Jack Dickerhoff was, Ernest Gann wrote in his “Song of the Sirens,” royalty and he knew it. The rumble of his
voice was the sound of a squall on the horizon”
Dickerhoff was the master rigger who in the early 1950’s brought the full rigged ship Balclutha back to life emulating
her Cape Horn days under the Red Duster. During the last decade of his life, Dickerhoff, was the San Francisco
Maritime Museum’s master rigger and sailed as Chief Mate on the last voyage of the CA Thayer from Seattle to San
Francisco. After rigging the Star of India, in San Diego, Dickerhoff was off to Hawaii, hearing the Siren’s Call of the
Falls of Clyde. In early 1970, Dickerhoff restored the rigging on the historic 4 masted full rigged ship Falls of
Clyde, and in the process he taught a new generation the art of the sailing ship rigging. It was on that job the
Dickerhoff ignored his failing health to get the ship past the critical point in her restoration.
voice was the sound of a squall on the horizon”
Dickerhoff was the master rigger who in the early 1950’s brought the full rigged ship Balclutha back to life emulating
her Cape Horn days under the Red Duster. During the last decade of his life, Dickerhoff, was the San Francisco
Maritime Museum’s master rigger and sailed as Chief Mate on the last voyage of the CA Thayer from Seattle to San
Francisco. After rigging the Star of India, in San Diego, Dickerhoff was off to Hawaii, hearing the Siren’s Call of the
Falls of Clyde. In early 1970, Dickerhoff restored the rigging on the historic 4 masted full rigged ship Falls of
Clyde, and in the process he taught a new generation the art of the sailing ship rigging. It was on that job the
Dickerhoff ignored his failing health to get the ship past the critical point in her restoration.
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| Falls of Clyde 1878 |
| Jack Dickerhoff turning in a wire seizing aboard the Falls of Clyde |
Smilin' Jack Dickerhoff, Boss Rigger
“Dickerhoff was royalty and he knew it for he was
rigger extraordinaire and all about him, ordinary men
became obsequious when he spoke. When he cared to a
hard-sailing generation at sea”. – Ernest Gann.
To quote Joseph Conrad:
The Sailing ship “seems to draw its strength from the
very soul of the world,its formidable ally, held to
obedience by the frailest bonds, like a fierce ghost
captured in a snare of something even finer than spun
silk. For what is the array of the strongest ropes, the
tallest spars and the stoutest canvas against the mighty
breath of the infinite, but thistle stalks, cobwebs and
gossamer?”
Thinking of the current state of distress the Falls of
Clyde is in has made me think upon Dickerhoff, Kortum,
and Pacific sailor/journalist, Bob Krauss, whose column
in The Honolulu Advertiser spurred the campaign that
saved this icon as a museum ship others that gave so
much to preserve her. A great read on the restoration
and history of the ship is the book “Indestructible Square-
Rigger Falls of Clyde: 324 Voyages under Sail” by Bob
Krauss.
In the late 1980's I did some consulting for the Bishop
Museum on the Falls of Clyde rig. I only hope that she is
around long enough for her spars to once again reach
skyward. With her new guardians ~ Falls of Clyde
International LTD, I trust that will happen.
rigger extraordinaire and all about him, ordinary men
became obsequious when he spoke. When he cared to a
hard-sailing generation at sea”. – Ernest Gann.
To quote Joseph Conrad:
The Sailing ship “seems to draw its strength from the
very soul of the world,its formidable ally, held to
obedience by the frailest bonds, like a fierce ghost
captured in a snare of something even finer than spun
silk. For what is the array of the strongest ropes, the
tallest spars and the stoutest canvas against the mighty
breath of the infinite, but thistle stalks, cobwebs and
gossamer?”
Thinking of the current state of distress the Falls of
Clyde is in has made me think upon Dickerhoff, Kortum,
and Pacific sailor/journalist, Bob Krauss, whose column
in The Honolulu Advertiser spurred the campaign that
saved this icon as a museum ship others that gave so
much to preserve her. A great read on the restoration
and history of the ship is the book “Indestructible Square-
Rigger Falls of Clyde: 324 Voyages under Sail” by Bob
Krauss.
In the late 1980's I did some consulting for the Bishop
Museum on the Falls of Clyde rig. I only hope that she is
around long enough for her spars to once again reach
skyward. With her new guardians ~ Falls of Clyde
International LTD, I trust that will happen.
| If you want to contribute directly to the effort to save the Falls of Clyde, please contact the Falls of Clyde International Ltd. A ship worth saving!!! |
| Current photos of the ship |
The Cape Horner by Cicely Fox Smith, 1931 I never was in clipper ships when they was in their prime: The tea fleet an' the wool fleet, they was done afore my time: The ship I knowed the best was a big Cape Horner, Thrashin' to the westward round that stormy corner, Loaded down with Cardiff coal for Californio, Rollin' round to 'Frisco — forty year ago! When it was "Round the Horn and 'ome again, that's the sailor's way," 'Crost the road to Newcastle, back to 'Frisco Bay, Up the Coast to Oregon, down to Callao, Round the Horn and 'ome again — forty year ago! She was 'ard-run, undermanned, 'ungry as you please, She wallowed both rails under in the thunderin' Cape Horn seas: With three thousand ton inside her she was like a 'ouse to steer, She didn't carry flyin' kites nor suchlike fancy gear — But reefin' upper topsails was a picnic in a blow, Rollin 'ome to 'Frisco — forty year ago! She was only meant to carry, she was nothin' of a clipper, But the Old Man was a snorter of an old-style racin' skipper: The seas they kep' on poopin' 'er, 'e wouldn't 'eave 'er to, 'E 'ung on to 'is topsails and 'e run till all was blue: It was "Keep 'er movin', Mister!" every time 'e went below, An' — we beat the fleet from 'Frisco — forty year ago! But time 'e keeps on movin' too, an' them ol' days are past, An' the ol' ship's gone for ever, like we all must go at last, Like the ships that made a forest on the 'Frisco waterside, The slashin' big fourmasters from the Mersey and the Clyde, An' the Yankee skysail yarders with their plankin' scoured like snow, Loadin' grain at 'Frisco — forty year ago! Law's ships, De Wolf's ships, Castles, Counties, Glens, Potter's fleet and Leylands, Halls, and Clans and Bens, Cities, Ports, and Passes, Falls an' Lord knows what — All of 'em are gone now, and most of 'em forgot, Rotten ships and good 'uns, speedy ships and slow, That used to load at 'Frisco — forty years ago! When it was "Round the Horn and 'ome again, that's the sailor's way," 'Crost the road to Newcastle, back to 'Frisco Bay, Up the Coast to Oregon, down to Callao, Round the Horn and 'ome again — forty year ago! |
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| Historical Photo Gallery |