The F/V ''Charles W'', also known as Annie J Larsen, is a historic fishing schooner anchored in

Petersburg, Alaska Petersburg (Tlingit: ''Séet Ká'' or ''Gantiyaakw Séedi'' "Steamboat Channel") is a census-designated place (CDP) in and essentially the borough seat of Petersburg Borough, Alaska, United States. The population was 3,043 at the 2020 census, up ...

. At the time of its retirement in 2000, it was the oldest fishing vessel in the fishing fleet of

Southeast Alaska Southeast Alaska, colloquially referred to as the Alaska(n) Panhandle, is the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Alaska, bordered to the east and north by the northern half of the Canadian province of British Columbia (and a small part ...

, and the only known wooden fishing vessel in the entire state still in active service. Launched in 1907, she was first used in the

halibut Halibut is the common name for three flatfish in the genera '' Hippoglossus'' and ''Reinhardtius'' from the family of right-eye flounders and, in some regions, and less commonly, other species of large flatfish. The word is derived from ''h ...

fisheries of

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

and the

Bering Sea The Bering Sea (, ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and The Ameri ...

as the ''Annie J Larsen''. In 1925 she was purchased by the Alaska Glacier Seafood Company, refitted for shrimp trawling, and renamed ''Charles W'' in honor of owner Karl Sifferman's father. The company was one of the pioneers of the local shrimp fishery, a business it began to phase out due to increasing competition in the 1970s. The ''Charles W'' was the last of the company's fleet of ships, which numbered twelve at its height. The boat was acquired in 2002 by the nonprofit Friends of the ''Charles W''. The boat was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2006.

References

1907 ships Commercial fishing in Alaska Fishing ships of the United States National Register of Historic Places in Petersburg Borough, Alaska Schooners of the United States Ships on the National Register of Historic Places in Alaska Ships built in Dockton, Washington {{Ship-stub

See also

References