Commissioned in Tacoma, Washington in 1935, Carmelita was built as a private family yacht. For her first sixty years, family members and guests of Mr. Norton Clapp enjoyed time aboard the Carmelita on countless trips on the Northwest Coast between Tacoma and Glacier Bay, Alaska. Designed by Naval Architect Harold Lee, Carmelita’s construction at the Mojean & Erickson yard took nearly a year. She was outfitted with Cooper-Bessemer Diesels.

Clapp donated Carmelita’s plans to the Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka where Native Alaskan students built a sister ship Princeton Hall as a Presbyterian Missionary Society boat. Princeton Hall was built slightly shorter, narrower and with a single screw. Still today, tribal members will occasionally mistake Carmelita as “that old mission boat!”

Peter & Melissa Evans acquired Carmelita in 1995 after Mr. Clapp’s death, and began Evans Maritime Company, offering charters on the Coast for more than a decade. She was refitted in 1995 and 1996 with a modern electrical system and updated throughout while retaining her original style and comfort. Carmelita passed the rigorous US Coast Guard inspection process and was awarded a Certificate of Inspection to carry dozens of passengers for hire. During this period, many groups enjoyed times aboard in the San Juan Islands, up the B.C. Coast, and along the panhandle of Alaska. Carmelita carried an Outfitter/Guide permit for the Tongass National Forest. The charter business concluded by 2008, and Carmelita has remained in use as a private family yacht since then.