Wavertree

Wavertree (HM14R1)

Location: New York, NY 10038 New York County
Buy New York State flags at Flagstore.com!
Country: United States of America
Buy United States of America flags at Flagstore.com!

N 40° 42.321', W 74° 0.229'

  • 0 likes
  • 0 check ins
  • 0 favorites
  • 426 views
Inscription

1885

Wavertree was built at Southampton, England in 1885 for R.W. Leyland & Company of Liverpool. She was first employed to carry jute, used in making rope and burlap bags, between eastern India (now Bangladesh) and Scotland. When less than two years old she entered the tramp trades, taking cargoes anywhere in the world she could find them. After sailing for a quarter century, she limped into the Falkland Islands in December 1910, having been almost totally dismasted in a gale off Cape Horn. Rather than re-rigging her, her owners sold her for use as a floating warehouse at Punta Arenas, Chile. She was converted into a sand barge at Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1947, and acquired there by the South Street Seaport Museum in 1968 for eventual restoration to her appearance as a sailing vessel.

By the time Wavertree was built, she was nearly obsolete. Steam engines suitable for efficiently propelling ships across the ocean had been introduced in the 1870s and were being used on nearly all the shorter trade routes. While this was taking place, iron - long the choice of ship builders in iron producing countries, such as England - was giving way to steel. Wavertree was one of the last large sailing ships built of wrought iron. She is today the largest afloat.

Most countries stopped building large sailing ships altogether in the first decade of this century. The last cargo-carrying sailing ship was launched in Germany in 1926. The last two to round Cape Horn with cargoes did so in 1949, carrying grain from Australia to Europe.

Extreme length: 325'
Construction: Iron hull
Rig height: 167'
Length on deck: 363'
Draft: 22' (loaded)
Gross tonnage: 2,170
Beam: 40.2
Rig: Full-rigged ship
Net tonnage: 2,118
South Street Seaport Museum
Details
HM NumberHM14R1
Tags
Placed BySouth Street Seaport Museum
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Saturday, October 18th, 2014 at 8:57am PDT -07:00
Pictures
Sorry, but we don't have a picture of this historical marker yet. If you have a picture, please share it with us. It's simple to do. 1) Become a member. 2) Adopt this historical marker listing. 3) Upload the picture.
Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)18T E 584153 N 4506526
Decimal Degrees40.70535000, -74.00381667
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 40° 42.321', W 74° 0.229'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds40° 42' 19.26" N, 74° 0' 13.74" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)646, 212, 917, 845
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 801 E River Bikeway, New York NY 10038, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

Is this marker missing? Are the coordinates wrong? Do you have additional information that you would like to share with us? If so, check in.

Check Ins  check in   |    all

Have you seen this marker? If so, check in and tell us about it.

Comments 0 comments

Maintenance Issues
  1. Is this marker part of a series?
  2. What historical period does the marker represent?
  3. What historical place does the marker represent?
  4. What type of marker is it?
  5. What class is the marker?
  6. What style is the marker?
  7. Does the marker have a number?
  8. What year was the marker erected?
  9. This marker needs at least one picture.
  10. Can this marker be seen from the road?
  11. Is the marker in the median?