Detail of HAER drawing by Dale Waldron and Todd Croteau, 1993
Launched at Cape Elizabeth, Maine, in 1851, the American clipper Snow Squall served in the Pacific and South American trades, carrying general cargo out of the U.S. and tea, spices, and coffee back home. Sunk in the Falkland Islands in the 1880s, documentation of her surviving pieces began in the 1980s with a final archeological expedition by the Spring Point Museum, from South Portland, Maine, retrieving the 36-foot bow section in 1987. The ensuing recordation project was awarded the first Sally Kress Tompkins maritime intern, Karl N. Bodensiek from Roger Williams College, in the summer of 1992.
This and other drawings were developed from separately documented fragments including the lower bow section, two ‘tweendeck waterway assmemblages, upper stern, breathook and deck hook. The recording team graphically combined the various components, relying in part on photographic evidence. Drawing by Karl Bodensiek and Todd Croteau
Snow Squall’s bow survives today as the sole remaining example of the hundreds of American-built clipper ships which made record-setting voyages until economic conditions in the late 1850s favored slower ships of greater cargo capacity and smaller crews.
The remains of SNOW SQUALL have been conserved and are currently on display in the Maine Maritime Museum, Bath, Maine. Photo courtesy Maine Maritime Museum
For more on Snow Squall, visit Maine Maritime Museum’s website.
