POULSBO — For 25 years, the C.A. Thayer was a commanding presence on the waters of Liberty Bay.

From 1925-1950, with the exception of World War II service, the 219-foot three-masted schooner and her crew sailed to the Bering Sea, returning to Poulsbo with a hold full of salted cod for the West Coast market.

The ship’s presence meant jobs — and that the fishermen were safe at home.

The Shields family, which owned the Thayer and the codfish company, prolonged the Age of Sail until 1950, when the Thayer made its last voyage. It entered the history books as the last commercial sailing vessel to operate on the West Coast, according to the National Park Service.

The Thayer is now docked in San Francisco, where it is part of the Maritime National Historical Park and underwent an extensive restoration. The Thayer was rechristened on Aug. 20. Members of the Shields family — siblings Dave and Jim Shields and their sister, Judy Fuhrer — were there to participate and were given the honor of ringing the ship’s bell.

“It’s in a whole lot nicer condition from when we were kids,” Dave said. “You’ve got to understand, it was a working boat, a fishing ship. It’s awfully nice now.”

He added, “It’s the last of its kind, anywhere, out of hundreds of schooners.”

He said a National Park Service video of the event, as well as artifacts from the ship, will someday be on exhibit at the Poulsbo Maritime Museum.

Of the ship, Judy Driscoll of the Poulsbo Historical Society said, “We’d love to have it here,” but added she understood San Francisco’s connection to the ship.

“It’s obviously of interest to us, as it was a ship that worked out of town for many years. Many people from Poulsbo have parents and grandparents who worked on it.”

Lumber, salmon, cod
According to a National Park Service online history of the ship, the C.A. Thayer was built in 1895 at Hans D. Bendixsen’s shipyard in Fairhaven, near Eureka, California, and named for Clarence A. Thayer, a partner in the San Francisco-based E.K. Wood Lumber Company.

“Between 1895 and 1912, Thayer usually sailed from E.K. Wood’s mill in Grays Harbor, Washington, to San Francisco,” according to the online history. “But she also carried lumber as far south as Mexico, and occasionally even ventured offshore to Hawaii and Fiji.”

From 1912 to 1924, C.A. Thayer hauled 28-foot gill-net boats, bundles of barrel staves, and tons of salt from San Francisco to Western Alaska, returning each September loaded with barrels of salted salmon. During the winter months of 1915-19, C.A. Thayer carried Northwest fir and Mendocino redwood to Australia and returned with coal, hardwood or copra (dried coconut meat, from which coconut oil is pressed).

From 1925-1930, C.A. Thayer — now owned by J.E. Shields’ Pacific  Coast Codfish Co. — made yearly voyages from Poulsbo to codfishing waters in the Bering Sea. The ship carried up to 30 men north, including 14 fishermen and 12 “dressers” who cleaned and cured the catch.

“At about 4:30 a.m. each day, the fishermen launched their Grand Banks dories over Thayer’s rails, and then fished standing up, with handlines dropped over both sides of their small boats,” according to the online history. “When the fishing was good, a man might catch 300-350 cod in a five-hour period.”

One of those dories was restored by Jim Shields, his brother Dave, and other volunteers from the Poulsbo Historical Society, and is on display on the second floor of Poulsbo City Hall.

C.A. Thayer was laid up in Lake Union during the Depression, then was purchased by the U.S. Army  for use in the war effort. “In 1942, the Army removed her masts and used Thayer as an ammunition barge in British Columbia,” according to the online history. “After World War II, Shields bought his ship back from the Army, fitted her with masts once again, and returned her to codfishing.”

The State of California purchased C.A. Thayer in 1957, and the ship underwent restoration work in Seattle before sailing to San Francisco. It underwent more repairs and refitting and opened to the public in 1963. It was transferred to the National Park Service in 1978 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1984.

The C.A. Thayer hosts living history programs, in which children experience living as sailors did in the early 1900s. “They answer to the captain’s orders, stand night watches, set sails, cook their own food in the galley, and spend the night aboard ship,” according to the online history.

“Also prior to 2003, one night a month, the cargo hold of the ship became a music hall for hundreds who gathered to celebrate songs of the sea. The ship echoed with the rich voices of one hundred plus visitors, park staff, and musicians singing working songs, or chanteys, whose histories are as rich as the sea is deep.”

Restoration
The C.A. Thayer retained most of her original structural timbers for 108 years. By 2003, however, it needed major repairs. In December that year, C.A. Thayer was towed to drydock for restoration. Over the next three years, almost 85 percent of the ship’s framing and planking were replaced.

“Workers made use of many of the same methods and materials used by her original builders in 1895,” according to the online history. “Many of these construction techniques had not been employed in America for close to a century.”

As the vessel was taken apart, tons of rotten timbers were discarded, but every piece that could be salvaged was reused. Rotten frames were removed and replaced with 10-inch timber, sawn to shape. All frame timbers above the waterline were replaced, and a new hull took shape. New four-inch-square deckplanks were caulked with oakum and hot pitch. Planking was in lengths of eighty feet, attached with steel spikes and locust wood trunnels, or “tree nails.”

Over the ensuing years, visitors watched as deckhouses were rebuilt, new masts were placed, new rigging was installed, and sails were attached.

Today, C.A. Thayer is one of only two West Coast lumber schooners left in existence.

According to the National Park Service: “The C.A. Thayer’s life of service is not finished. The mission of San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park is to ‘preserve and interpret the history and achievements of seafaring Americans and of the Nation’s maritime heritage, especially on the Pacific Coast.’ The Thayer helps to fulfill this mission. She represents not only a link to the past, but a ship that continues to make history, teaching one person at a time. Today, her legacy of service continues, connecting the hearts of the present to the roots of the past.”

From left, Dave and Jim Shields and their sister, Judy Fuhrer, of Poulsbo participate in the rededication of the C.A. Thayer, a former codfish schooner previously owned by their family and now part of the San Francisco National Maritime Historical Park, Aug. 20. Courtesy / Shields family

The C.A. Thayer, an 1895 schooner that spent 25 years of its life in Poulsbo, is part of the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. Courtesy / Shields family

— Herald intern Allison Trunkey contributed to this report.