Wapama

 

Wapama, built 1915

SAFR 21374 P93-065, K07.38715

Wapama: The Last Steam Schooner

Wapama was a wooden-hulled steam schooner built in 1915. The ship was the last example of the wooden steam schooners built for the Pacific Coast lumber trade. In the late 1800s, wooden steam schooners began to replace sailing ships for hauling lumber and passengers up and down the Pacific Coast. Over 200 of these ships were built between the 1880s and 1920s.

Wapama was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 24, 1973 and designated a National Historic Landmark on April 20, 1984. Due to its poor condition, the ship was slated for dismantling in 2011. Wapama was completely dismantled in August 2013, and its National Historic Landmark designation was withdrawn in 2015. Pieces of the Wapama, including its engine, are preserved and exhibited at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.

 

Wapama Quick Facts

• Length: 216 ft

• Beam: 40 ft

• Depth: 14 ft

• Gross Tonnage: 950

• Propulsion System: Single screw propeller, triple expansion steam engine, 825 IHP

• Boilers: Two oil-filled water tube boilers

 

Wapama's oil-filled water tube boilers

NPS Photo

Build and Design

Known as a "single end steamer," Wapama had its engine and machinery housed aft (at the rear end of the ship).

Wapama’s hull was traditionally constructed. Frames were sawn to shape and fastened to a keel built up from large timbers. The frames were planked on the outside and sealed against leaks with caulking. Internally, a ceiling was laid over the frames to increase the hull strength and to provide a smooth surface for moving and placing cargo, as well as seating the boilers and engine.

A high superstructure on the stern and a high forecastle on the bow were distinctive features of Wapama. The masts and spars supported booms for loading and off-loading cargo and were equipped with two sets of friction winches. These powerful winches were designed to allow Wapama to load and off-load without the use of cranes on shore. The ability to do this was an asset in the lumber trade, where ports were primitive and lacked facilities for cargo loading. Wapama had one main hatch for loading. In addition to 60 passengers, the ship could carry 1,100,00 board feet of lumber, which included a deckload 15 feet deep.

The vessel was powered by a triple expansion engine, Indicated Horsepower (ihp) 800, built by the Main Iron Works of San Francisco. The engine was powered by water tube boilers, and the boilers burned diesel oil.

The interior of the Wapama was divided into several sections, the largest being the hold where the cargo was stowed. Other spaces were reserved for machinery, the engine room, crew quarters, the galley, passenger areas, and the pilothouse. Because the vessel had a radical sheer, all the interior woodwork was fitted to the ship. This meant that no doorway, or other opening, was square.

 

Wapama at Hyde St. Pier on Arrival Day, San Francisco, CA, 1963 Oct 02

SAFR 21374 P93-065, A12.16766

From Cargo Ship to Museum Ship

Wapama was designed and built in 1915 by James Price of the St. Helens Shipbuilding Co. a subsidiary of the Charles McCormick Lumber Company, Oregon. The ship was launched on January 20, 1915. Several weeks later, it was towed from Astoria to San Francisco to have its engine installed. On May 2, Wapama made its first operating voyage from San Francisco to various California-Oregon ports of call en route to Astoria.

The ship continued in this service until 1930, when McCormick sold the ship to the Los Angeles-San Francisco Navigation Co. (White Flyer Line).  That company used the ship for passenger and light cargo transport between San Francisco and San Pedro, California for seven years before selling it again to Erik Krag of Viking Steamship Co., which intended the ship for short passenger service.  Wapama only made two money-losing trips before it was laid up by Krag and later sold to Alaska Transportation Co.

Alaska Transportation changed the ship’s name to Tongass and ran the ship from Seattle to various small southern Alaska ports carrying freight, mail, and passengers to many of the small cannery ports on the coastline. The company suspended operations in 1947, and the ship was sold to a scrap yard in 1949. 

The State of California acquired the vessel in 1958 and displayed it at the San Francisco Maritime State Park at Hyde Street Pier. In 1977, Wapama was transferred to the National Park Service. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1984 and became part of San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park in 1988.

Wapama was displayed afloat at Hyde Street Pier until 1980, when its wooden hull had so badly deteriorated that it was removed from the water and placed on a barge. The ship was towed to Richmond, California, where it was berthed until 2013. 

 

Wapama's engine on display at Hyde Street Pier

NPS Image

The End of a Steam Schooner's Life Cycle

The long shallow hulls of the steam schooners, which were necessary to navigate the shallow shoals of the Pacific Coast, made for a weak structure, prone to sagging at the bow and stern. This process is called hogging.

Hogging is the tendency for a vessel’s keel to bend down over time due to the difference in buoyancy between the narrow ends of the vessel and its full, buoyant midsection. As age and decay sapped the strength of Wapama's massive timbers, the hogging became so severe that the ship could not remain afloat. By 1980, when the ship was permanently hauled out, the keel was 30 inches higher at the midpoint of the hull than at the ends.

The Douglas fir used to construct the ship posed another preservation issue. Though it was a commonly used material for shipbuilding on the West Coast, Douglas fir is extremely vulnerable to dry rot. Wapama’s double-frame structure made adequate ventilation difficult to maintain, allowing dry rot to spread until the structure of the ship was fatally undermined.

After a series of condition assessments and stabilization measures, including removing heavy deck machinery and bracing the hull, the park concluded that, due to its extremely poor condition, the dismantling of  Wapama must begin as outlined in the 1997 General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement. The Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) documented the vessel with through drawings and photographs and captured important construction details throughout the dismantling process. The dismantling was completed in August 2013.

Wapama's 30-ton steam engine was removed and displayed on the park's Hyde Street Pier. Other significant elements, artifacts, and pieces of machinery were saved. Combined with material from the park's museum collections, they will tell Wapama’s story and preserve its place in history.

For a detailed management summary about Wapama's dismantling and downloadable copies of condition studies and reports, visit https://parkplanning.nps.gov/wapama.

 

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