special interest for
builders and owners of such tonnage, and
particularly in view of the fact that
American shipbuilders will commence
constructing steel schooners in the United
States before many more years have elaps-
ed. This vessel, besides being the largest
steel schooner ever built in Great Britain,
is of type very rarely met with in British
waters, and altogether novelty as ema-
mating from the stocks of a Clyde ship
yard. She has been built for the timber
carrying trade to the order of John Ena,
merchant and ship owner, Honolulu, for
whom Messrs Duncan built the ship John
Ena in 1892. Our illustration conveys
fair idea of the peculiarities of rig of the
vessel and perhaps also of her hull.
Features which at once attract notice are
the great sheer, graceful clipper bow and
bowsprit, the four lofty pole-masts OF
equal length, and the simplicity, not to
say meagreness, of the rigging gear. The
vessels general proportions are some
what extreme as compared with the
proportions ordinarily adopted in modern
sailing vessels, while the hull form is
quite yacht-like in its fineness OF lines.
Her dimensions are: Length over all 225
feet, or 20 feet between perpendiculars;
Il feet beam, and only five beams to the
length and Is feet & inches depth OF hold
The rise of floor is of the unusual height
of t feet, giving relatively small mid
ship area, and combined with the hneneSS
OF water lines, giving CO. etnclent OF torn
resembling that pertaining to those re
nowned tea clippers built in our midst IN
the ''ffties, which made such marvel
Gus passages to and from the Far East.
The Honolulu has all steel pole-masts,
each of them about 40 feet in height
from keel to truck and with an immense
fore-and- ait sail, hoped to the mast and
laced to gatf and boom. These four sails.
and three ibis, give a total spread of can
vas considerably greater in proportion to
displacement than the total sail area of
any square rugged vessel atioat. The
structure of the vessel is of the strongest
description for the safe carrying of heavy
timber cargOes, somewhere about II
millions superficial feet of lumber being
her complement. Save the collision bulk
head forward, the interior of the vessel is
unobstncted from end to end, and there
is no between decks. The main deck
from stem to stern is entirely OF steel,
with strong hulkwarks supported by
heavy bulb web stanchions every four
feet apart in order to secure safety in
carrying immense deck loads common in
the particular trade for which the vessel
is intended. The forecastle deck is also
of steel, while the poop deck is laid With
specially selected Oregon pine. Besides
having unusually large hatchways for
ward of each mast for timber cargoes,
there are fitted in the bow and stern large
ports capable of taking in the heaviest
timber of almost any length, the timber
being put on board by an ingenious ar
rangement of leads and tackle blocks
worked from special steam winch of
extra power, situated in the large deck
house abaft the torecastle. The vessel,
which is classed British Standard with
the British Corporation of Shipping,
Glasgow, was built and equipped under
the superintendent of Capt. VIM.
1honagel of san Francisco, who has had
great experience, and is well known in
the Pacific trade The Honolulu sailed
from Glasgow with general cargo for
san Francisco via Valparaiso on March
18th. Another four master Ito be called
the Sandwich will be built next year.
american Shipbuilder.