Equator (schooner)
Encyclopedia
The two-masted pygmy trading schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....

 Equator on which in 1889 Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....

 and Fanny Vandegrift Stevenson were passengers on a voyage through the islands of Micronesia
Micronesia
Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It is distinct from Melanesia to the south, and Polynesia to the east. The Philippines lie to the west, and Indonesia to the southwest....

, visiting Butaritari
Butaritari
Butaritari is an atoll located in the Pacific Ocean island nation of Kiribati.-Geography:...

. Mariki, Apaiang and Abemama
Abemama
Abemama is an atoll in the central part of the Kiribati Group located 152 kilometres southeast of Tarawa and just north of the Equator.- Geography :...

 in the Gilbert Islands, (also known as the Kingsmills) now Kiribati
Kiribati
Kiribati , officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. The permanent population exceeds just over 100,000 , and is composed of 32 atolls and one raised coral island, dispersed over 3.5 million square kilometres, straddling the...

.

Originally built in San Francisco in 1888 as a copra
Copra
Copra is the dried meat, or kernel, of the coconut. Coconut oil extracted from it has made copra an important agricultural commodity for many coconut-producing countries. It also yields coconut cake which is mainly used as feed for livestock.-Production:...

 trader, it was converted to steam in 1897 and eventually abandoned in the harbor at Everett, Washington
Everett, Washington
Everett is the county seat of and the largest city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. Named for Everett Colby, son of founder Charles L. Colby, it lies north of Seattle. The city had a total population of 103,019 at the 2010 census, making it the 6th largest in the state and...

 in 1957. The vessel was Everett’s first artifact placed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

in 1972. The remains of the hull are protected by a shed near the Port of Everett’s Marina Park. Several attempts to rebuild the ship have failed, and restoration is considered unlikely. Photographs of Stevenson's voyage exist. Built in Benecia, California she is the last surviving hull of that time period known to exist. In her career she works under sail, steam, gasoline, and diesel power. She worked copra, fish, tug and support for the Geodetic Survey. Because of her shoal draft she could get close on shore where other vessels couldn't go.

Robert Louis Stevenson websites

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