Captain Quick Loses His Temper-and a MastTowing Under the Brooklyn Bridge in 1915 by Captain Adrian Raynaud Our readers will recall Captain Raynaud -the Seattle master mariner who kept the old lumber schooner Wawona afloat through lonely years when no one but he and his younger pal Captain Harold Huycke seemed to care (SH25: 8-9). Captain Raynaud today is a courtly fellow with a twinkle in his eye and a great zest for life. He wowed all hands when he came East just a year ago to take part in the Maine Maritime Museum's annual maritime symposium. One of his yarns was a ofthe trip under the Bridge in a tall Down Easter-a bit too tall as it turned out. The artist and Cape Horn sailorman Tom Wells recorded this re-telling of that tale for us. We arrived in New York on December 22 , 1915, with this load of dyewood from Argentina . And it was the most godawful cargo we ever had in the ship-rotten , heavy crooked sticks. We had a terrible time loading it , and it was worse discharging it. But we anchored right off the Statue of Liberty late in the afternoon and the Old Man and the crew all left the ship. The only ones left aboard were old Silas Cole, the Mate; James Baker Second Mate and myself, Third Mate at that time. The cook and everybody disappeared. The Old Man promised he would get Christmas dinner for us but it never showed up. So we had scraps and leavings-it was a rough time. But , finally things kind of calmed down. It snowed , though , and it was miserable weather. An then , somewhere the first part of January they decided to move the ship up to the discharge dock in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, a godawful neighborhood , I can tell you that. You're scared to death to go to shore at night. They sent down a gang of riggers and they had one heck of a time housing the topgallants* and the royal mast because everything was frozen. It was bitter cold. God , you couldn't get warm no matter what you did. I took them about a week to get everything down . So the fore, the main and the mizzen-they finally got everything down , everything secured , and then the Old Man came out and he looked and said: " We've got to get that spanker topmast down . It's too tall." The rigger boss said: " No, no, Cap I've measured everything and the height of the Brooklyn Bridge is just so much . We've got plenty of clearance." *The masts carrying the three upper yards-from the top, royal , upper topgallant , lower topgallant_: in the Edward Sewall's picture.
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Capwin Raynaud holds forth to an enraptured audience at the Main e Maritime Museum, Ma y 1982.
Captain Quick was still skeptical. He said: " You remember now, if anything happens , you're liable." " I'll bet my hat on it ," said the rigger. Sure enough , the tug came along and we put a bench in the wheelhouse so we could stand in the wheelhouse and look out. There's a little sort of a hatch-a skylight-in the deckhead. And the Second Mate took the wheel to start with ,
cause I had to help put the chain away, while old Silas Cole and the Old Man were up on the forecastle head heaving in the anchor and the pilot was busy walking up and down. We finally got under way and everything was going fine . It was bitter cold. So we started up the river, and as we got closer and closer to the Brooklyn Bridge the Old Man stood there on the poop and kept looking up. And he said: "By godfreys , I don't think she'll make it." And the pilot says: " Oh , yes , Captain , we've got plenty of room." The Second Mate said : "I'll go up the take a look. I'll sight it ." So, I said: "Well, okay." l took the wheel and he started to climb up. And the Old Man said : " Come down Mr. Baker, come down. I don't want you up there in case something happens." he said: " Come down." I had no way of signaling the tug to slow down. So he just kept right on going, and boy, we got closer and closer and all of a sudden the Old Man said: "Raynaud, jump down ." And with that we hit the Bridge. And there was probably about six or eight feet of mast sticking up over the Bridge, and Jesus , a horrible crash and the top of the spanker mast there- the topmast-it splintered and came down . It fell right down top of the house and I jumped down off that bench and hid underneath the quadrant practically. It felt like the whole wheelhouse was coming down. Well , we cleared the mess away. The tug didn't even stop. They didn't even realize what had happened, although we were on a short towline. You never saw a madder skipper than Captain Quick. We got in alongside the dock and the Old Man went right ashore the minute the gangplank was out, calling the rigging company. They were down there in nothing flat. And you never heard such an argument in all your life. It was the rigger's fault and he finally admitted that yes, he had measured it and somehow somebody must have read the figures wrong on the tape. He says: "I had a steel tape. I had the man go right up to the top." Now, I don't remember the rigger going up there because I was on deck along with Mr. Baker all the time they were working, because we had to slack the gear off and tighten up and do this and that and help them out. But , nevertheless, they were liable and so there was nothing much else they could do but make good . At first they wanted just to repair the mast. The Old Man said: "No way. You put a whole new stick in there." So they did. They had to make a whole new topmast for the spanker SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1983