Maple Leaf (schooner)

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Career
The Schooner Maple Leaf
Built:	Vancouver, British Columbia.
Launched:	1904?
Fate:	Re-launched as schooner in 1986
General characteristics
Displacement:	Unknown
Length:	92 feet (28.0 m)
Deck Length:	75 feet (22.9 m)
Waterline Length:	70 feet (21.3 m)
Type:	Schooner
Hull:	Wood
Propulsion:	Sail
Speed:	Unknown
Range:	Unknown
Complement:	Unknown
Armament:	None

In 1904, a Vancouver businessman had a dream: build the fastest, most beautiful sailing yacht on the west coast. He hired Capt. William Watts, shipbuilder and founder of Vancouver Shipyard (now Vancouver Shipyards). Watts designed and built the schooner Maple Leaf. At the 1986 World's Fair in Vancouver, British Columbia, the Maple Leaf was re-launched as a schooner.

The Maple Leaf, a beloved sight on the coast of British Columbia and Alaska, is British Columbia's oldest tall ship. In 1906, the Maple Leaf was the only Canadian vessel to qualify for the first ever Trans-Pac sailing race, which was slated to take place in San Francisco but never took place due to the massive earthquake that occurred in that year. From the 1930s to the 1970s, the Maple Leaf was a halibut longliner on the Bering Sea, making it one of the longest-running ships to fish.

Now a sail training vessel and ecotourism schooner, she has a rich history of operation on the coast.

[edit] Construction

Originally built by Alexander MacLaren, The Maple Leaf has many features that make it a very unusual ship. The ribs of The Maple Leaf are made of coastal Yellow Cedar wood. The planking, decks, and beams were constructed of coastal Douglas fir wood, making the ship a true vessel of the coast. Made of mahogany, the bright work of the ship was a gift from the builder's relatives. It is all the more distinctive by being the first ship North of San Francisco to have electric light. It is also one of the first ships on the coast to have an external, lead keel. The rigging of the Maple Leaf consists of a Gaff-rigged fore sail, a Marconi main sail, jib sail, a staysail, and a square fisherman sail.