Anyone know of a kit of the infamous 6 or 7 masted cargo schooners?

The Wyoming had six masts.  It's generally accepted that the only seven-masted sailing vessel ever built was the steel-hulled schooner Thomas W. Lawson.

I'm unaware of any kit that represents either a six- or seven-masted schooner; there's certainly none in plastic.  Bluejacket just recently released a plank-on-bulkhead wood kit of the four-masted Maine cargo schooner Charles P. Notman.  On the basis of the ads it looks like a fine kit - though expensive.  That's the nearest approach I know to the sort of vessel you're talking about.

Yes, Sorry, I get them mixed up on the fly. I agree that Bluejacket's four master is a very nice looking kit. This may end up being a scratchbuild for me, I just bought the book A Shipyard in Maine, and it has a multitude of plans including the Lawson and the Wyoming. Thanks for your reply!

-Todd

In Robert Carse's "The Twilight of Sailing Ships", He states the "Lawson" was the only seven masted schooner ever built. She was launched at Fall River Mass., on July 10, 1902. He describes her as "clumsy, and difficult to handle, a doomed ship from the first". She took her crew of fifteen down with her, below Bishop's Rock Lighthouse, off the Scilly Islands, in 1908. The six masted "Wyoming", launched in 1909, was a far prettier vessel.

I suppose it's possible that somewhere on the planet, at some time or other (maybe in Japan or China), somebody built another ship with seven masts.  But the Lawson is the only one in the western tradition.

Some years ago the Nautical Research Journal ran a series of articles about her.  (She's extremely well documented; I believe the articles included reproductions of several sets of original plans.)  If anybody's interested, the series presumably is included in the NRJ CD-ROM set.

The large (and somewhat improbable) Trumpeter "Cheng-Ho" junk model has at least eight masts.  Mind you , it surely ain't no schooner!

I think Lindberg made a small scale model of the Lawson- I've seen a copy on Ebay once or twice...

rcboater wrote:

I think Lindberg made a small scale model of the Lawson- I've seen a copy on Ebay once or twice...

I spotted a Lindberg "Lumber Schooner" kit on eBay (US) today. It represents a four-masted ship named "Forester". (This is yet another sailing ship kit I never even knew existed until it turned up on Ebay) This may be the kit you're thinking of. It's certainly possible, though, that they also produced a kit of the Lawson.

Another odd Lindberg kit I found at the same time was the "Auxiliary Schooner Yacht". This is a 3-masted ship which resembles a fishing schooner in hull shape. I've a feeling it may be a recycled version of the Thebaud or similar, but I could be wrong.

No, you're right-- that's the one I was thinking of.   I built a lot of Lindberg and Pyro kits as a lad- but I don't remember the Forester.  Didn't know it existed until I saw it on ebay a few years ago....