Northern was one of the wildly profitable halibut schooners that fished the Northwest coast for most of the 20th century, modeled after the Scandinavian North Sea trawlers. She was built on Lake Union in 1927, but burned to the waterline in ’33 and was rebuilt – we don’t know what caused the fire. Originally, she was probably powered by an Atlas or Washington diesel, but sometime in the 60s was converted to the Caterpillar 343 that still runs like a champ today. In addition to her great looks, she is a fascinating time capsule of fishing technology. Originally, fishing was done from dories stored along the pilothouse, but as fishing laws changed and better lines haulers and hydraulics became available, she was refit with a gurdy and the current aluminum bait tent. At her peak, she held a catch in the dozens of tons and could make her crew rich in a season. There are depressions in the deck planks and along the hull from decades of hauling over fish. Many of her sister ships are still working.
We became stewards of Northern in 2014, and since then have been refitting her as a live aboard. Our favorite thing about this boat is the stories we hear everywhere she goes about the people who fished her, who saw her come and go, and how her highliner pedigree still inspires awe. We’re honored to share this piece of Northwest history.