Today my daughter and I made the short trip to Pillar Point Harbor to visit the Lady Washington, a 112 foot long brig armed with 4 cannons and equipped with 6 miles of rigging (see images below…) We handed over a few bucks as a donation and proceeded to board via a gangplank grafted to the side of the ship.

The new Lady Washington is a full-scale reproduction of the original Lady Washington. Built in the British Colony of Massachusetts in the 1750’s, the original vessel carried freight between colonial ports until the American Revolutionary War, when she became an American privateer. In 1787, after the war, she was given a major refit to prepare her for a unprecedented trading voyage around Cape Horn. In 1788, she became the first American vessel to make landfall on the west coast of North America.

A pioneer in Pan-Pacific trade, she was the first American ship to visit Honolulu, Hong Kong and Japan. Lady Washington opened the black pearl and sandalwood trade between Hawaii and the Orient when King Kamehameha became a partner in the ship.

The modern Lady Washington was thoroughly researched by historians and constructed by skilled shipwrights. She was launched as part of the 1989 Washington State Centennial celebration. The new Lady Washington meets all of the U.S. Coast Guard safety requirements for a 21st–century ship.

Despite being a reproduction, it gave a very clear view about what life aboard such a ship would be like (minus the diesel fumes.) It was very cool – when queried about the desire for a trip around the harbor aboard, my daughter didn’t think it was a good idea. So we saved big bucks based upon her preference. (Though I have to admit, I wouldn’t have minded spending a few hours aboard sailing…)

After the tour of the ship, we hung around the harbor and watched crab pots being loaded in the crab boats getting ready for the season. There was part of the bridge of the boat Irene left dockside, my daughter had a blast playing inside there turning the wheel pretending to be at sea fighting through imaginary storms. There was a little aquatic bird fishing in the harbor, this was also high fun.

Even more interesting than the Lady Washington was the notion that sea life (barnacles and the like) attach themselves to the bottoms of boats; the quote was “Papa, why are the bottoms of the boats fuzzy?” Finally, we watched a harbor seal at play and called it a day. Fun was had by all. The Lady Washington will be in port through next weekend.

More photos from our visit are below:

Ship’s Bell and one of the masts with rigging



Sails and rigging on one of the two masts



Flag, Rigging, and the other mast



View of the Lady Washington from the Main Pier