05/14/2026
On this day in rigging history (May 14, 1804) the Lewis and Clark expedition shoved off from Camp Dubois and started up the Missouri River.
Most people picture canoes and paddles. They forget the lead vessel.
The Corps of Discovery's keelboat was 55 feet long with a 32-foot mast, a square-rigged mainsail, and a headsail. Meriwether Lewis designed it himself. The mast was removable so the crew could drop it for low branches or foul weather. When the wind cooperated, they sailed. When it didn't, twenty oars came out. When the river got too shallow for that, they switched to poles. When even poling failed, they cordelled; hauling the boat upstream from shore with rope.
Four ways to move a boat. One vessel rigged to do all of them.
The expedition traveled roughly 8,000 miles and reached the Pacific because the gear held up to whatever the river demanded of it. Sail handling, line work, and hardware that could take a beating weren't a luxury on the Missouri in 1804. They were the difference between an expedition and a disaster.
That principle hasn't changed. At Hayn Marine and NAVTEC by Hayn, we build rigging hardware for the boats that still have to perform when conditions turn. Two hundred and twenty-two years later, the job is the same... gear you can trust when the wind shifts.
