Alma (1891)

Last updated
Alma
1900alma.jpg
Alma under sail, c. 1900
History
Flag of the United States.svg United States
BuilderFred Siemer
Launched1891
Status Museum ship
General characteristics
Tonnage
Length
  • 80 ft (24 m) LOA
  • 59 ft (18 m) Reg. Length
Beam22.6 ft (6.9 m)
Depth of hold4 ft (1.2 m)
Sail plan Schooner
Alma (Scow Schooner)
Alma (scow schooner, San Francisco) 2.JPG
USA California location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location2905 Hyde St. (Hyde St. Pier), San Francisco, California
Coordinates 37°48′37.5″N122°25′22″W / 37.810417°N 122.42278°W / 37.810417; -122.42278
Built1891
Architect Fred Siemer
NRHP reference No. 75000179
Significant dates
Added to NRHP10 October 1975 [1]
Designated NHL7 June 1988 [2]

Alma is an 1891-built scow schooner, which is now preserved as a National Historic Landmark at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park in San Francisco, California.

Contents

History

Alma is a flat-bottomed scow schooner built in 1891 by Fred Siemer at his boatyard near Shipwright's Cottage at Hunters Point in San Francisco. Like the many other local scow schooners of that time, she was designed to haul goods on and around San Francisco Bay, but now hauls people. Able to navigate the shallow creeks and sloughs of the Sacramento and San Joaquin River Delta, the scows' strong, sturdy hulls could rest safely and securely on the bottom and provided a flat, stable platform for loading and unloading. While principally designed as sailing vessels, scow schooners could also be hauled from the bank or poled in the shallows of the delta.

Until 1918, Alma hauled a variety of cargo under sail, including hay and lumber. Thereafter she was demasted and used as a salt-carrying barge. In 1926 a gasoline engine was installed, and Alma became an dredging oyster schooner, remaining in this trade until 1957.

While built and operated on San Francisco Bay, Alma is in many ways indistinguishable from scows that were launched and sailed on Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf Coast, the Great Lakes, inland rivers, and other coastal waters of the United States. No scow schooners except Alma are known to survive afloat in the United States. [3]

In 1959, Alma was purchased by the State of California and restoration commenced in 1964. She was added to the National Register of Historic Places on 10 October 1975. [1] In 1988, she was designated a National Historic Landmark. [2] [4] She is now one of the exhibits of the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park and is to be found moored at the park's Hyde Street Pier.

See also

Citations

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. 1 2 "Alma (Scow)". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2007-11-14. Retrieved 2008-02-13.
  3. "Scow Schooner "Alma"". List of Classified Structures. National Park Service. 17 November 2008. Archived from the original on 2 March 2012. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  4. Delgado, James P.; Foster, Kevin J. (1 July 1987). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Scow Schooner Alma / Alma". National Park Service . Retrieved 2012-08-22.
    Delgado, James P.; Foster, Kevin J. (1 July 1987). "Accompanying 5 images, from c.1971 and undated". National Park Service . Retrieved 2012-08-22.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scow</span> Type of flat-bottomed barge

A scow is a smaller type of barge. Some scows are rigged as sailing scows. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, scows carried cargo in coastal waters and inland waterways, having an advantage for navigating shallow water or small harbours. Scows were in common use in the American Great Lakes and other parts of the U.S., Canada, southern England, and New Zealand. In modern times their main purpose is for recreation and racing.

SS <i>Jeremiah OBrien</i> US cargo ship from World War II, now a museum ship

SS Jeremiah O'Brien is a Liberty ship built during World War II and named after the American Revolutionary War ship captain Jeremiah O'Brien (1744–1818).

<i>Balclutha</i> (1886) Steel-hulled full rigged ship that was built in 1886

Balclutha, also known as Star of Alaska, Pacific Queen, or Sailing Ship Balclutha, is a steel-hulled full-rigged ship 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 and is currently preserved at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park in San Francisco, California. She was added to the National Register of Historic Places on 7 November 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park</span> Place in California listed on National Register of Historic Places

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 as the San Francisco Maritime Museum, the collections were acquired by the National Park Service in 1978. The San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park was authorized in 1988; the maritime museum is among the park's many cultural resources. The park also incorporates the Aquatic Park Historic District, bounded by Van Ness Avenue, Polk Street, and Hyde Street.

<i>C.A. Thayer</i> (1895) Schooner

C.A. Thayer is a schooner built in 1895 near Eureka, California. The schooner has been preserved and open to the public at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park since 1963. She is one of the last survivors of the sailing schooners in the West coast lumber trade to San Francisco from Washington, Oregon, and Northern California. She was designated a National Historic Landmark on 13 November 1966.

<i>Eureka</i> (ferryboat)

Eureka is a side-wheel paddle steamboat, built in 1890, which is now preserved at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park in San Francisco, California. Originally named Ukiah to commemorate the railway's recent extension into the City of Ukiah, the boat was built by the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad Company at their Tiburon yard. Eureka has been designated a National Historic Landmark and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on April 24, 1973.

<i>Hercules</i> (1907) 1907-built American steam tugboat

Hercules is a 1907-built steam tugboat that is now preserved at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park in San Francisco, California.

<i>Elissa</i> (ship)

The tall ship Elissa is a three-masted barque. She is based in Galveston, Texas, and is one of the oldest ships sailing today. Launched in 1877, she is now a museum ship at the Texas Seaport Museum. She was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1990. The Texas Legislature designated Elissa the official tall ship of Texas in 2005.

<i>Berkeley</i> (ferryboat)

Berkeley was one of several ferryboats of the Southern Pacific Railroad that for sixty years operated on San Francisco Bay between the Oakland Pier and the San Francisco Ferry Building. Built in 1898 by the Union Iron Works of San Francisco, she served after the 1906 earthquake, ferrying refugees across the bay to Oakland.

<i>Effie M. Morrissey</i> Museum ship in Massachusetts

Effie M. Morrissey is a schooner skippered by Robert Bartlett that made many scientific expeditions to the Arctic, sponsored by American museums, the Explorers Club and the National Geographic Society. She also helped survey the Arctic for the United States Government during World War II. She is currently designated by the United States Department of the Interior as a National Historic Landmark as part of the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. She is the State Ship of Massachusetts.

<i>Wawona</i> (schooner)

Wawona was an American three-masted, fore-and-aft schooner that sailed from 1897 to 1947 as a lumber carrier and fishing vessel based in Puget Sound. She was one of the last survivors of the sailing schooners in the West Coast lumber trade to San Francisco from Washington, Oregon, and Northern California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aquatic Park Historic District</span> Historic district in California, United States

Aquatic Park Historic District is a National Historic Landmark and building complex on the San Francisco Bay waterfront within San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James P. Delgado</span> American maritime archaeologist, explorer and author

James Preston Delgado is a maritime archaeologist, historian, maritime preservation expert, author, television host, and explorer.

<i>Adventuress</i> (schooner) 1913 schooner

Adventuress is a 133-foot (41 m) gaff-rigged schooner launched in 1913 in East Boothbay, Maine. She has since been restored, and is listed as a National Historic Landmark. She is one of two surviving San Francisco bar pilot schooners.

<i>Governor Stone</i> (schooner)

Governor Stone is a historic schooner, built in 1877, in Pascagoula, Mississippi, United States. She is the only surviving two-masted coasting cargo schooner built on the Gulf Coast of the United States, and is only one of five such surviving US-built ships. On 4 December 1991, she was added to the US National Register of Historic Places. One year later, the schooner was designated a US National Historic Landmark. She is presently berthed at Saint Andrews Marina in Panama City, Florida, where she is maintained by a nonprofit group. Sailing tours are regularly scheduled.

<i>Bowdoin</i> (Arctic schooner)

Bowdoin is a historic schooner built in 1921 in East Boothbay, Maine, at the Hodgdon Brothers Shipyard. Designed by William H. Hand, Jr. under the direction of explorer Donald B. MacMillan, the gaff-rigged vessel is the only American schooner built specifically for Arctic exploration. She has made 29 trips above the Arctic Circle in her life, three since she was acquired by the Maine Maritime Academy as a sail training ship in 1988. She is currently owned by the Academy, located in Castine, Maine, and is named for Bowdoin College.

<i>Lettie G. Howard</i> Schooner

Lettie G. Howard, formerly Mystic C and Caviare, is a wooden Fredonia schooner built in 1893 in Essex, Massachusetts, USA. This type of craft was commonly used by American offshore fishermen, and is believed to be the last surviving example of its type. She was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989. She is now based at the South Street Seaport Museum in New York City.

<i>American Eagle</i> (schooner) United States historic place

The American Eagle, originally Andrew and Rosalie, is a two-masted schooner serving the tourist trade out of Rockland, Maine. Launched in 1930 at Gloucester, Massachusetts, she was the last auxiliary schooner to be built in that port, and one of Gloucester's last sail-powered fishing vessels. A National Historic Landmark, she is also the oldest known surviving vessel of the type, which was supplanted not long afterward by modern trawlers.

<i>Lewis R. French</i> (schooner)

Lewis R. French is a gaff-rigged topsail schooner sailing out of Camden, Maine as a "Maine windjammer" offering 3 to 6 night cruises to tourists. Built in 1871, she is the oldest known two-masted schooner in the United States, and one of a small number of this once-common form of vessel in active service. The ship was designated a US National Historic Landmark in 1992.

<i>Mayflower</i> (scow-schooner) Wooden hulled scow schooner that sank in Lake Superior

The Mayflower was a wooden hulled scow-schooner that sank on June 2, 1891, in Lake Superior near Duluth, Minnesota, United States, after capsizing with a load of sandstone blocks. In 2012 the shipwreck site was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

References