2007 Rose Festival Fleet: Hawaiian Chieftain, Lady Washington and Portland Spirit

Hawaiian Chieftain, Lady Washington and Portland Spirit

At the end of the line were these three ships: replica sailing ships Hawaiian Chieftain and Lady Washington and Portland-based cruise ship Portland Spirit.

The Hawaiian Chieftain and the Lady Washington are reproductions of  late 18th-early 19th century sailing ships, owned and operated by the Gray's Harbor Historical Seaport Authority.

The Hawaiian Chieftain was built in 1988 by the Lahaina Welding Company in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii and has a modern steel hull designed to imitate an early 19th century 65-foot trading vessel. Hawaiian Chieftain was based out of San Francisco Bay, operating with the non-profit Call of the Sea for several years. In late 2004, the ship was sold to an owner in Cape Cod, Massachusetts and was renamed Spirit of Larinda, however the sudden death of the new owner left the ship inactive. The Gray's Harbor Historical Seaport Authority purchased the ship in October 2005 and restored the original name of Hawaiian Chieftain.

The Lady Washington is a replica of a 90-ton trading vessel built in Massachusetts around 1750.  The original Lady Washington was captained by Robert Gray and later by John Kendrick, captain of the larger Columbia Rediviva, for which Gray named the Columbia River, on which both vessels sailed. The two captains switched vessels during the voyage around Cape Horn to reach the Pacific Northwest. The Lady Washington was the first American vessel to reach the West Coast of North America, and went on to become the first American vessel to reach Honolulu, Hong Kong and Japan.

The replica of the Lady Washington was built in Aberdeen, Washington by the Gray's Harbor Historical Seaport Authority to commemorate the Washington State centennial. The new Lady Washington was launched on March 7, 1989. Unlike the Hawaiian Chieftain, the Lady Washington's hull is wood like the original. Based out of Grays Harbor in Washington, the Lady Washington was traveled as far as Alaska and the Caribbean, and has been featured in several motion pictures, including Star Trek: Generations as the HMS Enterprise and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl as the HMS Interceptor.

In contrast, the Portland Spirit is a modern 150' yacht that serves as a cruise ship on the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. It was actually built at about the same time as the Hawaiian Chieftain and Lady Washington. The Portland Spirit was built by Chesapeake Shipbuilding and was launched in 1987. After operating in the Connecticut River for a year, the ship was sold and operated out of Hawaii under the name Stardancer until March, 1994, when it was purchased by American Waterways, Inc. to be refit and renamed as the Portland Spirit.  The Portland Spirit entered service in May, 1994, and has since been refit in 1998 and 2004.

For more information, visit the official website of the Portland Spirit.

This concludes the 2007 Rose Festival content of my original Wings of Freedom/2007 Rose Festival Fleet page. To see any additional blog entries about the Rose Festival, click on the Rose Festival label.