❖ The Sails of a Stately Lady ❖ The NIPPON MARU ❖ 1957

NIPPON MARU
Arriving Seattle 1957

NIPPON MARU
Arrival in Seattle, WA
For Seafair 1978.

According to the Seattle Times reporter, 

she could make 14.5 knots under sail,
faster than her Diesel propulsion speed of 11.4.
Photo by Larry Dion©
Original photo from the archives of the S. P. H. S.

      The magnificent, four-masted, steel, Japanese merchant marine training barque, the 318-ft  NIPPON MARU carrying 32 sails with 25,727 sq ft, en route to a Seattle pier. 
      She was built in 1930 by Kawasaki Shipbuilding in Kobe, Japan for the Imperial Japanese Navy; rated at 2,285 g. tons with a maximum mast height of slightly more than 176-ft. The ship carries 183 men, 20 officers, 112 cadets, and 51 crewmen who would perform sail drills for the huge crowds and open the ship for viewing. 
     

Nippon Maru
Seattle, WA., 1978.
Photograph by Larry Dion.
Original from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

      Her good-will visitations to Seattle were 1938, 1941, 1957, 1962 for the World's Fair, 1965 with Capt. Isao Ikeda at Pier 56, 1973 with Capt. Shosaku Kadama at Pier 91, and 1978. Traffic stopping conditions existed along Alaskan Way when she was in port, with a fire-boat send-off display when she was departing.
      Decommissioned in the 1980s––NIPPON MARU is preserved as a museum ship at Nippon Maru & Yokohama Port Museum, where she is docked at Minato Mirai, Yokohama, Japan.
      Nearing 50 years of age, NIPPON MARU, was the first of the Seafair Tall Ships to arrive in port with her 78 cadets, ages 21-25 as they head to Pier 70 in 1978. All are fifth-year students at the University of Mercantile Marine in Japan. Some of them plan naval careers after their September graduation, but for most, the six-month cruise is the climax to their careers. After graduation, several cadets said, they'll sell insurance, teach, or study law.

Thank you to Capt. Jack Russell of Sternwheeler Charters, Seattle, for the donation of maritime newspaper snippets depicting the years Seattle welcomed this beautiful visitor. 
      If you were on board this day and would like to leave a comment, it is easy to do just below this post.