1919 ❖ YACHT EL PRIMERO with a bet of 1,000 "Bones" (Updated)

Yacht El Primero
ON 136385
111.5' x 17.8' x 8.6'
Built in San Francisco in 1893.
Inscribed with the owner, S. A. Perkins.
Litho card from the archives of the
Saltwater People Historical Society©

YACHT EL PRIMERO
Crafted by maritime historian Ronald R. Burke.
Photo courtesy of his son Larry.
The model is on the shelf right where
she has lived all her life.
Photo date 9 July 2019.

1919, Vol. 12. Pacific Motor Boat: 

"While it is not exactly in line with gas-powered craft Ex-Commodore S. A. Perkins of the Tacoma Yacht Club, and now a member of the Seattle Yacht Club is enjoying a quiet little laugh which comes as the result of a race he had with his steam yacht, EL PRIMERO, and the AQUILO, owned by H. F. Alexander, of the Pacific Steamship Co., and D. C. Jackling. According to skipper Perkins, while dining onboard the AQUILO recently one of the guests offered to bet $1,000 "bones" that the AQUILO was a faster craft than the EL PRIMERO. The EL PRIMERO skipper laughed and declared he did not want to rob anyone but someday he would show them what his craft could do. Now be it said that the EL PRIMERO was going to cruise to Hoods Canal and the AQUILO to Victoria. The word was passed among the crew and when the EL PRIMERO came out of the Canal she found the AQUILO waiting for her with the result the AQUILO sped by the PRIMERO and then the PRIMERO took after her. There is an engineer by the name of Miles Coffman running the PRIMERO and it is said he has raced boats in old days and he did not forget to pat the PRIMERO on the back on this occasion. From Foulweather Bluff to West Point the craft raced and in that distance, the EL PRIMERO had overtaken the larger boat and cut a complete circle about her. The skipper of the EL PRIMERO modestly claims that his ship is the fastest steam yacht on the coast and that while he usually runs his boat at economical cruising speed, she can get out and step 18 m.p.h. when necessary." 

Lopez Islander, Keith Sternberg, submitted the following photos and notes to Saltwater People Log in June 2016:

 

"Cruise party aboard El Primero."

Looking aft with boiler room bulkhead
in the distance and the cookstove.
Perkins had a crew of seven;
captain, chief engineer, fireman, cook,
mess boy, and two deckhands.
Photo courtesy of Keith Sternberg who took
this photo when he lived onboard in the late 1960s.

"El Primero was built for E. W. Hopkins, heir to the fortune of Mark Hopkins who was one of the "Big Four" who created the Central Pacific Railroad. Hopkins sold her to Chester Thorne, Tacoma banker, in 1906. Thorne lost her in a card game to S. A. Perkins (Sam) about 1909 or '10. Sam was commodore of the Tacoma Yacht Club and owner of the Tacoma Ledger & News. Sam had a new Almy boiler installed during the winter of 1913-14 and conversion from coal to oil firing. Sam maintained her to high standards for the 45 years he owned her. Sam died in 1955 and the estate sold her to Cy Devenny, who pulled out the steam and added the deckhouse. It's a major shame that someone with some sense of responsibility didn't preserve her as she was. Horace McCurdy or Joshua Green perhaps. But no, everybody was too damn practical."

EL PRIMERO
this day of 18 August 2013
Longbranch, Washington.
Courtesy of Ron Burke to Saltwater People