Tuesday, 23 March 2021

US barquentine Anne Comyn




The barquentine Anne Comyn, built in Rolph (California) in 1920 and rigged by the Haveside chandlery of San Francisco for the Pacific Freighters company, photographed in Australia by Allan C.Green. She was one of the uncompleted Ferris-type steamer hulls in the United States, which were finished as 5-masted barquentines.

My restoration and colorization of the original image in the State Library Victoria archive.
Anne Comyn made her maiden voyage to Australia in 1920. According to the Sunday Oregonian, she made the voyage in record time:
"The barkentine Anne Comyn, a Ferris type hull, broke
a record of nine years' standing by reaching Sydney, Australia, in 52 days from San Francisco. The Alicia Haviside, now on passage from the Golden Gate to Durban, South Africa, and the Phyllis Comyn, on her way from Puget sound to Sydney, are Ferris hulls rigged as barkentines."
Four years later, on December 19,1924, the Melbourne newspaper Argus wrote about another visit by Anne Comyn - she was the first ship to land a cargo of Alaskan timber in Melbourne:
"BARQUENTINE ANNE COMYN."
"After a voyage of 83 days from Anyox,
British Columbia, the five-masted bar-
quentine Anne Comyn reached Melbourne
yesterday. The Anne Comyn is laden with
175,000 feet of timber consisting of baulks
of spruce and hemlock. She is in charge
of Captain Brasting and a crew of 16 men,
most of whom are Australians. The ship
is only four years old and is owned by
Comyn and Co., of San Francisco. She
is of 2,247 tons register. After discharg-
ing timber here the Anne Comyn will prob-
ably sail for Newcastle to take a cargo
of coal for Alaska. The passage to Aus-
tralia was uneventful. Light winds pre-
vailed until the barquentine entered Bass
Straits when she encountered a gale which
delayed her for about two days."