By Donna Beth Weilenman Martinez News-Gazette Special to the Herald The brigantine Matthew Turner, named for the San Francisco Bay Area’s most famous shipbuilder, is one step closer to being a tall ship capable of sailing “anywhere in the world,” project director Alan Olson said. The top mast has been installed on the main mast, […]
‘Matthew Turner’ ship gets lower masts
By Donna Beth Weilenman Martinez News-Gazette Special to the Herald The Matthew Turner, the first wooden tall ship of its size being built in the San Francisco Bay Area in 100 years finally got its lower masts. The “stepping of the masts” – putting each of the 5,000-pound lower masts in place – began at […]
After years under construction, ‘Matthew Turner’ hits the water
First wooden tall ship built in San Francisco Bay Area in 100 years By Donna Beth Weilenman Martinez News Gazette Special to the Benicia Herald As bands played an estimated 1,000 people watched on land and on watercraft in Richardson Bay, the Matthew Turner finally touched water, leaving the shores of Sausalito Saturday afternoon. The […]
‘Matthew Turner’ ship launching Saturday
By Donna Beth Weilenman Martinez News Gazette A labor of love that began nearly four years ago with the laying of a brigantine’s keel will take an important step forward Saturday when the “Matthew Turner” is launched in Sausalito. Named for the famous shipbuilder who constructed record-setting vessels in Benicia, the Matthew Turner is patterned […]
Mrs. B’s Blather: Will Benicia ever be the new Sausalito?
From its earliest days our fair city of Benicia has been overlooked. One might think that the city, in its amorphasized state, might be angry, embarrassed, paranoid and/or at the least perplexed. Benicia was considered to be the city on the bay because of its great harbor. San Francisco, however, was chosen. Benicia was once […]