Arthur Sewall
Date
2008
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Texas Tech University Libraries
Abstract
Ship Name: Arthur Sewall; Sailed: 1899-1907; Type: Steel 4-masted bark; Built by: Bath, Maine by Arthur Sewall & Co.; Dimensions: 332' x 45.2' x 25.6'; Tonnage: 3209tons.
Description
Arthur Sewall, the namesake of this vessel, was an astute businessman, politician, and influential who testified before maritime hearings in Washington DC and who served on numerous directorates of railroads , banks and other signposts of wealth and capacity. He once served as William Jennings Bryan’s running mate in a presidential election, but was unsuccessful. The ship that bears his name, the Arthur Sewall, looks very much like a British four-poster of a slightly earlier era, with the turret-deck poop and the single-tube mast from deck to topgallant. Giving the ship away as American, is the Sewall steel-ship absence of a figurehead or even scrollwork and the wheelhouse aft—of course the flag is conclusive, as well. Please note another oddity: The upper topsail yards are not hoisted—they are in fact fixed in their positions, whereas the topgallants do hoist.
Arthur Sewall traded around the Horn with coal, bringing wheat back from California, sugar from Hawaii, case oil to Shanghai, lumber from Puget Sound across the Pacific. Arthur Sewall’s captains included James Murphey (who had been master of the Shenandoah), and Burton Gaffery. Arthur Sewall left the east coast for Seattle with coal in the spring of 1907 and was never heard from again.
Keywords
Ships, Merchant Ships