The Postcard
A postally unused Crocker Series Elegante postcard that was published by the Smith Novelty Co. of 460, Ninth Street, San Francisco, CA 94103.
The following has been printed on the divided back of the card:
'Balclutha - A Cape Horner of the '80s.
Built in Scotland in 1886, Balclutha spent
her first 13 years as a deep water trader -
to Auckland, Calcutta, New York, Rangoon,
Cape Town, Callao - around Cape Horn
17 times.
She carried coal from Cardiff, whiskey from
London, guano from Iquique.
Renamed Star of Alaska in 1906, she then
spent 25 years carrying cannery workers
north to the Chignik cannery and salmon
back to San Francisco for the Alaska
Packers Association.
In 1954, the San Francisco Maritime Museum
bought her. A community effort, in which
labor unions gave 16,000 hours of free time
and business firms donated over $100,000
in supplies, materially helped to restore her.
The public may now board the Balclutha
at Pier 43.'
Balclutha (1886)
Balclutha, also known as Star of Alaska and Pacific Queen, is a steel-hulled full-rigged ship that was built in 1886. She is representative of several different commercial ventures, including lumber, salmon, and grain.
Balclutha is a U.S. National Historic Landmark, and is currently preserved at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park in San Francisco. She was added to the National Register of Historic Places on the 7th. November 1976.
History of the Balclutha
Balclutha was built in 1886 by Charles Connell and Company of Scotstoun in Glasgow, Scotland, for Robert McMillan, of Dumbarton, Scotland. Designed as a general trader, Balclutha rounded Cape Horn 17 times in thirteen years.
During this period she carried cargoes such as wine, oil, and coal from Europe and the East Coast of the United States to various ports in the Pacific. These included Chile for nitrate, Australia and New Zealand for wool, Burma for rice, San Francisco for grain, and the Pacific Northwest for timber.
In 1899 Balclutha transferred to the registry of Hawaii, and traded timber from the Pacific Northwest to Australia, returning to San Francisco with Australian coal.
In 1902 Balclutha was chartered to the Alaska Packers' Association (APA). Having struck a reef off of Sitkinak Island near Kodiak Island on the 16th. May 1904, she was renamed the Star of Alaska when bought by APA for merely $500.
After extensive repairs she joined the salmon fishing trade, sailing north from the San Francisco area to the Chignik Bay, Alaska, in April with supplies, fishermen, and cannery workers, and returned in September with a cargo of canned salmon.
For this trade she carried over 200 crew and passengers, as compared to the 26-man crew she carried as the Balclutha. In 1911 the poop deck was extended to the main mast to accommodate Italian and Scandinavian workers. This expansion is called the shelter deck.
In the 'tween deck, bunks for Chinese workers were built. Her last voyage in this trade was in 1930, when she was laid up after her return home.
In 1933, Star of Alaska was renamed Pacific Queen by her new owner Frank Kissinger. In this guise she appeared in the film Mutiny on the Bounty starring Clark Gable and Charles Laughton.
She then eked out an existence as an exhibition ship, gradually deteriorating, and was for a while was exhibited as a "pirate ship".
In 1954, Pacific Queen was acquired by the San Francisco Maritime Museum, which restored her and renamed her Balclutha and moored her at Pier 41 East. In 1985 she was designated a National Historic Landmark.
In 1988, she was moved to her present mooring at Hyde Street Pier of the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. She previously hosted a monthly Chantey Sing in the shelter deck, which has moved to the adjacent Eureka.
Balclutha Statistics
-- Architect: Charles Connell
-- Built: 1886
-- Launched: 6th. December 1886
-- In service from: 15th. January 1887
-- Current Status: Museum ship since 1954
-- Type: Three-masted full-rigged ship
-- Tonnage: 1,689 GT
-- Displacement:. 4,100 tons
-- Length: 301 ft (92 m)
-- Beam: 38.6 ft (11.8 m)
-- Height: 145 ft (44 m)
-- Draught: 20.3 ft (6.2 m)
-- Depth of hold: 22.7 ft (6.9 m)
-- Propulsion: sail