The story of schooner Nevermore begins in the mid-1970’s when a young Canadian couple by the name of Ralph and Debbie Eastland decided to build a boat upon which to raise a family. As a skilled woodsman, Ralph set out into the forests of Quadra and Vancouver Islands, selecting and hand harvesting the timber from which he would build their dream ship. With a love and respect of classic yacht design, and a down to earth back woods frugality, Ralph sent $15 to the Smithsonian Institute’s registry of classic boats, and two weeks later received the full lines-drawing of Howard Chapelle’s renowned plans for Chesapeake Bay schooner, “Little Cod.” With plans in hand, Ralph spent much of the next seven years in a makeshift boat loft on the beach in the small town of Herriot Bay on Quadra Island where he patiently lofted and then constructed, frame by frame, plank by plank, the vessel that was to be named Nevermore. Why Nevermore? Legend has it that during the long British Columbia winters the main companions that Ralph would have in his boat loft were the ravens that would visit him there on a daily basis. As a man of letters as well as a man of woods, these dark denizens of the forest reminded him of the haunting phrase “Nevermore” from the Poe poem, The Raven, and since the future of his ship-to-be loomed mysteriously in the future, the enigmatic name Nevermore became symbolic of the boat.
Constructed of the finest woods of the Pacific NW, Nevermore is a red cedar planked on Pacific yew frames, deck beamed with Alaska yellow cedar, sparred with Sitka spruce, and decked with Douglas fir. She retains the distinction of being one of only a few larger vessels that wear a fully varnished hull, from stem to stern. Having served as a family live aboard for 10 years, she then passed hands to her current owner William Wolf who brought her to Port Townsend in 1992. For the past 25 years, Captain Billywolf has worked closely with many of the fine traditional wooden boat craftspeople of Port Townsend to maintain and restore this now classic vessel. Her ongoing beauty and service is a testimony to the outstanding caliber of the rare skills of the art-of -the-sailor offered by the good people of Port Townsend. Dr. Wolf continues to cruise Nevermore seasonally with friends and family along the rugged beautiful coast of British Columbia and up to the icy wild waters of Glacier Bay, Alaska.