Battle Reenactment

Let me give you a little tour while we motor out of the Oakland Estuary to the San Francisco Bay. The Hawaiian Chieftain is a topmast ketch. She has a nice figurehead of a hawaiian chief wearing a yellow and red feather cape, however a little hard to see in the picture. I see that the main mast is hollow and serves as a smokestack. The smoke exits from the back of the platform. A little odd, but nice to be rid of the diesel smell. I wonder down to the great cabin and find it quite grand, roomy and plush. I bet the crew puts this suite to good use. Back on deck there are raised fore and poop decks. We need to be clear of the main deck while we encounter action since that is where the guns are located.

Winds are contrary so we motor all the way through the estuary. We start to make sail when we get into the bay. The crew is not opposed to letting the passengers help. Many of them are volunteers anyway. All maneuvers until we head for port are done without the engine. The Main and Mizzen are not flaked, but are drawn up tight to the mast when struck. Since the gaffs are not lowered this makes setting these sails much faster and easier on the crew. They are loose footed, and have a line that sets the sail and one that strikes it - a pretty nice way to do it. There are 3 yards on the main, each with a square sail and a raffee that flies above. They have 3 head sails, but they seldom use the third. We set the 2 topsails and everything else excepting the stunsails and 3rd head. The main, mizzen and raffee were tanbark while the rest were aged white. This with the smoke-stained main topsail we made for a rather colorful ship.

The guns are fairly small (but can still make a lot of noise - we were advised to bring ear plugs). Two men can carry them about. There is quite a procedure to loading the guns. Powder, wading, wet and dry rams, firing charge, and cap plate were things that I noticed although it was more complicated than I understood. The 2 gunners had a system of working together on both guns and a rhythm of actions while calling out their own to make as much speed as possible.

We sailed to the south of Yerba Buena Island (with the Bay Bridge connecting Oakland and San Francisco to be seen in some pictures). We proceeded to reach back and forth here despite the container ships with their tugs passing through and curious sailors who came to observe. When the ships were along side each other we opened fire. Lots of noise and smoke, but thankfully no cannon balls were exchanged.

We made a number of broadside passes at each other taking shots as it seemed best. The engagement was not prearranged. Much of what we did depended on what the Lady Washington did. The actions and responses were much like in an actual battle.  While close to each other we got some good views of the Lady Washington from different angles. Our captain and crew seemed quite anxious to position the Hawaiian Chieftain for good battle position. The complexity of both ships trying for best position to each other has to be considered with respect to our position to the wind as well. In addition each time we would change course we would have to reset a number of sails. Sometimes we would take in the mizzen or let it out depending on if we wanted to stall in our position a bit or needed more speed. When our gunners found us in good firing position, they would let fly. They seemed especially pleased when we had a good stern shot.

There were only 2 cannons on board, except the 2 swivel guns on the poop deck. These were not used because of the proximity to the passengers. The gunners would shift the guns from starboard to larboard as appropriate. At times it would seem peculiar to see San Francisco as a backdrop to all this ancient sea battle.

Our crew worked quite hard get us in firing position right behind the Lady Washington just before entering the estuary. This called for both guns being brought into position on the foredeck as bow chasers. This was our final shot, with both guns in unison. It was then time to start striking sail in preparation for our docking.

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