After her solid wooden hull was built in Norway, the Ursa Major was launched in 1972 at the Malahide shipyards in Dublin, Ireland. With her classic “Old World” charm, solid North Sea construction, and warm European ambiance, she is the perfect “little ship” for charter cruising. She epitomizes the True Trawler Yacht as described by Bob Lane in Passagemaker Magazine, (February 2002, and September 2003).
The Ursa Major is 65 ft. long, 20 ft. wide, displaces over 100 tons, and is powered by a heavy-duty Caterpillar Diesel engine with two diesel auxiliary generators. She was built to the rugged “Det Norske Veritas” construction standards, certifying her to operate year round in the extreme conditions of the North Sea.
After arriving from Ireland in 1972 on her own bottom, she initially spent time on the East Coast of the United States and Canada, followed by her high-sea adventures in the Caribbean in the 1980’s, and through the Panama Canal to her eventual homeport of Seattle, Washington in the early 1990’s. The Ursa Major has a unique history unlike any other – come aboard to learn all about her adventures!
For the past seventeen years, the Ursa Major has worked as a charter vessel in beautiful southeast Alaska, leading mothership kayak adventures and Inside Passage Trawler Training Trips between Washington state and Alaska. When not cruising southeast Alaska in the summer, the Ursa Major is home-ported in Seattle, Washington at Fishermen’s Terminal near the Ballard Locks.