Saturday, January 05, 2008

The Columbia, December 1965

The Columbia (the real Columbia) gained fame for circumnavigating the globe. The one at Disneyland spent what seems like an inordinate amount of time in drydock. We all know how much maintenance those wooden sailing vessels required! But at least you could still board it and explore above and below decks to get an idea of life aboard a ship of this sort.

Anyway, here are two photos showing the Columbia actually "under sail". Where are those sails anyway? It is odd that the Disney folks went to such lengths to achieve authenticity, and then the vessel isn't fully rigged. Maybe they intended to do it, but it was too much work to furl and unfurl them, or the sails required too much maintenance?


Goodbye, Columbia...something tells me we're going to see you again real soon!

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2 comments:

  1. Jason Schultz11:48 PM

    Nice to see it with the Indian Village; I don't think I've seen too many photos with the two of them together. Coincidentally, I heard today from a friend who worked the Columbia back in the 50s and/or 60s that they had trouble getting the ship to stop when the sails were all out! I guess a "real" sailing ship doesn't have to worry about stopping every fifteen minutes. :)

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  2. Vintage Disneyland Tickets8:44 AM

    Good point on the sails, I guess they might have actually worked! I wonder if the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship every tried to leave her dock when her sails were out?

    Hey, in that second photo, what are all those wires overhead? was that for the "sun-shade" I've seen in some old pics?

    Progressland is right, you don't see many pics of these two together, heck, you don't see many of the Columbia on the move, it does seem to sit at the doc a lot.

    THANKS!

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