A yacht is a sail- or 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 yacht, as opposed to a boat, such a pleasure vessel is likely to be at least 33 feet (10 m) in length and may have been judged to have good aesthetic qualities.
Northwest Seaport Maritime Heritage Center is a nonprofit organization in Seattle, Washington dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of Puget Sound and Northwest Coast maritime heritage, expressed through educational programs and experiences available to the public aboard its ships. The organization owns three large historic vessels docked at the Historic Ships' Wharf in Seattle's Lake Union Park; the tugboat Arthur Foss (1889), Lightship 83 Swiftsure (1904), and the halibut fishing schooner Tordenskjold (1911). These vessels are used as platforms for a variety of public programs, ranging from tours and festivals to restoration workshops and vocational training.
USS Amethyst (PYc-3) was the yacht Samona II taken into service in the United States Navy serving as a patrol boat during World War II. After military service the vessel was returned to civilian status in 1946 and again became the yacht Samona II until sale and subsequent names of Pudlo and Explorer.
USS Amber (PYc-6) was a patrol boat in the United States Navy during World War II, built at Long Beach, California in 1930 as the yacht Infanta for the actor John Barrymore.
America was a 19th-century racing yacht and first winner of the America's Cup international sailing trophy.
Reliance was the 1903 America's Cup defender designed by Nat Herreshoff.
Wawona was an American three-masted, fore-and-aft schooner that sailed from 1897 to 1947 as a lumber carrier and fishing vessel based in Puget Sound. She was one of the last survivors of the sailing schooners in the West Coast lumber trade to San Francisco from Washington, Oregon, and Northern California.
Arthur Foss, built in 1889 as Wallowa at Portland, Oregon, is likely the oldest wooden tugboat afloat in the world. Its 79-year commercial service life began with towing sailing ships over the Columbia River bar, and ended with hauling bundled log rafts on the Strait of Juan de Fuca in 1968. Northwest Seaport now preserves the tug as a museum ship in Seattle, Washington.
Pat Pending is a fifty-foot trunk-cabin motor yacht that was designed by Ted Geary, and was built in 1929 by Lake Union Dry Docks in Seattle, Washington. The boat was originally owned by Lloyd Bacon, a film director made famous for films such as Moby Dick and 42nd Street. Pat Pending was then purchased in 1940 by a San Francisco Bay Area patent attorney named Don Owen, who planned to use the boat for recreational purposes. However, once World War II broke out in the Pacific theater, she was drafted by the U.S. Navy as a submarine net patrol boat, where she served from 1941 until 1944. After she was decommissioned, Pat Pending was then sold back to the Owen family in 1944, and is still owned by them today.
Lake Union Dry Dock Company is a full-service shipyard that specializes in vessel repair and conversions located in Seattle, Washington. Drydocking vessels up to 6,000 tonnes, , Lake Union Dry Dock Company repairs factory trawlers, fishing vessels, Coast Guard Cutters and buoy tenders, tugboats, research vessels, ferries, mega-yachts, barges, and houseboats.
A sailing yacht, is a leisure craft that uses sails as its primary means of propulsion. A yacht may be a sail or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, so the term applies here to sailing vessels that have a cabin with amenities that accommodate overnight use. To be termed a "yacht", as opposed to a "boat", such a vessel is likely to be at least 33 feet (10 m) in length and have been judged to have good aesthetic qualities. Sailboats that do not accommodate overnight use or are smaller than 30 feet (9.1 m) are not universally called yachts. Sailing yachts in excess of 130 feet (40 m) are generally considered to be superyachts.
Charles Drown Mower (1875-1942) of New York was a noted yacht designer and author, and was at one time design editor of the Rudder magazine and a contributing author to Motor Boating magazine.
Stevens Brothers Boat Builders and Designers company, an American boat designer, began in the back yard of brothers Theodore and Robert Stevens. Their boatbuilding firm in Stockton, California operated from 1902 to 1987. Over the years the company became famous for its elegantly designed pleasure craft, including sailboats, speedboats, cruisers and private yachts. Stevens Bros. also built many vessels for the U.S. military, especially during World War II. The company's first vessel was the sloop Dorothy, in 1902.
Tacoma was a steamship that served from 1913 to 1938 on Puget Sound. Built of steel, Tacoma was known for being one of the fastest and best-designed vessels to operate on Puget Sound. Tacoma was particularly noted for high-speed service from 1913 to 1930 on the route between Tacoma and Seattle.
Willits J. Hole was an American businessman and real estate developer of Southern California, during the early part of the twentieth century. He was known as the "father" of the city of La Habra, California.
George Edwin William Monk was a shipwright and naval architect in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. He was active from 1914 to 1973. He designed pleasure and commercial vessels, both power and sail.
Chickamauga was a wooden tugboat built in 1915 and operated in Washington throughout its service life. The boat sank on October 2, 2013, and was subsequently scrapped.
The Geary 18 is an American sailboat that was designed by Ted Geary as a one-design racer and first built in 1926.
MV Malibu is a 100-foot (30 m) motor yacht built in 1926. She was designed by Ted Geary and built by N. J. Blanchard Boat Co., Seattle, Washington.
The Thomas F. Bayard was a 19th-century Delaware River pilot schooner built by C. & R. Poillon shipyard in 1880. She spent sixteen years as a pilot boat before being sold during the Yukon Gold Rush in 1897. She was sold again in 1906 for Seal hunting, then purchased by the Department of Marine & Fisheries where she guided freighters into New Westminster, British Columbia for 43 years. She was then acquired by the Vancouver Maritime Museum in 1978. When she sank at her mooring in 2002, the International Yacht Restoration School, Mystic Seaport and the Vancouver Maritime Museum, removed the vessel in pieces for the archeological teams to study and document the remains of her hull. The Thomas F. Bayard Collection, at the Vancouver Maritime Museum, contains the documents, history and preservation efforts.
