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, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...
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 catch fish in the sea, or on a lake or river. Many different kinds of vessels are used in commercial, artisanal and recreational fishing.
The total number of fishing vessels in the world in 2016 was es ...
, and in 1940, this boat carried
John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer and the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature winner "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social ...
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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, 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 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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