Anna B. Smith
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The Anna B. Smith was a gaff rigged schooner , which is an example of the typical Baltimore clippers and sailing ships of the " Chesapeake Bay " type from the end of the 19th century . In addition, it is also an example of the requisitioning even of sailing ships for use in the First World War .
history
The Anna B. Smith , a 70- foot two-masted schooner (exactly 70 '6 "), was built with a wooden hull in 1892 at the Joseph B. Brooks shipyard in Little Choptank River, Maryland . As a typical work vehicle of the Chesapeake Bay it served various purposes in the maritime transport between Virginia and Maryland. in 1914 she was overhauled. with its flat-held bowsprit / bowsprit , the clipper stem , the high, according aft inclined masts, low bulwark , Plattgattheck and a huge sail area was and the sharp shipping line it is typical of the construction in Maryland at the time and is said to have even been used to catch cod in the fish banks off Newfoundland .
After that, the ship came into the possession of the Conservation Commission of Maryland , as it were as a landscape protection agency, the forerunner of today's environmental agency.
After the United States entered World War I on April 6, 1917, a large number of merchant ships were requisitioned. Against an alleged submarine danger by the German Imperial Navy even for the North American coastal waters, sailing ships were also confiscated according to the model of the Royal Navy and placed in the service of the United States Navy . This also applied to Anna B. Smith . It was taken over on August 17, 1917 by the Conservation Commission of Maryland and then transferred to the 5th Naval District. There the schooner received the identification number 1458 and was put into service on September 11, 1917. The documents show that the ship survived the war and was returned to its previous owner on September 26, 1918. It was decommissioned on December 9, 1918 - whether this meant final discharge from military service or even dismantling by the civilian owner is not clear from the documents. Nothing is known about the further fate of Anna B. Smith .
literature
- Naval Historical Center (US) (ed.), James L. Mooney: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. , 1991, p. 304, ISBN 0-160-02055-7 .
Web links
- Anna B. Smith in the Anna B. Smith ( Memento from October 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) of the United States Navy (English)
Footnotes
- ↑ http://www2.agenziabozzo.it/vecchie_navi/A-Vecchie Vele / A-353.htm (link not available)
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento from June 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships