The schooner Suva recently celebrated her centennial anniversary and will once again offer public sails during the Wooden Boat Festival. She will be located at the Northwest Maritime Center dock, just outside the festival harbor. Tickets are available at www.schoonersuva.org.

Since 2015, Suva has been owned by the Whidbey Island Maritime Heritage Foundation (WIMHF), a nonprofit organization. The vessel is operated and maintained entirely by dedicated volunteers, including captains, crew, maintenance teams, and dockside hosts.

Suva was built in 1925 for Frank Pratt, a Massachusetts lawyer who relocated to Whidbey Island in 1901. Pratt commissioned Ted Geary, a prominent Seattle naval architect, to design a vessel suited for Puget Sound—one capable of entertaining friends and associates. She was constructed in Hong Kong by shipbuilder Quan Lee, almost entirely from old-growth Burmese teak, and later shipped to British Columbia, where her Sitka spruce spars were stepped.

Originally designed as a gaff-rigged schooner, Suva underwent several modifications over the years. In 1940, she was re-rigged as a staysail schooner. In 1960, her original Hall-Scott gasoline engine was replaced with a 140-horsepower Detroit Diesel 453. Additional updates included the installation of an aft deck helm, lifelines, and the replacement of wood-burning galley and salon stoves with diesel units.

From 1925 to 1940, Suva was anchored in Penn Cove on Whidbey Island, where the Pratt Family sailed her before transferring ownership to his friend Dietrich Schmitz for one dollar. The vessel later passed to Schmitz’s son, Alan; together, the Schmitz family owned Suva for more than 40 years. She was subsequently owned by Bill and Jo Ella Brandt of Olympia for approximately 25 years, before returning to the North Sound/Port Townsend area under Scott and Carol Flickinger. Lloyd Baldwin, who purchased Suva in 2009, sold her to WIMHF in 2015. Throughout her history, Suva has remained in Puget Sound waters.

Schooner Suva is now proudly listed on the National Register of Historic Places.