MV ''Westward'' is an motor

yacht A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a ...

,Westward in the 21st Century
John Sabella & Associates. Accessed online 6 September 2008 "arguably Seattle’s most famous motor yacht,"Maritime History - Westward Documentary
Maritime Center News (Northwest Maritime Center and Wooden Boat Foundation on Port Townsend Bay), August 4, 2006. Accessed online 6 September 2008 originally constructed in 1924 by Ted Geary for inventor Campbell Church, Sr.,Westward, Cruising Alaska 1920s Style
John Sabella & Associates. Accessed online 6 September 2008 and currently owned by Bill Bailey. Her home port is

Friday Harbor, Washington Friday Harbor is a town in San Juan County, Washington, San Juan County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The population was 2,613 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located on San Juan Island, Friday Harbor is the majo ...

and she is listed on the U.S.

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

as the first purpose built Alaskan cruise ship.
Previous National Register Updates: April 13, 2007
(Weekly list of actions taken on properties 4/09/07 through 4/13/07). MV ''Westward'' is NRHP listing #07000304, listed April 12, 2007. Accessed online 6 September 2008 ''Westward'' was modeled after a salmon cannery tender and constructed—around a 1923

Atlas-Imperial Atlas-Imperial Diesel Engine Company was an American manufacturer of diesel engines based in Oakland, California. The company was created in 1916 when two early gasoline engine companies combined to manufacture diesel engines, following the expir ...

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

—at the Martinolich Shipyard on

Maury Island Maury Island is a tied island in Puget Sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is connected to Vashon Island by an isthmus built by local homeowners in 1913. Before construction of the isthmus, the island was connected to Vashon only during ...

near Seattle. She was designed to travel the

Inside Passage The Inside Passage () is a coastal route for ships and boats along a network of passages which weave through the islands on the Pacific Northwest coast of the North American Fjordland. The route extends from southeastern Alaska in the United St ...

along the

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

coast to

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. Her construction marked a turning point in Geary's career: previously he had built workboats; from this time he built yachts. In her early years, expeditions on the ''Westward'' were hunting expeditions, with "a Norwegian whale gun shooting

harpoon A harpoon is a long, spear-like projectile used in fishing, whaling, sealing, and other hunting to shoot, kill, and capture large fish or marine mammals such as seals, sea cows, and whales. It impales the target and secures it with barb or ...

s fitted with time fuse bombs, a 10-horse gasoline

winch A winch is a mechanical device that is used to pull in (wind up) or let out (wind out) or otherwise adjust the tension (physics), tension of a rope or wire rope (also called "cable" or "wire cable"). In its simplest form, it consists of a Bobb ...

with thirty-six hundred feet 097 metersof quarter-inch .6 cmplow steel cable as a fishing line, and all of the accessories for 'scrapping it out' with fifty-ton bout 45 metric tonneswhales". These expeditions were led by Church's son Campbell Church, Jr., who founded The Alaska Coast Hunting and Cruising Company. The Churches ended up owning numerous notable motor yachts. Besides the ''Westward'' were the ''Nooya'', ''Deerleap'', ''Caroline'', ''Alarwee'', ''Acania'', ''Onawa'', ''Malibu'', ''Cadrew'', ''Electra'', ''Olympus'', and ''Taconite''. Campbell Jr. made extensive films of his journeys. Among the many people who have traveled aboard ''Westward'' are A. C. Gilbert, inventor of the

Erector Set Erector Set (trademark styled as "ERECTOR") was a brand of metal toy construction sets which were originally patented by Alfred Carlton Gilbert and first sold by his company, the Mysto Manufacturing Company of New Haven, Connecticut, in 1913. ...

George Eastman George Eastman (July 12, 1854March 14, 1932) was an American entrepreneur who founded the Kodak, Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream. After a decade of experiments in photography, he ...

(of

Eastman Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...

), banker

Paul Mellon Paul Mellon (June 11, 1907 – February 2, 1999) was an American philanthropist and a horse breeding, breeder of thoroughbred horse racing, racehorses. He is one of only five people ever designated an "Exemplar of Racing" by the National Muse ...

, George Pabst of

Pabst Brewing Company The Pabst Brewing Company () is an American company that dates its origins to a brewing company founded in 1844 by Jacob Best and was, by 1889, named after Frederick Pabst. It outsources the brewing of over two dozen brands of beer and ma ...

, investor

E.F. Hutton EF Hutton was an American stock brokerage firm founded in 1904 by Edward Francis Hutton and his brother, Franklyn Laws Hutton. Later, it was led by well-known Wall Street trader Gerald M. Loeb. Under their leadership, EF Hutton became the se ...

and his wife

Marjorie Merriweather Post Marjorie Merriweather Post (March 15, 1887 – September 12, 1973) was an American businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist. She was the daughter of C. W. Post and the owner of General Foods, General Foods Corporation. For much of Post's l ...

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

John Wayne Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne, was an American actor. Nicknamed "Duke", he became a Pop icon, popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood' ...

Phil Harris Wonga Philip Harris (June 24, 1904 – August 11, 1995) was an American actor, bandleader, entertainer and singer. He was an orchestra leader and a pioneer in radio situation comedy, first with '' The Jack Benny Program'', then in '' The Phil ...

, Fibber McGee & Molly and Amos & Andy. During World War II, ''Westward'' was pressed into military service. Don Gumpertz bought ''Westward'' in 1967 and circumnavigated the globe in it in the 1970s. Hugh Reilly, once the owner of a fleet of

fishing trawler A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets tha ...

s in the Alaska seafood industry (coincidentally named Westward Trawlers), bought ''Westward'' in 1993. From 1997 to 2004 he returned Her to her roots as a vessel for Alaska tourism (minus the blood sports). He then put the boat through a major refitting before taking her on a two-year tour of the Pacific, from which he returned in early September 2008. After a brief visit to

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ; ) is a complex estuary, estuarine system of interconnected Marine habitat, marine waterways and basins located on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As a part of the Salish Sea, the sound ...

, he took her down the West Coast to Mexico and then in May 2009 crossed for the

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. ''Westward'' is still powered by her original 1923 Atlas-Imperial diesel engine. which provides 110

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are t ...

and gives her a cruising speed of eight knots. http://classicyacht.org/westward/?page_id=26 Westward is currently owned and operated by Bill Bailey of Friday Harbor, WA as part of the Pacific Catalyst II tour business.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Westward National Register of Historic Places in Seattle Motor yachts Ships built in Washington (state) 1924 ships