Columbia Rediviva

Plank-on-frame model built by Frans Wuopio of Astoria, Oregon,
based on paintings by George Davidson (1768-1800),
a member of Gray's crew.

Photographed for VIAs, Inc., by Allan McMakin

earing in mind the size of Lewis and Clark's "barge," now often referred to as a keelboat, which was 55 feet long, with a beam of 8 feet, 4 inches, a draft of 3 feet, and a burthen of 12 tons, consider the oceangoing ship Columbia Rediviva, that Robert Gray sailed from Boston, around the horn of South America, and north along the Pacific Coast to the mouth of the Great River of the West, in 1792.

Specifications:

• A full-rigged three-masted ship (foremast, mainmast, mizzenmast [aft of the mainmast])
• Length: 83 feet, 6 inches
• Beam (width), 24 feet, 2 inches
  
• Draft (depth below waterline), 11 feet
• Burthen (capacity), 213 tons
• Crew, 16-18 minimum; 30-31 maximum
• Built in 1787 (or rebuilt; the word rediviva means "revived"), Plymouth, Massachusetts
• Decommissioned October 15, 1806, and salvaged

One of the largest wooden sailing vessels ever built in the U.S. was the Henry B. Hyde, which was the pride of the American Merchant Marine at the time of its launching in 1884.

• Length, 267' 9"
• Beam - 45'
• Draft - 28' 8"
• Crew, 36-40 men
• Burthen, 2462 ton

--Joseph Mussulman, 1999; rev. 05/03