The Sailing Ship Columbia,located at Disneyland at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, is a full-scale replica of the Columbia Rediviva, the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe. Its passengers embark on a scenic, 12-minute journey around the Rivers of America. When it was constructed in 1958, it was the first three-masted windjammer to have been built in the United States in more than 100 years. The Columbia has entertained park visitors for nearly fifty years, including its continued role of Captain Hook's pirate ship in the nighttime show Fantasmic!.
When Walt Disney decided that the Rivers of America needed more river traffic and wanted another large ship to join the Mark Twain Riverboat, he asked Joe Fowler, who was Disneyland's construction supervisor and a former naval admiral, to pick a historic sailing ship for inspiration. After examining every maritime museum in the country, Fowler recommended the first American sailing ship to circumnavigate the world: the Columbia Rediviva. However, there is only one known picture in existence of the original windjammer. WED researchers used it, along with research materials from the Liberty of Congress, to design the Columbia.
Architect Ray Wallace was commissioned in 1957 to work with Fowler in creating the construction plans. The ship was constructed at Todd Shipyards in San Pedro, California, where the Mark Twain's hull was built a few years earlier. After Fowler told Disney that it was customary to put a silver dollar under each mast before it was set, Disney personally put a silver dollar under each of the Columbias three masts.
For the ship's christening on June 4, 1958, Fowler was dressed as a sailing captain of the 18th century, while the Mousketeers appeared as his crew. Since then, the Sailing Ship Columbia has had many extensive refurbishments, but the only major change has been the addition of the crew quarters exhibit in 1964.
On December 24, 1998, a cleat used to secure the ship to the dock tore loose, striking park visitors Luan Phi Dawson, 33, of Duvall, Washington and his wife in the head, as their son and grandchild and other horrified park visitors looked on. Dawson was declared brain dead two days later and died when his life support system was disconnected. A cast member was also injured.
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