THOMAS W. LAWSON ON 145943 1902-1907 Original photo from the archives of the S.P.H.S.© |
As the world's first and only seven-masted schooner, the LAWSON utilized a tremendous spread of sail and could carry almost double her weight in coal. She was originally intended for the Pacific trade but instead was used as a collier along the US East Coast.
The strange thing about this vessel that crossed back and forth on the Atlantic for most of her brief five years, was that she was named after Thomas W. Lawson. And who was Thomas W. Lawson? He was a renowned author, his most famous mystery novel being, Friday the Thirteenth. The vessel was wrecked on Annet Island in the Scillies off the outlying tentacles of the English coast on Friday the 13th, with the loss of 17 lives, all but two of her crew. She had a cargo of 58,000 barrels of light paraffin oil aboard."
The Unusual Side of the Sea. Gibbs, Jim. Windward Publishing Co. Seattle; 1971.
Captain George W. Dow
Pilot Billy "Cook" Hicks,
Engineer Edward L. Rowe, both of Boston, were the only survivors.
The broken and scattered wreck was relocated in 1969. One of her anchors is now built into the outside wall of Bleak House, Broadstairs, the former home of Charles Dickens.
1960:
Model of the Thomas W. Lawson being viewed by Christopher Greef, age 13, at the Science Museum in London, Eng. Original photo dated 26 Feb. 1960 from the archives of the S.P.H.S.© |
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