Western Boat Building Company was a company based in
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...
from 1916 until 1982. The company was founded by Martin Petrich, Joe M. Martinac and William Vickart. Within a few years, Joe Martinac left the partnership to go to the Tacoma Shipbuilding Company, and later started
his own company. William Vickart was killed in an accident in 1921, leaving Martin Petrich the sole owner. In the early 1920s the company was located at the foot of Starr Street on part of the former Tacoma Mill Company property after that property was destroyed in a fire. Later yards were located on East 11th Street ), D Street, and Marine View Drive. In 1937, the company built the as a
purse seiner
A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to fishing, catch fish and other valuable nektonic aquatic animals (e.g. shrimps/prawns, krills, coleoids, etc.) in the sea, lake or river. Humans have used different kinds of surface vessels in commercial ...
, and in 1940, this boat carried
John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck ( ; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social percep ...
on the journey which he documented in ''
The Log from the Sea of Cortez
''The Log from the Sea of Cortez'' is an English-language book written by American author John Steinbeck and published in 1951. It details a six-week (March 11 – April 20) marine specimen-collecting boat expedition he made in 1940 at variou ...
''. In 1949, the company launched the largest tuna clipper ever built up to that time, the .
Towards the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the company founded its Fairliner division, which made high-speed boats. Before a devastating yard fire in 1950, the company was the largest builder of wooden pleasure boats on the
United States West Coast
The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast and the Western Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S. states of Calif ...
. The company continued to build boats until 1982.
Shipbuilding
During its 65-year history, the firm built hundreds of boats. Among these were:
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See also
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Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation#Shipbuilding in Puget Sound
External links
List of boats constructedList of images at the Tacoma Public Library
References
Defunct shipbuilding companies of the United States
American boat builders
American companies established in 1916
Manufacturing companies established in 1916
Shipbuilding in Washington (state)
1982 disestablishments in Washington (state)
Defunct companies based in Tacoma, Washington
1916 establishments in Washington (state)
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