Historical Tourist: "She's a lovely boat . . . ship."

In a small town (with a still-operating harbor) sits between the mouth of the Chahalis River and the Gray's Harbor inlet, a rather unassuming, blue-and-yellow-railed sailing ship. Rather small by all outside comparisons of what the silver screen would have us believe of the scale of these vessels that once dominated the seas, the Lady Washington finds its winter harbor here, in Aberdeen, Washington. Not chilly, in comparison to its neighbors a mere 300 miles further inland, the ship stationed here has seen far warmer waters in its tenure. Here, she winters with only occasional trips up and down the river past the water-eaten posts indicating old lumber mill piers.

The current replica of the Lady Washington was launched 32 years ago, a far cry from the initial construction date of its predecessor in the mid-1700s. Being a native of the American colonies, it has been difficult for historians to properly trace precisely which of the countless Lady Washington privateers is the one that would one day go on to become the ship owned by Samuel Brown, the same man to finance the ship's trading expedition to the Pacific Northwest. We do know, however, that the Lady Washington served in the American Revolution as a privateer. Following the war--during which the Lady had been refitted with canon--the sloop was refitted to become a merchant vessel. Eventually, following the first British voyage to the Pacific Northwest by Captain Cook, Joseph Barrell enlisted the Lady's owner as a partner in order to pursue their own trade route in the Pacific, choosing the Lady Washington and a larger ship, the Columbia Rediviva, for the task. In order to reach the areas that Barrell saw as the height of opportunity for profit, the two ships would have to make the voyage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific.

The navigational path that the original Lady Washington took was a far rougher and longer journey than the one her copy took in 2002, explored later in this article. While both ships were traveling between Pacific and Atlantic, the voyage in the 1700s was far more daunting, sending the ship south around Cape Horn at the southernmost point of South America. Cape Horn and Cape Hope (the southernmost point of the African continent) were renowned in the era of sailing ships as some of the most treacherous waters in the seas. These two passes, however, were vital to the lucrative trade that the Pacific offered. Thus, the Lady Washington (at the time captained by Robert Gray) was the first American ship to round Cape Horn in this pursuit in April of 1788. It was at Cape Horn that the two ships enlisted for the trade mission became initially separated, with the Lady taking point some distance ahead of her partner. This being the case, the Lady Washington became the first ship to stop on her route and make landfall along the Pacific coast of North America, her captain trading in pursuit of the highly-prized otter furs that made the route so appealing to the mission's sponsors. After a few years trading up and down the coast and a transfer of captains between the Lady and the Columbia, the sloop finally made its trek across the Pacific to China by way of the Hawaiian islands. Having difficulty in selling their furs in the over-saturated market, the captain (John Kendrick) decided he might have more luck attempting to sell the furs in Japan, thus making the Lady Washington the first American ship to approach Japanese shores. After several years of financial difficulties, a refitting into a brig while anchored in China, and another two captains, the Lady Washington finally succumbed to her frequent run-ins with bad weather and poor navigational luck when her then-captain poorly judged a water passage that grounded the ship on a trading run to Manila for rice.

A replica of the Lady Washington was built in the 1980s by a group of historians (who pursued thorough research) and skilled craftsmen. The Lady was launched as part of the Washington State Centennial celebration, fitting for a ship who shares the name of the state and was the first American ship to make landfall on the state's coasts. The researchers and designers for the modern version of the ship utilized the original ship's latest model, the brig refitting, in their construction. Fully seaworthy, the Lady Washington makes an annual tour of the Washington coast, sailing up to Puget Sound during the height of summer tourist season before making her way back down the coast to winter at her home port. The Gray's Harbor Historical Seaport site lists the Lady Washington as having been a fixture in quite a few motion pictures and television shows, with her most famous role being in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

In some form of poetry, the Lady Washington's doppelganger made a trip that highlights the massive advancements in a parallel trip to her namesake in a voyage to St. Vincent in the Caribbean in 2002, to undertake her role as the HMS Interceptor in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. After 49 days of set dressing in California, the Lady Washington began a 40-day voyage to reach St. Vincent in the Caribbean (as opposed to the months' long voyage of the original). Meeting fair weather in her Pacific trek, the Lady Washington was greeted by dolphins much the same as the original was when she finally rounded Cape Horn, meeting similar weather as well. As was rife in the history of the Lady, the ship had been refitted for gun ports (a constant undertaking of Captain Kendrick back in the 1700s had been to add more guns) and repainted to match what set designers wanted. Like her predecessor, however, the Lady Washington didn't quite make it all the way along the Pacific coast without meeting with rough conditions, finding rough waters at Acapulco, Mexico that required some minor repairs. Still, the Lady made good timing and was able to clear the Panama Canal on Christmas Day of 2002. Rounding the northern coast of South America, however, the replica ship found similarly rough waters that the original Lady Washington held competition with rounding Cape Horn (though, admittedly, to a markedly lesser extent). The ship's jib boom, however, did require repair and replacement after being ruined in the high swells. Ironically, the original Lady Washington also met with damage to her jib stay in her rounding of the Southern coast of the same continent over three hundred years prior. The Lady, in her modern form, was able to recuperate same as her namesake and made it to her destination: this time, St. Vincent. The rest is cinematic history (or at least recounted on the bonus features disk for the first Pirates movie).

As we all sit down and re-watch that first Pirates movie for close to the two-hundredth time, it is amazing to think about the naval technology of the 1700s. The hardships that the people of the time had to endure are those that the crews of replica naval vessels sign up and train for at historical ports the world over. Yet, when we see the Interceptor, we realize that in order to get that ship there from her home port, the journey was far shorter than the Lady Washington had to endure in her time. How much easier we have it, with the canals of the 19th and 20th centuries and the electric and gas-powered motors on our modern-day seafaring vessels. A trip on the Lady Washington, even just a short sail, no motor, under her own power, can bring back the tranquility and realization that the rustic traditions and technologies of old held for centuries as we sailed the high seas.

---

Bibliography (for further reading):

Chipman, Alexa. Lady Washington: Age of Exploration Merchant Vessel. United States: Imagination Lane, 2010.

"Lady Washington History." Gray's Harbor Historical Seaport. Gray's Harbor Historical Seaport Authority, 2020. Accessed 18 Mar 2021. https://historicalseaport.org/lady-washington-history/.

Verbinski, Gore, dir. "An Epic at Sea" bonus feature. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. 2003; Burbank, CA: Walt Disney Pictures, 2003. DVD.

Verbinski, Gore, dir. "Diary of a Ship" bonus feature. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. 2003; Burbank, CA: Walt Disney Pictures, 2003. DVD.