William A. Coulter
amed after Senate Chairman William Pierce Frye of Maine who in 1900 wrote a subsidy bill that briefly re-ignited Maine shipbuilding, the Windjammer W.P. FRYE was one of the first efforts out of the Sewall Shipyard of Bath, Maine to be built in a partnership effort with the U.S. Government. Coulter shows her glory: six courses of sail, a broad beam and her white beauty. Built to be capable of carrying large cargoes at a competitive speed, she was hired by Washington State interests within a year of her 1901 launching, and headed West.
Coulter's artistic talent honors her history, with a great vertical presentation of compositional scale while showing figures on deck, an expansive blue sky and the emerald green flashes of the Pacific Ocean. The ship is bright and crisp with promise, and the Sewell Houseflag rides proudly atop the main.
The ship later owns a historic World War I significance in that she was sunk by a German submarine on January 15, 1915 while carrying a 5,200 ton cargo of wheat bound from Seattle to Queenstown, New Zealand. America was still a neutral nation at the time, courted by both sides. The investigation helped expose a German spy network in America and after the sinking of the MAURITANIA, further drove America's entry into the conflict. Here the sailing is smooth.
