Falls of Clyde, Historic sailing vessel at Pier 5, Honolulu, United States.
The Falls of Clyde is an iron-hulled sailing ship with a black hull and a red strip at the waterline, moored in Honolulu Harbor. Three masts rise from the deck, the tallest in the center carrying a small railed lookout platform partway up; ropes and rigging run between them, and the masts are bare of sails. A white angled gangway rests against the ship's right side, and low white deck structures and railings are visible above the hull.
Built in Port Glasgow in 1878, the ship carried sugar between Hawaii and California for decades. In 1907 it was converted for oil transport and served as a tanker for additional years afterward.
The ship is named after the Falls of Clyde, the waterfalls on the River Clyde near Port Glasgow, where Russell and Company launched her in 1878 as the first of nine iron-hulled four-masted ships of the Falls Line. In 1899 Matson registered her under the Hawaiian flag and carried passengers and sugar between Hilo and San Francisco. The bare masts and rigging visible today recall that trading career.
The ship lies at an accessible part of the harbor where visitors can get a good view of the masts and hull from the wharf. Preservation requires constant work, so some areas may be closed at certain times.
This windjammer is the last surviving four-masted sailing ship with an iron hull ever built. It is also the only sail-powered oil tanker that has survived to the present day.
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