Zodiac (schooner)

+Zodiac

Zodiac is a two masted schooner designed by William H. Hand, Jr. for Robert Wood Johnson and J. Seward Johnson, heirs to the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceuticals fortune. Hand intended to epitomize the best features of the American fishing schooner. The 160 feet (49 m) (sparred length; 127 feet (39 m) on deck), 145 ton vessel competed in transatlantic races. In 1931 the vessel was purchased by the San Francisco Bar Pilots Association, brought from the Atlantic, modified and placed in service as the pilot vessel California serving as such until retired in 1972.

The schooner was the largest vessel designed by William H. Hand, Jr., a renowned naval architect, who was a primary developer of the V bottomed hull motorsailers. Propulsion was by an Atlas , six cylinder, four cycle engine driving a , two bladed propeller for a speed of about under power. The vessel was the largest schooner operated by the San Francisco Bar Pilots who operated her in peacetime and through wars until 1972 as the last sailing vessel in the United States to serve as a pilot vessel. This made her one of the last three sail powered pilot vessels in the United States, along with the Boston based schooner Roseway, which was retired sometime between 1971 and 1973, and Adventuress, also once a San Francisco pilot boat, which was retired in 1952, and is also a registered National Historic Landmark.

California was sold in 1973 returning to the name Zodiac and, in the late 1970s, the private Vessel Zodiac Corporation was formed to operate and maintain her. She was professionally restored, and her rig, which had been altered during her time as a pilot boat, was returned to its original configuration. Zodiac now operates charters and cruises in Washington state's San Juan Islands and British Columbia's Gulf Islands. The not for profit Northwest Schooner Society partners with the corporation to provide sail training programs for youth and adults.

The Zodiac was used as the main location for Michael Anderson's made for television adventure drama film The Sea Wolf (1993), starring Charles Bronson, and Christopher Reeve. It is based on Jack London's novel The Sea Wolf.