MV Westward, Motor yacht in Washington, US.
MV Westward is an 86-foot (26 m) motor yacht built in 1924 by Ted Geary at the Martinolich Shipyard on Maury Island near Seattle. Modeled after a salmon cannery tender, she was constructed around a 1923 Atlas-Imperial diesel engine that still provides 110 horsepower and a cruising speed of eight knots. Her home port is Friday Harbor, Washington.
The vessel was built during the early era of motorized yacht development and was later added to the National Register because of its contribution to maritime history. This recognition reflects how important such boats were to the growth of recreational boating.
Campbell Church Jr. led hunting expeditions from Westward, and his son's company fitted the yacht with a Norwegian whale gun firing harpoons with time-fuse bombs. Guests aboard have included Walt Disney, John Wayne, George Eastman and E.F. Hutton. Today the yacht runs tourism trips under Bill Bailey's Pacific Catalyst II.
The Westward operates as part of the Pacific Catalyst II tour business from Friday Harbor, Washington, and is not a permanently moored exhibit. Visitors join its tours rather than boarding independently, so arrangements go through the operator. Its home port is Friday Harbor, and it has cruised as far as Mexico and the South Pacific.
Westward's original 1923 Atlas-Imperial diesel engine still powers her, producing 110 horsepower and a cruising speed of eight knots. The yacht was built around this engine at the Martinolich Shipyard on Maury Island near Seattle.
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