PHOTO COURTESY OF TALL SHIPS TACOMA

Lady Washington Statistics Type of vessel: Brig Home port: Aberdeen, Wash. Built: 1989 (replica, original built in 1750s) Overall length: 112 feet Mast height: 89 feet Gross tonnage: 99 tons Total sail area: 4,442 square feet Rigging: Approximately six miles Guns: Two 3-pounders, two swivels Crew compliment: 12 Passenger capacity: 48

Fife takes to the seas

By Meghan Erkkinen

Fife is taking to the seas this summer. The city adopted the Lady Washington, a tall ship, for this year’s Tall Ships Festival in Tacoma.

The original Lady Wash-ington has a long – and somewhat shady – history.

The ship is a full-scale replica of another vessel of the same name. The original Lady Washington was built in the British colony of Massachusetts in the 1750s. Until the American Revolution, the vessel carried cargo between colonial ports. Once war broke out, however, she became a privateer vessel.

“She was famous,” said Les Bolton, executive director of the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport, where the boat calls home.

The vessel was smaller in size, due to pre-Revolution regulations imposed by the British. To escape pursuing British vessels during the revolution, the Lady Washington’s captain would speed through the many small islands around Boston, leaving the bigger British ships behind, unable to navigate the narrow passageways.

After the Revolution, the vessel once again took on a new role.

“After the American Revolution, we were a free and incredibly impoverished country,” Bolton said. Because of their size, American ships were not equipped to handle international trade. So instead of navigating traditional trade routes, many ship captains opted to explore new possibilities. In 1788, the Lady Washington made history yet again.

“Lady Washington in 1788 became the first (American) vessel to visit northwest America,” Bolton said. “She opened transpacific trade.”

The ship went on to visit new territory all along the Pacific Rim, including Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Alaska, Honolulu, Hong Kong and Japan. The Lady Washington ultimately ended up foundering in the Philippines in 1798.

For nearly two centuries, the rich and unique history and significance of the vessel was largely forgotten. But in 1985, the vessel got new life. That year the state government decided to commission a project for the state centennial in 1989 by replicating a tall ship with historical significance to the area.

For a long time, Bolton said, “nobody actually recognized the history of the boat. But low and behold, those crazy guys in Grays Harbor wound up getting the go-ahead.”

After thorough research and design by historians, the ship was built by skilled shipwrights, and, in May 1989, the official tall ship of Washington state took her maiden voyage.

“Since that time, she’s visited more than 140 port communities,” Bolton said.

And the vessel’s journeys are not limited to where she has been. The Lady Washington starred in the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl” as the 1700s ship HMS Interceptor, and in “Star Trek Generations” as the 25th century ship HMS Enterprise.

“How many ships have actually sailed into seven generations?” Bolton said.

The Lady Washington makes its home at the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport – that is, when she is not entertaining guests on one of her frequent voyages out to sea.

Since her first voyage, the Lady Washington has had more than a million people cross her decks and between 50,000 and 80,000 annually. The ship entertains between 10,000 and 15,000 school children annually.

With all that attention, the ship is not easy to maintain. It uses about 17,500 gallons of diesel fuel every year – because you cannot always count on the wind, Bolton said. The cost to maintain the Lady Washington and her partner ship, the Hawaiian Chieftain, is more than $1.1 million every year. And the ship has to be repainted four times a year – a task that takes approximately 285 man-hours to complete.

But, according to Bolton, all that work is part of the enjoyment.

“That’s part of the experience and really that is one of the great powers of these vessels is that sense of ownership, the sense of responsibility that comes with them,” he said.

The Lady Washington will be leaving her homeport of Grays Harbor June 21 to make her trip to Tacoma for the Tall Ships Festival. After making stops in Port Angeles, Victoria and Port Townsend, she will rendezvous with the rest of the Tall Ships fleet at Vashon Island. On July 3, the Lady Washington will sail into Tacoma as part of the Parade of Sail.

For those who visit the festival, which will be held July 3-7, Bolton recommends they do more than just tour the vessel.

“Every ship has a thousand stories and if you really want to find out about tall ships, don’t just stand up on deck and look up at the rig,” Bolton said. “If you really want to find out, ask. There are crew members who would love to share their stories with you.”

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