❖ YACHT BLUE PETER ❖ WAS McCURDY'S JOY

Yacht BLUE PETER

ON 227646

Built 1928 at Lake Union Dry Dock 

& Machine Works, Seattle.

for John Graham, Sr., for $58,000.

Master carpenter was L. J. Benson.

Photo: Lopez Island, 

San Juan Archipelago, WA. 

Undated.

Master Carpenter's Certificate on file. S.P.H.S.

The love that is given to ships is profoundly different from the love men feel for any other work of their hands.

"The words are those of Joseph Conrad but they express the deep feelings of Seattle yachtsman Horace W. McCurdy. The object of his special affections is the 96-ft BLUE PETER, one of the best known power yachts in Northwest waters.
      Designed by Ted Geary and built by Lake Union Drydock, BLUE PETER represents the finest craftsmanship of both.
      She was meticulously refurbished after McCurdy rescued the boat from an Army surplus boneyard in 1948 after service in WW II and since 1948, has been lavishly equipped and painstakingly maintained.
      But BLUE PETER is much more than that to McCurdy, veteran ship- builder, civic leader, and the senior ex-commodore of Seattle YC.
      'To me, a boat is the only thing man ever made that has a personality,' he explained. 'Automobiles don't have personalities. Neither do airplanes. But a boat does. They come damn near having a soul.'
      What of BLUE PETER'S personality? 'If you treat her rough she bucks you to beat the band. If you treat her nice, she treats you nice. People think you're crazy if you say that but that's true.'
      McCurdy's romance with BLUE PETER, started long before he owned the boat. He admired the craft when it was being built for John Graham Sr., in 1928, recalling: 'I used to take my oldest son, Jim, down there and say now  if I ever can, I'm going to own a boat just like that.'
      A few years later BLUE PETER had a new owner, a California oilman who kept her at Newport Beach. 'I used to see her down there and I loved to look at her.' McCurdy said. 'She was always just what I wanted.'
      After WW II, McCurdy got a telephone call from a brother-in-law living in the San Francisco area about a surplus boat he thought McCurdy might like. But there was no name, only a number. After putting off the relative for several months, McCurdy finally sent his son down to 'satisfy your uncle and get him off my back.'
      'Jim called back and said 'Dad, it's the BLUE PETER.' I told him 'Go get her boy, that's my boat.' Buying the boat on a closed bid sale, McCurdy dispatched a mechanic, tugboat skipper, and crew to bring the boat back to Seattle. Despite storm warnings on the coast, they headed north; a couple of nights later the skipper called from Neah Bay. The next night about 2 AM, I heard a whistle coming down Lake Washington and I went out and turned on the lights on my dock, and it was foggy as hell, McCurdy recalls. 'She looked like the Queen Mary to me.'
      In the refurbishing, which went on for five years, McCurdy bought an old windjammer, the HOMEWARD BOUND, and tore her cabins out to match the aged teak with that on BLUE PETER.
      The hull, of Port Orford cedar, is the original. The deck is double teak over cedar. The only thing replaced was a small piece of bulwark around the stern. BLUE PETER's accommodations include McCurdy's stateroom off the pilothouse topside, a spacious day cabin that includes a Franklin stove, ideal for taking the chill off a cold morning without cranking up the hot water heating system, a dining salon, galley, staterooms and crew's quarters below.
      Measuring 96 ft x 19 ft x 9 ft, BLUE PETER was repowered with new twin Diesels in 1973. She cruises at 12 knots and has a fuel capacity of 3,000 gallons and carries 2,000 gallons of water.
      McCurdy's wife ('We met when I was 16 and she was 15') is an ardent angler. She can use either a Monk-designed cedar inboard 16-footer or a Boston Whaler, both of which are carried astern of the stack.
       The boat's name comes from the international code flag for the letter 'p' which is called Blue Peter and is flown by all commercial vessels 24 hours before a ship is scheduled to sail. That flag has been adapted, with the addition of an 'M' on the center, as the McCurdy house flag and it's painted on the stacks of the boat. Because of the 'M' in the house flag, the boat often is mistaken for a Matson Lines vessel.
      As a Seafair VIP boat for nine years and the SYC Opening Day guest yacht, BLUE PETER has played host to numerous well-known people.
      The boat is teeming with McCurdy memorabilia––Cape Horn bell he salvaged from a ship being wrecked in Port Townsend; a golden eagle that came from a tug; a ship's clock he bought as a youngster in Vancouver, B. C; a pilothouse stool that had one leg replaced; a brass plaque, 'Flag Country' cast from German shells collected at the Battle of the Bulge in WW II; a grate under the wheel which was cut from a section McCurdy stood on when he was 17, standing a throttle watch as a trans-Atlantic troop ship during WW I.
      BLUE PETER's crew apparently feels the same way about the ship as her master, Otto Heineman was the cook for 20 years before he died two years ago. Pat O'Leary, his skipper, originally was hired for a 10-day trip and has been aboard for 25 years.
      She's that kind of a ship."
Text by Bill Knight; Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 1975.

❖❖❖ In 1963 Horace W. McCurdy funded a project through the Seattle Historical Society to write a definitive maritime history of the area. Some important maritime historians in this country and Canada agreed to serve on the editorial board, chaired by Keith Fisken, who was retired by that time. Captain Adrian Raynaud was a member of that board. The H. W, McCurdy Marine History of the Northwest, 1895-1965, over 700 pages in length was published in 1966. A second volume, covering 1966-1976, was published in 1977. These books, edited by author Gordon Newell, have been out of print for years; and are prized by collectors and historians who do research to help others.

❖ Flattie to SIR TOM ❖ ❖ ❖ ROY W. CORBETT ❖

From 1905 to 1969, the Blanchard Boat Co of Seattle was renowned and respected for its well-built vessels, large and small, sail and power. Today hundreds of graceful Blanchard boats still ply the sounds and inlets of Washington, Alaska, and B.C.
      Norman C. Blanchard is the son of Norman J. Blanchard, founder of the firm; here follows one of his abridged stories he wrote for Knee Deep in Savings with Stephen Wilen. (Search link below.)

R boat SIR TOM 
L-R: Andy Joy, Roy Corbett, J. Swift Baker, and
SYC Commodore Ted Geary, helmsman.
The 1930 crew after winning back the Lipton Trophy
at the P.I.Y.A. race at Cadboro Bay, Victoria, B.C.
These original photos from the archives of S.P.H.S.©

"Roy W. Corbett arrived in Seattle about 1920. I don't have any idea what brought him here. I don't think Roy even had a job when he got to Seattle, but within a short time, he did find work selling Cadillacs. Just how he got hooked up with L. E. 'Ted' Geary and the SIR TOM gang is a mystery, because when he first arrived in Seattle Roy Corbett didn't know sickum about sailing or sailboats. Over time, though, he managed to become a pretty good sailor.
      My acquaintance with Roy was made when he was having his first sail with Geary on the SIR TOM. I think he thought Ted was going to buy a Cadillac from him, and I'm just as certain that Ted thought that Roy was going to have himself a yacht. They remained good friends for life. It was probably around 1921 or 1922 when this occurred, and I think that Capt. Griffiths' two sons, who had been part of SIR TOM 's crew, decided they were getting a little too old for the game. So in the summer of 1922 Roy Corbett crewed on SIR TOM, with Geary at the helm, and my dad, who was the foredeck man, Colin Radford, and one or two others.
      Now, this was the time when the SIR TOM was being campaigned heavily. She always finished first, and her crew practiced very seriously right off our company dock. In time Roy became a very adept sailor and was the main sheet man on the SIR TOM under Geary, and later with Jack Graham at the helm.

Roy Corbett
Sailing a one-design Flattie, 1931,
designed by L. E. 'Ted' Geary.

Later called a Geary 18.

Photo from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

      Roy, to my knowledge, never sailed in any catboats, but, when Ted introduced the design for the Flattie, Roy was one of the first to put up the $150 and order one from my dad. I think that Roy mainly wanted the boat for their daughter, Mary Helen, to race. She became a pretty good sailor herself and was the 1929 Seattle Yacht Club Flattie champion.

      Finally, Roy bought a real boat from Geary, a Marconi-rigged ketch, c. 50-ft, built on speculation in CA. After C. W. Wiley died, Roy bought ALICE, renamed her MAHERO and won the SYC Opening Day Class A Race in 1932 and in 1937. Roy was commodore of the SYC in 1933, and active in the Barnacle Bill cruises that had been started by Bill Hedley. Roy kept the MAHERO until early in WW II when she was taken over by the Coast Guard."

DEBUTANTE,
Roy Corbett, 1937, Seattle.

Above text; Knee-Deep in Shavings by Norman C. Blanchard.

Book search here.

❖ STAR BOAT 'ACE' ❖ With a fat trophy to bring home ❖ 1936

Winners of the Star International Trophy
L-R: Skipper/Owner Adrian Iselin II and
Garrett Horder
1936 at Rochester, New York.

In Rochester, N.Y. Adrian Iselin II, skipper and owner of the Star class, ACE, and his crew, Garrett Horder, shown just after they won the International Trophy in the "Star Class Yachting Classic" held off the Port of Rochester on Lake Ontario.
      In the series of five races the ACE totaled 159 points as against 156 for the defending champion. Mr. Iselin won the trophy once before with ACE, in 1925.
      

The Star boat fleet is seen
during one of the races of a series 
for the right to represent the Puget Sound area at the 
International Star Boat Regatta, San Francisco, CA 
September 1934.
L-R: the MAHERO, ARGO, ALCOR, & GOONY with
CENE in the background.
ALCOR was announced the winner.
By this time, the Star Class was admitted to the Olympic Games.
Sailors names not listed.
Original photo from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

See more history below.

Star boat ROWDY, SYC.
Skipper Betty Osborne, July 1947.
After this update there was space for 17 sailboats on this dock.
Original photo from the archives of Saltwater People Historical Society©

"Jack Graham and Ted Geary influenced competitive racing on Puget Sound with the introduction of the Star. The Blanchards [of Seattle] built four Star boats in 1923. The Star became an international design and was popular on the East Coast and in Europe. The original design was by a man called Gardner.
      The Star was a natural evolution from the cat-boat and was almost unsinkable. Nonetheless, its popularity dropped off quickly in 1925, after a tragedy on Lake WA in which four Univ. of WA. students drowned. These students were on their way to a frat party across the lake. They filled the forward flotation compartments with party supplies and removed the foredeck hatch to provide room for an ice cream freezer. Then three couples climbed aboard. This was too many even for calm water. A sudden storm blew up, and in those days before floating bridges curtailed the sweep of the wind, huge swells swamped the boat. Two of the women survived, but the loss of four young lives put a damper on Star boat sailing. The boat was marked as unsafe; this was a bad rap.
      Originally the Star had what was called a sliding Gunter rig. Later, taller rigs became popular with a full main but with a much shorter main boom. Class rules were changed accordingly.
      The Star recovered its popularity by 1931. A meeting in the late fall of 1929 attracted about 50 sailors in an effort to establish a common design for competitive racing. Some wanted high-performance catboats with hard chines because these boats were easier to build and cheaper, and others wanted a more sophisticated boat that could perform better. There were a lot of ideas for boats under 30-ft. The Star was the consensus choice of most of the sailors. Stars were popular worldwide and were raced in many championships, including the Olympics."
      The Seattle sailor who brought home the Olympic Star class trophies can be viewed on a post here.
Article above from Seattle Yacht Club 1892-1992 by Warren, James R.

The Star was designed in 1910 by Francis Sweisquth––draftsman for William Gardner's Naval Architect office––and the first 22 were built in Port Washington, N.Y. by Ike Smith during the winter of 1910-11. Since that time, over 8, 400 boats have been built. The Star began as an Olympic Games class in 1932. Although far from a modern design, the class remains popular today, with about 2,000 boats in active racing fleets in North America and Europe.
Above text from Wikipedia /2014.

❖ CHICKAMAUGA ❖

CHICKAMAUGA
213069
Designed by yacht designer, sailor,
L.E. Ted Geary
Unknown photographer. Dated 1952,
from the Aurora Bridge.
From the archives of the Saltwater People Historical Society (c)

SEA CHICKEN
Lake Washington Ship Canal, 1968.
Built as CHICKAMAUGA in Seattle, 1915.
Soon after renamed SEA CHICKEN.
In this century her name reverted to her birth name.
Original photo from the archives of the S. P. H. S.©

CHICKAMAUGA
ON 213069
Built 1915 
59.5' Reg. L x 17.6' b x 8.6' d
Sturdily constructed with 10" frames and 2.75" fir planking. 
Built in Seattle, to the order of the Pacific Towboat Co. 
Designed by the well-known yacht designer, sailor L. E. "Ted" Geary.
She was the first full Diesel-powered tugboat in the US. She set a trend which, within the following forty years, would result in the virtual elimination of the steam engine in the nation's towing fleets. 

2009:
Anthony R. Smith purchases the towboat for $1,000.

1 or 2 October 2013:
CHICKAMAUGA sinks at Eagle Harbor Marina, Bainbridge Island, WA. Leaking about 400 gallons of petroleum and 10 gallons of lube oil into the waters of Eagle Harbor.
She was raised by a 100-ton barge crane and kept afloat with the aid of water pumps. The owner Anthony Smith hasn't responded to the harbormaster and the harbor fees.

January 2014:
The owner of CHICKAMAUGA was charged with three criminal counts for abandoning the boat. 
According to the Kitsap Sun, Anthony R. Smith faces one count of first-degree theft for failing to pay moorage and utility fees now totaling $8,560, one count of causing a vessel to become abandoned or derelict and one count of discharge of polluting matters into state waters. The charges were filed in Kitsap County Superior Court. 

Department of Natural Resources (DNR) takes control of the tug and has it towed by another tug out of Eagle Harbor Marina, 31 January 2014, to Boat Haven Marina in Port Townsend. As reported in the Kitsap Sun, CHICKAMAUGA made the 38-mile voyage and was hauled out. If the DNR receives no appeal, a bid to dismantle or dispose of the boat could transpire soon. They are reviewing the boat's historical significance and taking inquiries from museums and historical preservation organizations who may be interested in CHICKAMAUGA.

March 2014:
CHICKAMAUGA has been lost to scrap, according to Ethan Fowler in a special to The Kitsap Sun newspaper. There are outstanding debts owed to the State's Derelict Vessel Removal Program, fees owed to the US Coast Guard and the Dept. of Natural Resources for retrieval, utility fees for c. one year's moorage at Eagle Harbor Marina and legal fees ending with the upcoming trial in Kitsap County Superior Court.