ANN B. CARR
OF ELBE NO. 5, OR WANDER BIRD
Jim Linderman Jr. steers 'Wander Bird' as she goes head-to-head with the 'Californian' (background) in 1991. The old schooner held her own, but "'Californian' just kept putting up more sails," said a crewman, and eventually pulled ahead. The guy in the red jacket is folksinger Ramblin' Jack Elliott.
than "turn the boat to port." But again, we'll have to wait until the official report is released to learn what really happened. Although it is both maritime tradition and law that a ship involved in a collision stop and render aid if they are able, the Elbe is one of the busiest waterways in the world and you can't just stop a ship in the middle of a channel except in the most dire of circumstances. Astrosprinter, likely assured by the DLRG and other official boats that they had the situation under control, proceeded downriver to Brunsbuettel, near the mouth of the river, where they anchored to await investigators. The ship, which was not damaged, was later released to resume its journey.
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lbe No. 5 has a long and storied history. Built in Hamburg and launched in 1883, she was one of a dozen or so pilot schooners put into service ferrying pilots to and from ships entering or departing
the mouth of the Elbe River where it joins the North Sea. This was not only sometimes-rough duty, it was also competitive — whoever got a pilot aboard an inbound ship first got the job. So Elbe No. 5 and her sisters were designed to be strong, fast, and easy to sail, as they would often stay 'on station' for long periods. Brooks Townes chronicled the schooner's building process in the spring 1982 issue of Nautical Quarterly: "Her dark German oak frames, grown to shapes laid down by her designer Gustav Junge, average 5.5" x 6.5" and are set in pairs an inch apart, 6 inches between pairs. Those frames grow to as much as 11" thick by the keel. The (3-inch-thick) planking is the same hard oak. The ship was fastened with heavy clinched bronze and wedged treenails. Black iron straps and knees tie timbers together throughout. To keep any rot from spreading far, ship's felt (a heavy tar-impregnated paper) was used between major timbers.
Below the water she's sheathed with solid copper sheet nailed over felt. No corners were cut; she was built to survive a very long time in awful conditions. And she has." Elbe No. 5 served 41 years as a pilot vessel. Motorized vessels eventually replaced the old pilot schooners, and they were sold off. For a while, this one was operated by an organization similar to the Sea Scouts called Wandervogel. The adventures that made the ship an integral and beloved part of the San Francisco waterfront scene began in 1929, when she was bought — for little money — by author/seaman Warwick Tompkins Sr. He translated and kept the name — "wandervogel" means "wander bird." In the years following the restoration of the schooner by Tompkins (with the help of countless volunteers), Wander Bird made 13 Atlantic crossings, and became perhaps the first charter vessel operating in the Atlantic, taking young men and women sailing, for a fee, and teaching them bluewater skills, as well as how to get along with each other. (The 16 berths in the main cabin built for the pilots made accommodations easy.) Among those who took part were a young Irving and Exy Johnson, who met aboard the schooner. They would one day run a similar operation aboard their own schooner, Yankee. Wander Bird arrived in San Francisco Bay in 1937 after doubling Cape Horn east to west. Tompkins both wrote a book — 50 South to 50 South — and made a movie about it. The crew included the Tompkins family — his wife, Gwen, and two children, 6-year-old Ann and 4-yearold Warwick 'Commodore' Tompkins Jr., who would grow up to become one of the premier racing sailors in the world. Wander Bird ended up in Sausalito, where it would be moored for the next six decades. In the late '30s and early '40s, there were trips to Hawaii and back, and Tahiti and back (all, notably, without an July, 2019 •
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