What’s the Story Behind This Strange Coastal Maine Structure?

Bath is one of the coolest Maine towns that you will ever visit.

While many coastal towns have been taken over by tourist industries, Bath remains a ‘real’ Coastal Maine town.

Sure, there are businesses that cater mostly to visitors, but thanks in large part to Bath Iron Works, the town remains a blue-collar town.

If you have spent any time driving around Bath, or you passed through the town on your way to Popham Beach, you have probably passed by an odd metal structure just off Washington Street.

Looking like a tangle of white pipes, the structure is located on the same property as the Maine Maritime Museum.  It is made up of two structures with a series of metal flag poles, or masts, between them.

So, what is this strange, metal structure?

The fact that it is adjacent to the Maine Maritime Museum building should be a good clue.

According to the Maine Maritime Museum website, it is intended to show visitors to the Percy & Small Shipyard section of the museum just how large the six-masted schooner Wyoming was.

By some accounts, Wyoming was the largest wooden schooner ever built. The freighter was 450 feet long and 50 feet wide.  Powered only by sail, it was capable of reaching speeds of 16 knots.

By the time it was built, in 1909, most ships were being built with steam engines.  The fact that it was a sailing vessel made it a rarity at the time.  However, just because it was sail-powered did not mean the vessel lacked modern technology.  The schooner was equipped with a donkey boiler steam engine that the crew could use to raise the sails and anchors.  The addition of this piece of equipment allowed the Wyoming to have a much smaller crew that would normally be required to sail a ship of that size.

How did the story of the Wyoming end?  After running cargo up and down the East Coast for over a dozen years, the ship was lost in a nor’easter in March of 1924.

If you love books and history, it is worth your time to visit the Maine Maritime Museum.  The museum covers 400 years of Maine’s seafaring and boat-building history.