Falls Of Clyde, Bark Rig, 1878

   As built in 1878, Falls of Clyde is an iron-hulled, four-masted vessel originally rigged as a ship, later downrigged to a bark, subsequently dismasted, and then restored in 1970 to her original ship rig. Falls of Clyde is 266.1 feet in length, with a 40.0- foot beam and a 23.5-foot depth of hold. Falls of Clyde is registered at 1,807 gross and 1,741 net tons. Built staunchly with iron Z-bar frames and double riveted iron plate laid as inner and outer strakes, Falls of Clyde was rated 100A1 by Lloyd's of London, the highest rating the conservative maritime insurance firm could provide. Falls of Clyde was built to the British medium clipper model. Slower sailers than the sleek tea clippers of the 1860s and 70s, the fuller-bodied medium clippers made fair passages with greater capacity than the earlier clippers. Full-rigged on her fore-, main-, mizzen-, and jiggermasts, Falls of Clyde was rigged with royals over single topgallants. In 1899 the vessel was downrigged to a bark; the squaresail yards on the jiggermast were replaced with a spanker boom and gaft which increased the vessel's maneuverability, an asset when sailing along a coastline. Typical for the period and type of construction, Falls of Clyde was rigged with wire rope.

 

   Rigged royal, single topgallant and double top-sails. 
1878 December 12
   Launched at the shipyard of Russel & Co., Port Glasgow, for the Falls Line (Wright, Beakenridge & Co),    Glasgow. Assigned the Official British Reg. No. 80436. 
1879 April 20
   Sailed from Greenock to Karachi. 
1879 December 18
   Sailed from Karachi to London. 
1897 November 30
   Sailed from Portland, OR, to Queenstown or Falmouth for orders with a cargo of 100.290 bushels of wheat. 
1900
   Sold to W. Matson, Honolulu, and was re-rigged as a barque. 
1900
   Sold to the Associated Oil Co., San Francisco, CA. 
1907
   Sold to the General Petroleum Corp., San Fancisco, and rebuilt to a sailing oil tanker. 
1927
   Sold to General Petroleum and was converted into a fuel storage barge at Ketchikan, Alaska. 
1927
   Sold to W.E. Mitchell Jr and towed to Seattle. [Sea Breezes Vol. 27 (1959), p 300] 
1963
   Towed to Honolulu, HI. 
1968
   Acquired by the Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, HI, and re-rigged. 

   Presently preserved as a museum ship at the Hawai'i Maritime Center, Honolulu, HI, USA.