William P. Frye was a steel-hulled, four-masted barque, named after a US Republican politician William P. Frye, from the state of Maine. Arthur Sewall & Co of Bath, Maine built her in 1901,[1] andoperated her thereafter. The Imperial German Navy merchant raider SMS Prinz Eitel Friedrich (1914) sank her in 1915. She was the first US vessel sunk in World War I.[2]
Building
Arthur Sewall & Co built William P. Frye in Bath, ME, in 1901. Her registered length was 332.4 ft, her beam was 45.5 ft, and her depth was 26.2 ft. Her tonnages were and. She had four masts. She was registered as a full-rigged ship, but photographs show her as a barque. Sewall registered her in Bath. Her US official number was 81792, and her code letters were KRGL.