Minnie A. Caine
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The Minnie A. Caine was a four-masted wooden schooner built by Seattle shipbuilding the Moran Brothers in 1900. One of the schooner's initial short-term co-owners, Elmer Caine, named her after his wife, Minnie. From 1900 to 1926, the schooner was operated out of San Francisco by Charles Nelson Co., one of the largest transporters of lumber in the United States at the time. The schooner transported lumber across the Pacific Ocean from the Pacific Northwest to ports in Australia and Americas, but after 1920, her scope of operations became limited to the West Coast lumber trade. By 1926, the company could no longer run a sailing ship profitably, and the Minnie A. Caine was moored in a marine boneyard in California.
Schooner Minnie A. Caine anchored in harbor | |
History | |
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United States | |
Owner |
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Port of registry |
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Builder | Moran Brothers[1][2] |
Cost | $55,000[3] ($1,500,000 in 2020 dollars[note 1]) |
Laid down | December, 1899[5] |
Launched | October 6, 1900[6] |
Out of service |
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Reclassified | Fishing barge, Apr 1931 |
Refit | Rigging removed, Apr 1931 |
Identification | |
Fate | |
General characteristics | |
Tonnage | 880 GT; 779 NT[1][7] |
Length | 195.5 feet (59.6 m)[1][7] |
Beam | 41.0 feet (12.5 m)[1][7] |
Depth | 15.2 feet (4.6 m)[7] |
Decks | one[1] |
Propulsion | wind |
Boats & landing craft carried | one[8] |
Crew |
In 1931, the schooner was purchased by Olaf C. Olsen and turned into an unrigged fishing barge operating off the Santa Monica Pier. After a severe storm in September 1939, the Minnie A. Caine was grounded in Santa Monica Bay. Three months later, her wreckage became a threat to a California highway and had to be incinerated. A cabin clock from the Minnie A. Caine is preserved on the C.A. Thayer in the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.
The schooner became widely known for a series of incidents immortalized by her portrayal in literature. Twice, the Minnie A. Caine suffered damage that amounted to 50% of her cost, but was successfully salvaged. The salvage operation after her grounding in 1901 lasted three months and was featured in Scientific American. The fire that almost destroyed the schooner in 1917 in Adelaide inspired fiction from Peter Kyne, Joan Lowell, and Corey Ford.
The Cradle of the Deep, an autobiography written by silent movie actress Joan Lowell in March 1929, topped the non-fiction category of The New York Times Best Seller list. The autobiography purported that Lowell had spent her childhood on the Minnie A. Caine, and provided details about many unusual and frightening experiences. It was soon discovered that the autobiography was a hoax, resulting in a nationwide literary scandal. Later that year, Corey Ford published Salt Water Taffy, a parody of The Cradle of the Deep that in turn, also became a bestseller.