Nevermore began her life as a dream of then young Canadian shipwright Ralph Eastland. A sensible man of frugal means, Ralph ordered a set of ship plans for $5 from the Smithsonian Institute of Howard Chapelle’s Chesapeake Bay schooner “Little Cod.” With the help of his wife Debbie, the two then set to work constructing a pole shed with a broad lofting floor on the shore of British Columbia’s Quadra Island, near the village of Herriot Bay. As a woodsman with a great sense of fine woods, Ralph went into the forests of Quadra and Vancouver island and hand selected, cut and ultimately carved the woods that would become his dream ship, Nevermore. In 1981 Nevermore was launched, and for the next 6 years Ralph and Debbie lived aboard with their two daughters. As the girls grew, it bacame evident that their family would soon outgrow the living quarters of the family schooner. Arrangements were made, and the ship passed hands in 1990 to its current owner, Billy Wolf, who brought the boat to Port Townsend in 1993 where she has remained to this day. For the past 25 years, with the propitious assistance of P.T.’s exemplar wooden boat community of great riggers, awesome sail makers, creative engineers, dazzling varnishers and wizard shipwrights Dr. Wolf has meticulously maintained and improved upon Nevermore. He and his family and friends have cruised with her many seasons up along the British Columbia coast and into and around the waters of Alaska. Nevermore looks forward to spending her next 25 years as part of the Port Townsend wooden boat fleet.
