''El Primero'' is a

steam yacht A steam yacht is a class of luxury or commercial yacht with primary or secondary steam propulsion in addition to the sails usually carried by yachts. Origin of the name The English steamboat entrepreneur George Dodd (1783–1827) used the term ...

that was built in 1893. This vessel was once considered one of the most luxurious yachts on the West Coast of the United States, and was one of the few steam yachts to be operated on

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 ...

. The yacht has since been converted to diesel, but it remained operational as of 2010.

Design and construction

''El Primero'' (constructed in San Francisco, California) was the first

built on the west coast of the United States. The yacht had an auxiliary sail rig. The steam engine was rated at 225 indicated

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are t ...

, driving the vessel at a maximum speed of 13.5 knots.

Career

The yacht's original owner was Edward W. Hopkins, heir to the wealth of his uncle, Mark Hopkins, for whom the Mark Hopkins Hotel is named. In 1896 Hopkins was a member of the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

and the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

yacht clubs. In 1906 Hopkins sold the yacht to Chester Thorne of Tacoma and the yacht thereafter came to be based in

. Thorne in turn wagered the yacht in a

craps Craps is a dice game in which players bet on the outcomes of the roll of a pair of dice. Players can wager money against each other (playing "street craps") or against a bank ("casino craps"). Because it requires little equipment, "street ...

game and lost the game and thus the yacht to Sidney Albert "Sam" Perkins (1865–1955), a newspaper publisher. ''El Primero'' transported four different presidents, including

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

when he came to Seattle to visit the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909. During

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 opposing ...

the yacht was taken into the U.S. Navy as a patrol vessel and returned to Perkins in 1947. During the 1950s, there were only two steam yachts operational on Puget Sound: ''El Primero'' and ''Aquilo''.Newell, ''Ships of the Inland Sea'', at 195. After Perkins' death in 1955, the yacht went to his heirs and was later purchased by Sy Devening who was doing business as Puget Sound Excursion Lines, who converted it to diesel power. The yacht passed through two subsequent owners, an American (Arther B. Church) as well as a Canadian and was taken out of service in the year 2000, remaining at a dock in Blaine, Washington. In 2010, the yacht was purchased by a semi-retired tug captain and engineer. Encountering engine troubles, the new owner had the vessel hauled out at Port Townsend for repairs. With the vessel still in need of restoration, as of January 2010 the new owner was considering taking the yacht to Mexico or Thailand to have the work done. 2013 Ship proudly berthed and displayed at Bremerton, Washington Marina for maintenance, tours, and public functions. In 2016, the hull was repainted with the help of volunteers. In 2017, ''El Primero'' underwent a refit at the Boat Haven Yard in Port Townsend. The main objective was to restore as many of the original features as possible. Some areas, such as the dining room, did not require restoration as it has remained unchanged since the ship was launched.

Notes

References

* Faber, Jim, ''Steamer's Wake'', Enetai Press, Seattle WA (1985) * Newell, Gordon R., ed., ''H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest'', Superior Publishing Co., Seattle, WA (1966) * Newell, Gordon R., ''Ships of the Inland Sea'', Superior Publishing Co., Seattle, WA (2nd Ed. 1960)
U.S. Dept. of the Treasury, Bureau of Statistics, ''Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States'' (for year ending June 30, 1894)

Manning, Thomas, ''The American Yacht List for 1896'', Thomas Manning (1896)

Californian illustrated magazine, Volume 4 edited by Charles Frederick Holder, Edward James Livernash

{{Oldest surviving ships (pre-1919) 1893 ships Steamboats of Washington (state) Propeller-driven steamboats of Washington (state) Steamboats of California Ships built in San Francisco Steam yachts