■ Top-sail tall ship takes jaunt around North Bay

By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

In the early 1800s, mail-carrying sailing ships called packet boats started keeping regular trans-Atlantic schedules instead of traveling only when full. On the West Coast, such ships made regular stops in Benicia.

Those vessels don’t ply the Sacramento River and San Francisco Bay waters as they did in the past. But one ship, with a shallow draft like its packet ship predecessors, does make those journeys periodically.

It travels along the West Coast, teaching children and adults alike about what shipboard life was like, and how the vessels were important to American trade during much of the country’s history.

Unlike its sister ship, the Lady Washington, the Hawaiian Chieftain is not a replica of an earlier craft. It’s a two-masted, square topsail ketch.

The vessel was commissioned by Laurence H. Dorcy Jr. and designed by Raymond Richards, a nautical architect, who was inspired by early 19th-century South Seas trading vessels.

The Hawaiian Chieftain was built of steel at Lahaina Welding Company, Maui, Hawaii, in 1988. On its bow is the detailed sculpted figure of a Hawaiian chief, dressed in a war helmet and the yellow feather cape that was the sign of island royalty.

For the ship’s crew, life is somewhat easier than it was for those who worked packet ships in the 1800s. If they get bloodied, it’s by accident, not by the hand of those striving to keep a schedule.

In fact, many who handled its lines during its weekend sails off the coast of Antioch volunteer for the job, and some even have paid for the experience of learning aboard the vessel.

“Yes, we work with fourth, fifth and sixth graders for free!” Captain James McClurg announced before a three-hour voyage on the vessel Saturday afternoon came to its conclusion in Antioch.

The Hawaiian Chieftain arrived in Antioch last week after spending two months moored next to the Old Sacramento historic district, not far from the stationary Delta King that has its own history of traveling between San Francisco and the state capital.

Instead of providing trips for would-be sea adventurers, the vessel and its crew spent those weeks giving onboard tours. Schoolchildren learned how Colonial-era and early United States craftsmen manufactured metal cups, ax-heads and other tools, as well as glass beads. Then they traded them for otter pelts from members of Pacific Northwest tribes.

Laden with those pelts, ships would sail to China, where such fur was prized. In exchange, the Chinese offered porcelain and silk, and heavy, highly decorated pressed blocks of tea. From a block the size of a storybook, 6,000 cups could be brewed — if one could bear destroying the intricate image created by the carved mold into which the tea leaves had been pressed.

These details od seafaring life came courtesy crew member Julia Swan, who conducted a class Saturday in the aft cabin, one of the warmer, drier spots aboard ship for those who took the three-hour sail on the cold, drizzly day.

Also below deck, first mate Johann Steinke serenaded guests with shanties, then led them in singing “A Drop of Nelson’s Blood,” after telling how Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson’s body had been brought home in what had been a full cask that might have been tapped by his crew during the voyage.

Above, McClurg had no relief from the cold and rain, handling the wheel and calling commands to his crew and the travelers who sought to make their short voyage a hands-on experience.

The visitors quickly learned that hauling on the lines, holding them in place and wrapping them around the belaying pins so they would remain secure was one way to stay warm, if not dry.

But even on dry, sunny days, the crew probably will get wet, from the sea spray as the ship travels, McClurg said.

Gary Coppel, who learned about the Antioch stop while he was in Brentwood, wanted to take the ride despite the weather after seeing the Hawaiian Chieftain while aboard the SS Jeremiah O’Brien, the historic Liberty ship in San Francisco, during Fleet Week.

Like a good sailor, Coppel said he didn’t mind the cold and wet. “I felt the crew is dedicated to what they do, and to the history. That makes all the difference in the world.”

August Perry, 10, whose family lives in Benicia, said he has been interested in boats for some time, particularly since his parents bought a folk boat, the Allegro, which is in the Benicia Marina.

“This is different — a lot bigger. It has two masts,” he said.

His father, David, a professional photographer, said he took the trip “because of our love of old ships, and the opportunity to sail out on the Delta.” He said it gave him a sense of the history of Benicia’s maritime past. “This is really a great experience,” he said. “We’ll have a story to tell!”

McClurg himself first rode on the Hawaiian Chieftain when he was 8, also brought out to the tall ship by his father.

That was years before the vessel became the property of Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority, a nonprofit in Washington state that uses the Hawaiian Chieftain and Lady Washington for education. He followed the ship’s career, from its long stays in Sausalito to its travels through the Panama Canal and back again.

Meanwhile, after completing high school in Sacramento, he had a chance to sail in the Mediterranean Sea aboard the Italian training tall ship Amerigo Vespucci. “I loved it. It was beautiful,” the 27-year-old captain said.

While his original goal only was to be the best at what he did, he began to pursue the knowledge needed to be a captain — 360 days at sea, at least 90 days sailing the type of vessel he wanted to operate, passing the U.S. Coast Guard examinations and becoming certified in safety practices. He was licensed at 21, one of the younger sailors to qualify to be a captain.

He’s not done learning. His next mission is to obtain his advanced certification in safety.

He’s sailed to Hawaii and other places, and has become one of the occasional commanders of the Hawaiian Chieftain. “You’re only the captain when you are the captain!” he said.

Benicia residents can see, but not ride, the Hawaiian Chieftain Tuesday while it is docked at the Antioch City Marina, at the foot of L Street at 5 Marina Plaza, Antioch.

The tall ship leaves Wednesday on a four-day — or so — journey to San Pedro, and will pass Benicia on its way to the Golden Gate and the Pacific Ocean.