The George W. Wells: A Giant of the Maine Coast
Launched in Camden in 1900, the six-masted schooner was a remarkable achievement in wooden shipbuilding. Thirteen years later, she met her end on the coast of North Carolina.
On August 14, 1900, thousands of people gathered in Camden, Maine, to watch an extraordinary vessel slide down the ways at the H. M. Bean shipyard. The schooner George W. Wells was 325 feet long, carried six masts, and was among the largest wooden sailing ships of her time.
She was built for work, not spectacle. Designed for the coastal freight trade, the Wells most frequently carried coal along the Atlantic coast. Yet her enormous size and unusual rig made her a remarkable sight from the moment she entered Camden Harbor.
A photograph preserved by Maine Maritime Museum shows the schooner at anchor shortly after her launch. It captures a milestone in Maine shipbuilding: a vessel that combined traditional wooden construction with the scale and ambition of a new century.
Built in Camden
The George W. Wells was constructed at the Holly M. Bean shipyard for John S. Crowley's Coastwise Transportation Company. Contemporary accounts put the cost of the vessel at $125,000. Her launch on August 14 drew a crowd reported to number approximately 10,000.
The schooner was built of wood, with a frame of white oak and hard-pine planking six inches thick. The garboards—the first planks fitted alongside the keel—were eight inches thick. Such substantial construction was necessary for a vessel of this length, whose hull had to withstand the stresses of heavy cargo and the movement of the sea.
Her six lower masts were reportedly made from Oregon pine, each measuring 119 feet long. These towering spars supported the sails that drove the schooner through the coastal trade.
For all her traditional construction, the Wells also offered comforts that might surprise modern readers. A contemporary description praised cabins and staterooms finished in ash, sycamore, and cherry, with steam heat, baths, hot and cold running water, electric bells, and a telephone line connecting the galley and engine house.
She was a working cargo vessel, but one built with considerable attention to both scale and accommodation.
A Six-Masted Schooner
The George W. Wells was the first six-masted schooner built on the East Coast, following an earlier six-masted vessel on the Great Lakes.
Her reported register length was 319.3 feet. Other historical descriptions give an overall length of about 325 feet, a keel length of approximately 302 feet, and a beam of about 48 feet. She was listed at 2,970 gross tons.
Those figures help explain why the vessel attracted so much attention. Large wooden schooners were built to carry substantial cargoes economically, and the schooner rig allowed them to make use of wind power without the complex rigging of a square-rigged sailing ship.
The Wells represented a remarkable achievement in wooden shipbuilding at a time when steam power and steel construction were changing commercial shipping. She was not a relic of an earlier age when she launched; she was a purpose-built working vessel intended to compete in the trade of her day.
Life in the Coastal Trade
Coal was the Wells' most frequent cargo. Along the Atlantic coast, coal supplied homes, factories, railroads, and steam-powered vessels. Moving such heavy cargo by schooner could be economical, making large sailing vessels valuable participants in coastal commerce.
But the work was demanding. A schooner had to contend with changing winds, fog, storms, shoals, and difficult approaches to harbors. Being close to shore did not always mean being safe. Sandbars and shifting channels could turn a routine passage into a disaster.
The George W. Wells carried the promise of her builders into this demanding trade. Her size made her an impressive carrier, but like every sailing vessel, she remained at the mercy of weather and water.
The Wreck of September 3, 1913
On September 3, 1913, the George W. Wells was driven ashore at Ocracoke, North Carolina, during a powerful storm. Hurricane-force winds tore away her sails, and the schooner stranded near the island's exposed coast.
The disaster became a test of the U.S. Life-Saving Service. Crews from several stations worked in dangerous surf and difficult conditions to reach the vessel and bring those aboard safely to shore. Historical accounts report that all 26 people aboard were rescued.
The schooner herself could not be saved. After the wreck was sold at auction, the remains were burned. The vessel that had drawn thousands to Camden at her launch was lost after just thirteen years of service.
Her end was a reminder that even the largest and most carefully built wooden ships could be overcome by the sea. The Wells had been designed to carry heavy cargo and withstand the rigors of coastal sailing, but she could not escape the hazards of a violent storm and an exposed shoreline.
Remembering the George W. Wells
Today, the photograph of the George W. Wells at anchor in Camden Harbor preserves the schooner at the beginning of her story. Her six masts rise above the harbor, and her hull rests in the water shortly after leaving the shipyard.
The image connects us to the shipbuilders, sailors, and coastal communities that made Maine a center of maritime activity. It also recalls a period when wooden sailing vessels remained vital to commercial trade, even as new technologies were transforming the industry.
The George W. Wells was extraordinary in size, but her purpose was practical: to carry cargo and earn a living at sea. Her story—from a celebrated launch in Camden to a wreck at Ocracoke—offers a glimpse into the ambition, skill, and risks of the maritime world at the turn of the twentieth century.
Photograph: Six-mast schooner George W. Wells, Camden, 1900. Collections of Maine Maritime Museum.
Maine Memory Network — photograph and vessel description — contributed by Maine Maritime Museum.
The Wreck of the George W. Wells, September 3, 1913 — detailed local account of the wreck and rescue.
Coastal Review — the 1913 storm and rescue — additional historical context.
Six-Masted Schooner George W. Wells Under Full Sail: Image Camden Public Library (1900)
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